Examples Of Sexism In The Birth House By Ami Mckay

Never in my entire life have I read a novel that forced me to throw the novel down multiple times within the opening chapters. The Birth House by Ami McKay evoked a plethora of emotions in me, ranging from deep sorrow and sadness to a sharp anger at the exasperating amount of sexism throughout the novel. As the novel begun, I genuinely felt a surprisingly amount of anger that I’ve never felt before towards a novel. The overwhelming amount of sexist claims, in particular when we are first introduced to Mr. Ketch infuriated me. The first moment I found appalling was when Mrs. Ketch gives birth and Mr. Ketch responds with “I’m just lookin’ at what’s mine” (16) completely disregarding the pain and agony of his wife’s birthing experience. The sexism

This is exemplified when Dora says “Every birth’s a lesson” (253) The line that stood out to me the most in this entire novel was when Dora says that “whether it was her father, one of her brothers or some other man, this was not her doing” (255) this line a chilling reminder of the dark side of pregnancy, and a reminder to readers of the severe physical impact of sexual violence against women. Another moment towards the ending of the novel that depicts the plethora of struggles that women were enduring at the time, was when Dora was in Boston and we are introduced to Maxine. Maxine and Dora are very similar in my opinion, as they both are ferocious and strong female characters, perhaps this is why Charlie is drawn to Maxine, who mirror’s Dora in their strong