The Female Man talks a lot about what proper girls and women are supposed to feel and do. Topping the list are activities like being attractive, being pleasant, and being attentive (especially to men). Things that don't make the cut include being ambitious, wanting fulfillment outside of marriage and motherhood, and being intellectually and/or sexually attracted to other women. Femininity in this novel is a web of social expectations that make women easy prey for power-hungry men. Only in Whileaway, where men no longer exist, can women experiment and explore without being told that their actions aren't properly "womanly."
Questions About Women and Femininity
- In The Female Man, is femininity innate, or is it taught? Does it develop differently in different worlds and cultures, or is it more or less the same in all places?
- Janet, Jeannine, Joanna, and Jael represent a range of competing fantasies, realities, and stereotypes concerning women and femininity. Who among them is the most realistic, three-dimensional character? Why do you think so?
- What do the "changed" and "half-changed" Manlanders suggest about the nature of femininity?
Chew on This
Femininity equals weakness in The Female Man. In Joanna's, Jeannine's, and Jael's worlds, it's impossible to acquire power without being a man—or learning to think and act like one.
In The Female Man, femininity is a form of learned subservience. Its lessons are reiterated daily by family, friends, romance novels, beauty magazines, and the subtle (and not-so-subtle) forms of violence that women experience every day.