Gender Roles In Oryx And Crake

In the scholarly article, “Gender As a Social Construct in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake” by Shaista Irshad and Prof. Dr Niroj Banerji, Irshad and Banerji focus on Atwood’s use of gender stereotypes and using them in unconventional ways to shows that society and culture shape one 's, “feminine and masculine gender identities” (585) through Jimmy, Oryx, and Crake. Jimmy, the protagonist, offers the most versatility on gender norms. When Jimmy is younger, his father would always present him with roles of masculinity. “His father is always giving him tools to make him more practical” (Atwood 41). The use of the word “practical” helps Atwood create a gender role, without actually saying it. Most readers can infer, that after learning about Jimmy’s father, “practical” is referring to him making Jimmy more masculine. On the contrary, when Jimmy’s mother, Sharon, runs away abruptly, Jimmy experiences pain and suffers himself by refraining from crying. “If only he’d been a girl” (Atwood 73) it would have been easier for him to express his feelings. Atwood presents the obstacles that Jimmy had to endure, just because society says that it is not normal for a boy to express emotions. Irshad and Banerji state that, “masculine and feminine gender is reinforced when Jimmy’s father expresses his opinion,

When Jimmy and Crake are teenagers they get addicted to porn, and Jimmy’s perception of a woman is formed through this. They state that Atwoods uses media culture which, “complements and promotes the image of women as “body,” a sexual commodity” (588). I agree with this statement, because many of the women in the novel, who are not close to Jimmy, are only seen as a form of sexual pleasure. The only other women Jimmy had been around are his mother and Ramona, so now he is presented with this new view that degrades women, treating them like