{"id":357,"date":"2016-04-06T13:19:42","date_gmt":"2016-04-06T17:19:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/?p=357"},"modified":"2016-04-06T13:19:42","modified_gmt":"2016-04-06T17:19:42","slug":"male-female-gender-dynamics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/2016\/04\/06\/male-female-gender-dynamics\/","title":{"rendered":"Male-Female Gender Dynamics"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Dracula, <\/i>Stoker has told an epic tale about the battles between our Anglican heroes and their foreign foe. Throughout this novel, Stoker has also told a less obvious story, but just as prominent and important: the complicated dynamic of sexuality in Victorian England. Dracula\u2019s <\/i>female <\/i>characters <\/i>exist in an England where they can be both independent and educated. After all, Lucy has the freedom to choose her husband and Mina greatly assists in compelling a manuscript on the Count. However, while some freedoms exist, women are still constrained by a suffocating patriarchy. This is evident when our male characters refuse tell Lucy why she\u2019s ill and in keeping Mina away from their investigation. Not only this, but even our undead male villain\u2019s only known concubines are all female: the three sisters, Lucy, and Mina. In this way, Dracula<\/i> is a story characterized by complicated male-female gender dynamics.<\/span><\/p>\n

To further illustrate this tension between male-female gender dynamics, let\u2019s assess a specific incident. While compiling a manuscript, Mina is confronted by a distressed Lord Godalming. In her diary, Mina recounted that the Lord broke down in front of her, and she wrote that \u201cI suppose there is something in woman\u2019s nature that makes a man free to break down before her and express his feelings on the tender or emotional side without feeling it derogatory to his manhood\u201d (p. 244). In concluding this episode, Lord Godalming conveys his appreciation for her comfort, and calls her a \u201clittle girl\u201d (p. 246).\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Here Mina is contributing equally to the work of our male leads. And while this may be true, Lord Godalming and others do not appreciate the work she does, but merely her gender for its assumed motherly and nurturing qualities. Lord Godalming does not express his concerns or grievances to those he directly works with, other males, but someone he seldom interacts with, a female. Effectively, by being a woman, Mina\u2019s work goes unacknowledged and her emotional intelligence and sensitivity are overemphasized. In this way, Mina is able to stay close to the investigation, only insomuch as her presence provides comfort and vulnerability in the face of danger. This is why Mina is kept out of the loop on the specific work being done, yet still around our male characters. Effectively, Dracula <\/i>demonstrates that while women have gained some opportunities, much of their livelihood is still subordinated to the comfort and bidding of men.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Dracula, Stoker has told an epic tale about the battles between our Anglican heroes and their foreign foe. Throughout this novel, Stoker has also told a less obvious story, but just as prominent and important: the complicated dynamic of sexuality in Victorian England. Dracula\u2019s female characters exist in an England where they can be … Continue reading Male-Female Gender Dynamics<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1818,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[123782],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2016-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1818"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}