ipl-logo

Gender Identity In Allison Bechdel's Fun Home

723 Words3 Pages

What is the reason society forces us to identify each other’s gender roles as male or female? This is a common question well worth exploring. When it comes to gender roles in society we dictate what behaviors are considered acceptable for someone based on their sex. The world has changed drastically on how gender roles are viewed. For example, actress Megan Fox, does not force gender roles onto her 4-year-old son. Megan stated that she allows him to wear dresses and says in her house her children can be whoever they want to be. Even though some people are here for what she’s doing with her child, we also have some people who do not accept it. In the graphic novel “Fun Home” by Allison Bechdel, the author shares her personal life as far as her relationship with her gay father, and the discovery of her sexuality. Both Allison and her father struggled with their sexual orientation and gender identity. The novel “Fun Home” revolves …show more content…

Societal expectation on gender roles, and appearances are mainly focused in this novel. As Allison’s father changes the wallpaper for her room she stated “But I hate pink! I hate flowers!” (Bechdel 7). Why are the colors pink and blue considered as a female/male color? This demonstrates what we learn based on our sex, along with assumptions that liking that color and flowers are mainly for girls. When it comes to appearances are women not considered as pretty if they don’t “dress and accessorize” like one. “You need some pearls. What are you afraid of? Being beautiful? Put it on, goddamn it!” (Bechdel 99). Was Mr. Bechdel informing that his daughter was not attractive if she didn’t accessorize? An accessory such as pearls should not define a woman as beautiful. Society shouldn’t be the ones to tell us how we appear to them based on the way we look. Between her and her dad it was a “war of cross-purposes” (Bechdel 98) as she

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Alison Bechdel's Fun Home

    327 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the graphic novel Fun Home, author Alison Bechdel recounts memories of her childhood, while contemplating lies and deception of her father and how his life impacted her own sexual orientation. Late in the novel, Bechdel details the afternoon during which she realized she was a lesbian, coincidentally coinciding with the day she signed up to take a class about her father’s favorite novel of all time. Bechdel draws herself in a bookstore, reading a copy of Word is Out, and placed in the frame with her is the shadow of a man who is drawn exactly the way Bechdel previously drew Roy, the Bechdel’s babysitter and yardwork assistant who was sleeping with Bruce Bechdel (Bechdel, 203). Knowing that the author draws everything for a reason, what does

    Read More

  • Alison Bechdel's Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

    574 Words  | 3 Pages

    Alison Bechdel’s “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic” is an enthralling memoir about a young girl’s peculiar childhood, which involved her family’s funeral business, infatuating trips, family turmoil, solitude, and her befuddling relationship with her masterful artificer of a father; in which similarities ranged from obsessive compulsive disorders and literature to sexuality. The most profound being homosexuality. Bechdel utilized duo-specific, speech bubbles, as well as, subject-to-subject paneling to illustrate the complex father-daughter relationship where Alison and Bruce Bechdel perpetually attempted to compensate for each other’s eccentric gender behaviors. Initially, both Bechdals yearned for different genders, imposing expected behaviors upon the other.

    Read More

  • Fun Home A Family Tragicomic Analysis

    1621 Words  | 7 Pages

    Chad Blenz Deniz Perin ENG 121 08 December 2014 Published in 2006, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is a graphic memoir that brought great success to Alison Bechdel and her work. Fun Home explores the relationship between Alison and her homosexual father, Bruce Bechdel, to shed light on ideas such as gender, coming out with your sexuality, and the complex dynamics within their family. With further analysis we can see that these key ideas are facilitated through discussions of death, life, and literature–provoked by Alison’s efforts to illustrate a truthful portrait of her complicated connection with her father, specifically after he commits suicide. Alison Bechdel is not only the main author and narrator but also the main protagonist through out the graphic memoir.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Alison Bechdel's Fun Home

    505 Words  | 3 Pages

    When Bechdel was young she would always want to dress up as a boy. When she hits puberty she realizes she is attracted to woman. She comes out as a Lesbian at the age of 19 “ My

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In African American Culture

    1870 Words  | 8 Pages

    The Impact of Culture and Gender Roles Heather Richardson-Barker Drexel University Society has clearly defined boundaries between what is considered to be male or female. The development of an individual’s gender role is formed by interactions with those in close proximity. Society constantly tells us how we should look, act and live based on gender, as well as the influence of family, friends and the media have a tremendous impact on how these roles are formed and the expected behavior of each gender role. The term Gender, as defined by the United Nations, includes the psychological, social, cultural, and behavioral characteristics associated with being female or male. It further defines acceptable

    Read More

  • West And Zimmerman Analysis

    495 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Doing Gender” by West and Zimmerman is similar to Butler’s “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution.” However, West and Zimmerman build upon the ideas that Butler puts forth. Butler focuses on gender as performance and how gender is made up by specific actions. While West and Zimmerman take the concept of performance and constitution and applies it to a new concept, the sex category and how sex categories and gender are intertwined in society. Sex categories and gender, according to West and Zimmerman, are different and interconnected.

