Dystopian Fiction? Or Dystopian Reality... ( FEMINIST LENS:) )

    In the novel, "The Grace Year" by Kim Ligget, there are a TON of feminist ideals hiding behind the surface. There are also a TON of misogynistic ideas that I have encountered as well. Overall, the main feminist conclusion from reading this book is that women are pitted against each other ultimately for the sake of men. An example that immediately made my jaw drop was the rule in their society that at age 16, women come into their "magic". I interpreted this so called "magic" as sex appeal/seduction and assumed that the men in charge of this dystopian society were making excuses for their inability to control themselves or their minds. This also includes some of the brainwashed, bitter wives who looked at the young women as monsters, terrified of their so-called "power". Another key part I noticed in the novel is how women in this society are one of three things: whores, wives, or nobodies residing in the fields. They are given no power, no opportunity to prove their competence and are limited to being possessions, not people. 

    I was getting MAD reading this book because the parallels I was seeing between our own society and Tierney's was astronomical. People remain ignorant and downplay how bad women are treated in our society. Just because women aren't treated as badly as they were throughout history, it doesn't mean men and women are treated as equals today. Deep-rooted misogyny is very prevalent, even in our more progressive country: the United States of America. "Innocent" jokes made by my own male friends referencing outdated gender roles. My own family member (man by the way) saying I should stop lifting weights because I will "look bulky". Automatically insinuating that my life's purpose, my entire existence depends on... my body looking the best it can. Hmmm. Pretty disgusting and weird. The list would go on and on and this is coming from a WHITE young woman living in America. I am aware of my privilege and am trying to do the best I can to dismantle said privilege because women of color definitely experience oppression but times a MILLION.

    The reason I love this novel so much is because I view it as a symbol of hope. Tierney is the girl I want to be: strong, independent, and not willing to conform to the role her messed up society is trying to trap her in. She is the blueprint since she is a young woman who is coming of age into her adolescent, feminist era.