bashoGWSS1

Blog 4
By Naomi Ko

Alice’s encounters with gender and power shows the inequality between the two sexes as well as the inequality of power. In the classroom, the boys dominate, thus has the power. When Alice’s mom’s friend’s boyfriend leaves her, he displays the powerful one out of their relationship. Both of these examples shows on this inequality of sex and power have become a part of this “everyday� life, because it happens so frequently. It is constant and consistent in Alice’s life.

Due to these “boundaries� gender and power place in her life, she becomes frustrated. She doesn’t understand why the boys in class always get what they want, why the boyfriend leaves, etc. The men, however, do not take all the power. Her mother and school friends, in response to the inequality of power from the men, use power against her. Alice feels everyone around her has the power, while she has to essentially suffer for his or her costs.

From Henri Lefebvre’s reading, this reoccurring powerless state for Alice will take away certain possibilities of self-expression. If these boundaries continue, it will become a part of the “everyday,� and she will eventually repeat it herself. She will not be able to tell anyone how she truly feels, because she doesn’t control if they will accept it or not. Thus, Alice doesn’t tell her mother certain things. She lashes out; she rebels in anger, because she bottled everything up. She can never truly be herself, and has to always “do gender� in order for people to accept her. Thus, she repeats the “everyday.� She cannot be herself, she has to “perform,� because that is the only way she will be able to achieve power.