Female Chauvinist Pigs

Gender is something that has always been extremely intertwined with society. Our gender has an impact on almost every aspect of our lives, from our choice of occupation to how one is perceived by society and even arguably trivial things such as the way we dress. To many these constructs of gender seem obsolete in this day and age; due to men and women that blurred gender norms. Ariel Levy a writer at The New Yorker and Jayme Poisson, writer at The Toronto Star have shed light on the topic of gender norms in modern society with their writings. For example Levy introduces challengers of gender roles, the “Female Chauvinist Pig,” in her aptly named book “Female Chauvinist Pigs.” These Female Chauvinist Pigs abandoned gender norms and aligned with

If gender norms didn’t exist then anyone would be able to do what they want, wear what they want without fear of criticism or ridicule. In Jayme Poisson’s article she mentions that when Storm’s parents go on vacation they flip a coin to decide what gender to tell others when asked. In an email to Poisson, Witterick (Storm’s Mother) writes, “the moment a child’s sex is announced, so begins the parade of pink and barrage of blue. Tutus and toy trucks aren’t far behind”(Poisson 366). Here gender norms pigeon hole a child into liking the color blue as opposed to the color pink because from an early age most young boys are taught that pink is ‘girly,’ and the same thing applies to other things that are associated with a certain sex such as toys and clothes. Female Chauvinist Pigs is a pertinent example of a group of people that seem to reject gender norms. “The Female Chauvinist Pig [...] She gets it. She doesn’t mind cartoonish stereotypes of female sexuality, and she doesn’t mind a cartoonishly macho response to them”(Levy 267). An important distinction to make here is that unlike Storm, the Female Chauvinist Pig still identifies as female even though they sort of surpassed the construct of gender norms. This abandonment of gender norms has resulted in outstanding successes for most FCPs seeing how many Female Chauvinist Pigs are in a position of power or influential position. Generalizations and stereotypes of a sex are also something nearly abolished without gender norms. For instance when a single father is seen in public the generalization is made that he is an unfit parent and why isn’t the child with the more caring and nurturing mother. Another example is how women are generally seen as the housewife and mother, whereas men are the breadwinners, and the