Imagine a speaker. A male. Tall, dark, physically strong, deep voiced. He has a stern face, and an incredibly commanding presence. He can be speaking of almost anything, and yet you are still attentive because of his mere appearance. Now, imagine another male. He is short, boney, has a sunken and wilted appearance, high voice and is a very shy, quiet speaker. Given the single word 'Masculine', which of the males would you associate it to more strongly?
We've all seen or heard of it happening. When a boy or man does not look or act a certain "masculine" way, like being big, courageous, or daring, they are 'demoted' towards being more feminine or simply not portraying very many masculinities. If we think about figure heads, and totalitarian campaign ads, most often we think about a certain command of attention that the subject puts forth. Winston Smith, a rebel of the regulated time of "1984" does not entirely meet the standards of a leader. Being a particularly affected and quiet man, one person oddly encouraging of his deeds is a woman, Julia.
Relating masculine qualities to woman is, of course possible, yet imaging a woman's face on the "Big Brother" posters can still be followed by a small discrimination. Especially during George Orwell's time, and during the time of the books publication in 1949, women were seen as delicate creatures. Having a woman as the omnipresence of Big Brother would not be taken seriously as a Totalitarian leader, because at the time, few masculinities were linked to women. In today's world, we see many masculinities in women. We are slowly being accepted into more male dominated workplaces, becoming leaders, running for Office, going to war, and generally showing our strengths and how men and women are not too different. Julia herself works at a higher rank than Winston, and often shows more daring, such as setting up their secret meetings together, and being firm and caring when Winston needs. She seems the more composed masculine figure in their relationship.
The thought of masculineness or masculinities as certain traits or characteristics only pertaining to the male is slowly but surely rubbing off on feminine perceptions. There is little in these times that a woman wouldn't do that a man is capable of.
Well done, Janene. This is a nuanced examination of the issues of gender in Orwell's novel - thank you for the amount of detail you provide. I am impressed by your identification of Winston's feminine qualities. Where this post could improve, however, is in your discussion of gender roles in our own culture. You identify a number of stereotypes, but where do these conceptions come from? Can you identify concrete examples of the sources from which we derive our ideas of the 'ideal' male and female?
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