Misogyny In M Butterfly

How are women supposed to act? Does our society have sexist views that can then carry over into every aspect of life or is this world really as equal as people keep telling us? More specifically, does our media portray each gender with the same freedoms, for example, in the famous play M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang? The answer? When applying a feminist approach to M. Butterfly one may notice that there are many misogynistic ideas on how women should act according to the male character’s image of women and how they are perceived due to gender institutions. This misogyny shown in the play is so pervasive that it actually end up overpowering racism, meaning that it does not matter the ethnicity or race of the woman the misogyny would still

Butterfly uses gender institutions to stereotypically define the female sex. According to Joan Acker, “The term ‘gendered institutions’ means that gender is present in the processes, practices, images, and ideologies, and distribution of power in the various sectors of social life” (Acker 567). When Acker uses the words, ‘various sectors of social life’, it is an analogy for the issues and differences between the east and the west in the play. Song describes these issues when he talks to the judge about Gallimard’s trial. He say, “The West has sort of an international rape mentality toward the East … Basically, “Her mouth says no, but her eyes say yes.” The West thinks of itself as masculine — big guns, big industry, big money — so the East is feminine — weak, delicate, poor … but good at art, and full of inscrutable wisdom — the feminine mystique. Her mouth says no, but her eyes say yes. The West believes the East, deep down, wants to be dominated — because a woman can’t think for herself” (Hang 62). This quote demonstrate how Song feels the West views the East. He uses terms that describe a kind of rape mentality that is defined by control and power, more so than sex. Although, when he talks about control and power, he is talking about each sec compared to each other. Then he goes on to compare that to the amount of power and control given to the West but lack in the East. Therefore, Song is claiming that no matter what the East does, the West will never

Butterfly, specifically the male characters, believe that they know how a woman should present herself. Song specifically, being a male who portrays the part of a women, believes that he has the answer for how a woman should act based on his sexist ideas of what benefits his sex, being a male. Song asks Chin why she believes men always plays women’s roles in Peking Opera’s, however before she gives him a chance to answer Song says, “Because only a man knows how a woman is supposed to act” (Hwang 49). This is a crazy concept to think about. When Song says this he is implying that there is a perfect way to be a woman, when in reality, everyone is flawed. The only reason he believes a man can be a better woman is because then they can cater to a man’s needs. The sad part is that Song himself has been subjected to these ideas that women are only on earth to pleasure a man. He experiences this when he dresses up as a woman to impress Gallimard to gain U.S military secrets, but his ideas don’t change because he is able to go back to being a man whenever he feels like it. So why does he do this? Dorinne Kondo believes that it is because of the versatility of the words male and female, Song is actually confirming his power as a male by degrading himself as a woman (18). This quote demonstrates how it is easy for Song to belittle the role of a woman. It is because he is not just a woman, but also a man. He already has the power he needs