    Read More

  • A Brief Review Of Allison Bechdel's Fun Home

    822 Words  | 4 Pages

    When reading an autobiography it is safe to assume that you are dealing with an unreliable narrator. This is the author’s story and no matter how objective they may try to be it will always be tainted with their own perspective of what happened since they were so close to the situations being described. So, one of the things someone writing an autobiography needs to be good at is tricking the audience into believing that their story is the truth. In Allison Bechdel’s graphic novel Fun Home, she uses a visual medium to help her accomplish this task.

    Read More

  • Gender Identity Nature Or Nurture

    1093 Words  | 5 Pages

    Although some people believe that nature affects the gender identity, others argue that, based on the education an individual receives, it is actually nurture. For example, John Moore, a teacher at a female-only school, says, “My findings suggest that, in some senses, the single-sex school is strongly feminist” (Moore, 2005). On the other hand, many societies teach the children gender stereotypes to try and limit them from becoming against what the society feels is appropriate. Gender roles or stereotypes are “a set of qualities, behaviors, and attitudes that are considered appropriate for males and females based on their biological sex” (Whalen & Maurer-Starks, 2008). Most of the time, these stereotypes are taught and explained to the children in the early stages of learning, since as mentioned above, gender identity is most likely detected after the child is two years old.

    Read More

  • Thesis Statement For Gender Socialization

    963 Words  | 4 Pages

    The phrase gender role is concept of society that defines what behavior society expect form men and women and how they are suppose to act in society . While evolving, what kind of passive and active toys are allowed to play with? What kind of clothes and colors to wear? Unaware route of molding a person to fit in with society 's norms and values is called sociologists as "socialization." Many think that gender stereotyping in form of clothes, toys or books or along with other aspects, teach a children rising up to fit into conventional gender roles.

    Read More

  • Essay On Biological Reductionism

    982 Words  | 4 Pages

    To conclude, it is because of societal norms and values, although they may have some biological roots, that gender is assigned to boys and girls by significant others

    Read More

  • The Little Mermaid Gender Stereotypes

    1690 Words  | 7 Pages

    Gender is something that is brought to the attention of people well before people are even brought into the world. Take for instance, when a woman finds out that she is pregnant and is about to have a child. The first question that that women is asked is “What are you having?” In doing this we are automatically emphasizing the importance of being able to identify whether or not to buy “boy” things or “girl” things. As a society we deem it important for each sex to practice a set of “norms” of how to behave via that sex.

    Read More

  • Film Analysis: Growing Up Trans

    696 Words  | 3 Pages

    This thought has never crossed my mind before because I, myself, took ‘gender’ as a natural phenomenon. Gender is a product of socialization. It is cultural roles and personality characteristics that are labeled appropriate for men and women (lecture). Gender facilitates normative accountability: “structures that are in place to “correct” people’s gender non-conforming behaviours” (Johnson). Normative accountability and gender expectations were big issues children in the film faced.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Gender Identity

    1045 Words  | 5 Pages

    There is much speculation on gender identity and the gender roles that surround them society views that men should be manly and brave while girls must be scared and timid while other people view that this notion is not right. Just because people are born into these genders does not mean that they must conform to how society views them they should them be able to be who they want to without the

    Read More

  • How Have Gender Roles Changed Over Time

    465 Words  | 2 Pages

    Accordingly, how parents instruct their children to act and what they should do as a woman or men causes countless troubles because parents send mixed signals. If they don’t want them to act a certain way they should enlighten them something conflicting as a child so they can grow up how they want them to be when they become older. It all starts at home. Gender roles are very much alive today, but they would not be as relevant if you teach your child gender equality at a young

    Read More

  • Pink Vs. Blue Gender Myth

    289 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Pink vs. Blue Gender Myth According to Claudia Hammond, "It 's easy to spot the girls’ section of a children 's clothes shop because most of it is pink. " It is said that colors do seem to influence our behavior much more than we think. There has been various research done on the color preferences of the different genders and age groups. In one research, it has been proven that most babies and toddlers, of either gender, are attracted to primary colors such as red and blue. Results of this age group, proved that some prefer red and some prefer blue despite the gender differences.

    Read More

More about Gender Identity In Allison Bechdel's Fun Home

Open Document