Internalized Misogyny: A Transnational Exploration of Select Literary Narratives

Patriarchy is a pervasive global phenomenon, that creates social, cultural and political disparities and perpetuates gender inequality, discrimination and bias. It is deeply embedded in various discourses of human civilization, operating through both identifiable and unidentifiable mechanisms. Internalized misogyny, many a time is a subtle apparatus that manifests and maintains patriarchy and gender inequality. Identifying internalized misogyny is a complex task owing to the fact that its practices are often legitimized and internalized by women, thus making it unrecognized. Periodically, when overt structures of patriarchal hegemonies are criticized, the covert means of hegemonic functioning, particularly internalized misogyny remains underrepresented and uncritiqued. Thus, addressing the problem of internalized misogyny is the need of the hour. This study adopts two literary narratives namely, The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan and Idris: Keeper of the Light by Anita Nair for the ongoing discussion on internalized misogyny. The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan inquire into multigenerational reverberations of internalized misogyny, through the traction of mothers and daughters impelling Chinese traditions and gender roles upon themselves and other women around them. Idris: Keeper of the Light by Anita Nair clasps the reader’s attention towards 17th Century India and how the female characters grapples with societal norms that incarcerate them into subservient roles. Hence, this proposed paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the select works to identify and examine the discourse of internalized misogyny, that perpetuates gender inequality. By scrutinizing both works, this paper divulges into the omnipresent nature of internalized misogyny irrespective of contrasting historical and cultural contexts.