A Feminist Interpretation of Katherine MacLeans Contagion - Book Report/Review Example

A Feminist Interpretation of Katherine MacLean’s “Contagion” In her story, “Contagion”, Katherine McLean attempts to criticize a woman’s tendency to be “an object of male desire” in a male dominated society by deconstructing the patriarchal notion of female beauty. McLean attempts to propound that women themselves desire to be “an object of male desire” in the androgynous culture of postmodern society. On the spaceship, “Explorer”, June and other female characters intrinsically endeavor to become an “object of male desire”, though they are a part of an androgynous spaceship culture that does not permit sex-based division of labor. According to MacLean, like the spaceship, “Explorer”, patriarchy appears to be a psychological intrusion in postmodern society (Davin 23-7). Obviously at the heart of this desire lies the prerequisite of being beautiful in body according to some stereotypes predetermined by the male dominated society. McLean asserts that women themselves are psychologically encoded to think of themselves i.e. their self-esteem, identity, body, existence in the society, in a male way. In essence, McLean’s portrayal of gender echoes Judith Butler’s concept of “Gender Performativity”. For her, gender identity is not something biological or natural. Rather it involves the development of a woman’s identity through the society-defined codes of sex-oriented performance. Again she acknowledges that human “body” or “sex” is not a “mute facticity” that exclusively depends on the organic features of a man. Rather Butler assumes that the gender identity and the differentiation between sexes are made through repeated socio-cultural discourses and actions. According to her, these discourses and actions persistently stylize the body in a certain gender cast, as in the first chapter of “Gender Trouble” Butler says, “Gender is the repeated stylization of the body, a set of repeated acts within a highly rigid regulatory frame that congeal over time to produce the appearance of substance, of a natural sort of being” (43). In the fantasy world of science fiction, MacLean masterfully manipulates an unusual phenomenon of contagion to delve deep into human psychology. Yet her story reveals much of the heart of patriarchy. Though MacLean does not hold patriarchy responsible directly, the female characters of her story are nourished psychologically by patriarchy. Most of the female characters are accustomed to think in a male way (Davin 19-20). While patriarchy considers female body as an object of male desire, the women in the story continuously endeavor to be an object of Pat’s desire. All –the female specialists’ “prolonging the questions”, the girls’ gathering around Pat, their “eager questions”, “chiming laughs”, etc – are meant for attracting Pat’s attention. Among all the female characters of the story, for some reason June, the only character, refuses to admit her infatuation for Pat’s male charm. When Max comments, “Every scatterbrained woman on this ship is trailing after Pat with her tongue hanging out”, she argues, “There are other things besides looks and charm” (MacLean 9). Indeed June is afraid of revealing her infatuation with Pat’s masculinity, though she later admits, “Why did the man have to be so overpoweringly attractive, so glaring a contrast to Max? Why couldnt the universe manage to run on without generating troublesome love triangles?” (MacLean 9) In a male dominated society, men possess the ability to support their women as well as their families. Therefore, a man’s esteem is determined by these abilities of a man, as Max judges Pat from an exclusively patriarchic view: “Whos more competent to support a woman and a family on a frontier planet than a handsome bruiser who was born here?” (MacLean 9) Though June acknowledges that running after men’s masculine charm and ability to support one is obnoxious for a woman’s self-esteem, she cannot hide her passion for Pat. MacLean keeps a surprise in suspension for the patriarchy-schooled psychology of these women at the end of the story. She ultimately proves that the flaw with the psychology of these women is their tendency to grow self-esteem depending on their physical beauty according to the stereotypical patriarchic standard. There is another flaw that they are psychologically subservient to their male counterpart. Though in postmodern technology-backed society there is little scope for the sex-based division of labor, women, provided that they are accustomed to perceive their existence in an obnoxiously patriarchic way, gleefully desire to be an object of male passion. June, one of the main characters of the story, stands before the mirror and admires her appearance: “Ive got a good figure” (MacLean 5). Indeed when being infatuated by Pat Mead’s male charm, June admires her image in the mirror, she subconsciously represents the male gaze that admires the image in the mirror and at the same time, wants it to be more and more beautiful according to the patriarchal standard of beauty. Obviously in the remote corner of her mind, she wants to view herself through Pat’s eye. Indeed Pat with his masculine charm is the symbol of patriarchy in its modern form, in the sense that he does not actively want how June looks like. Neither has he uttered any word of traditional patriarchal admiration for June or any other female characters in the story. Rather he plays a mere passive role in his relationship with the female characters on the ship. On the contrary, the female characters seem to be infatuated with Pat’s masculine charm and each of them actively desires Pat. Through the portrayals of such passive masculinity and actively desirous femininity McLean criticizes the traditional feminists’ approach to portray an unrealistic male villain in contradiction to an innocent female protagonist. Defying this traditional trend of portraying an unrealistic male villain, MacLean propounds that in sheer ignorance women turn themselves into an object of male desire. Indeed this tendency of the female characters to be an object of male desire ultimately dissolves at the prospect of turning into female Mead. At the end of the story, the female characters become horrified of being Mead, Sheila, a beautiful character says, “I dont want to become a Mead! I dont want to be somebody else!” (MacLean 16). They don’t want to allow Patricia Mead (Pat Mead’s sister) to enter into their cabin, since the entrance of Patricia Mead means that the contagion will change them into Mead. Indeed for the female characters in the story, turning into Mead essentially means the loss of identity and individuality. Indeed the term “turning into a Mead” has an associative metaphorical meaning. While Pat, the male Mead, represents the male body as the object of female desire, the whole Mead colony represents the whole male community of human society. The folly of patriarchal tendency to construct one’s personality and self-esteem on one’s physical appearance inherently lies in the fact that such attempt either knowingly or unknowingly is in constant effort to shred ones individual identity. In fact patriarchal expectation does the same thing for a woman by robbing a woman off her individual existence and by teaching her to be merely an object male lust. The girls on the spaceship ultimately learn about what desiring a muscular and sturdy male body is. Almost every one of them has desired handsome Pat beside her. But when each of the male characters turns into Pat, they become horrified and retreat in fear: “No one spoke. To change, to be someone else—the idea was strange and horrifying” (MacLean 16). They are afraid of losing their individuality and to “be somebody else”. Such loss of one’s individual identity is something committing suicide, as Sheila ruefully desires to die: “I’d kill myself! …. Id rather die!” (MacLean 16). The girls do not want to lose their individual self; yet they are forced to. References Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, New York: Routledge. 1990. 02 November, 2010. Davin, Eric Leif. Partners in Wonder: Women and the Birth of Science Fiction, 1926-1965, Lexington Books, 2006. MacLeane, Katherine. “Contagion”, available at Read More