Women and Femininity Quotes in The Selection

In other words, princes are seen as future rulers of countries, while princesses are seen as commodities that can be traded back and forth to solidify trade alliances and political treaties. Does that sound like an even gender balance to you? Not really. Sounds pretty medieval to us.

America and Aspen's class differences are amplified by a swirling mess of gender dynamics. Aspen's the man in this relationship—he's supposed to be doing the providing. Of course, the caste system makes this impossible, but that doesn't mean he's going to feel good about it.

Yes, America, please don't be shy when this complete stranger asks you for intimate details about your sexual habits. That's not weird or anything. In addition, we should also note here that Illéa has publicly banned premarital sex. Although they claim that this is for health reasons, we'd be shocked if there weren't a puritanical aspect to this ban as well.

Interestingly, America feels lost being around so many women. She's spent most of her life cloistered up with her family, after all, so she hasn't had the opportunity to socialize with many other people.

Yikes. Although rebel attacks seem like scary scenarios no matter your gender, they seem like particularly frightening propositions for women, since women often get kidnapped or worse. This is yet another reminder that times are tough if you're a woman in the wild world of Illéa.

In our eyes, this is because Maxon has been taught about the proper way to interact with women but completely lacks experience in that arena. He's all book smarts and no street smarts. Fortunately for him, he's about to go through a seriously intense training regimen: the Selection is like romantic CrossFit.

While it's cool that the women who are Selected become respected by society even if they aren't chosen, we can't help but think that there is a better system than this. Like, maybe woman scientists could be considered important? Or female business leaders? Or maybe if Illéa gave more respect to mothers and working women? Just a thought.

To be honest, we can't blame America for being skeptical of Maxon's intentions. The Selection seems like a pretty messed-up system to us—it manages to be sexist, classist, and vapidly materialistic, all in one nasty package. Luckily for America, however, Maxon is an earnest dude who sincerely wants to find love. Could you imagine what would have happened if he weren't?

In case you still had doubts that women are treated like commodities in Illéa, then this should rest the case. Still, if there's any consolation we can take from this situation, it's that the girl who's currently leading the Selection—America—is all about the girl power, even if she doesn't realize it.

Although America is sometimes swept up into the competitive aspects of the Selection, her predominant feeling toward the other girls is one of sisterhood. That says a lot about her character.