Analysis of Patriarchy, Feminism, and Gender in The Short Story “The Steel Brassiere” by Iris Sheila G. Crisostomo

Patriarchy

A patriarchy, from the ancient Greek patriarches, was a society where power was held by and passed down through the elder males. When modern historians and sociologists describe a "patriarchal society," they mean that men hold the positions of power and have more privilege: head of the family unit, leaders of social groups, a boss in the workplace, and heads of government.

Feminist theorists have expanded the definition of patriarchal society to describe a systemic bias against women. As second-wave feminists examined society during the 1960s, they did observe households headed by women and female leaders. They were, of course, concerned with whether this was uncommon.

More significant, however, was the way society perceived women in power as an exception to a collectively held view of women's "role" in society. Rather than saying that individual men oppressed women, most feminists saw that oppression of women came from the underlying bias of a patriarchal society.

In the short story by Iris Sheila G. Crisostomo, The Steel Brassiere, the are several act that can be said as patriarchy. The narrator's identity is not revealed in the story, but she can be identified as a woman who is described as Lindoln’s wife and a mother of two children. The story begins with the demolition of Tiya Anding's house.

In this story, there are several scenes that show Lindoln's patriarchal role to his wife, or narrator. It is said that the narrator has been married to her husband for eight years but she feels she was living with a stranger. Actually, Lindoln, the narrator's husband, has actually given a pretty good life to his family, but he always criticizes his wife for making a mistake. For example, when he scolds his wife for making their child sick. He lectured how could a mother who was sane bring trouble to her children. ‘Lindoln kept me up all night with his how-to-be-a-good-mother lectures.’ (p.3). This sentence proves that women must follow what they should do in a patriarchal view, that is to be a good mother.

The wife is also often told to always serve the needs of her husband. She must do what a wife should do to her husband, such as taking care of a child, looking after the house, and giving her husband's needs, as in the story, the wife always prepares to give a towel to her husband every morning. ‘I said nothing as I handed him the towel like I always do each morning.’ (p.1).

Her husband also does not seem to like it if his wife leaves the house. In the story told that the wife did not admit if she came out of the house to see Tiya Anding's house, she replied that she was always at home in the afternoon. Lindoln also seemed to underestimate what happened with Tiya Anding's house, that her house deserved to be torn down because it had rotted. The narrator wants to dodge and refute but she doesn’t dare, because she is too good and very stupid not to refute the words of her husband, who seems to harass women.

The narrator may want her husband to pay more attention to her, there is a scene when she asks for money to take her children for a walk. Initially, Lindoln would give P500, but he suddenly changed his mind and gave P300. The Narrator can do nothing but say ‘thank you’ and accept the money. Her husband always told her to be at home, because that was the best for her and their children. He doesn’t allow his wife to work because it is not the right of a wife, Lindoln feels that he has provided a comfortable life for his wife, but he is like imprisoning and isolating his wife in the house.

There is a scene where Lindoln scolds his wife for making their children sick. He lectured how could a mother who was sane bring trouble to her children, he was angry all night and turned her back to sleep. The Narrator is only listening, she wants to scream, cry, laugh and be angry. But what she did was silent, she didn’t feel anything. We can associate this with the bra that she found at Tiya Anding's house. Maybe because of the bra she became not afraid of her husband anymore.

Feminism

Feminism at its core is about equality of men and women, not “sameness.” So many people offer up the argument that women are not the “same” as men so there can’t be equality. In other words, because their bodies are different (many say “weaker” and smaller), and because men and women have different physical capabilities, these physical differences mean equality is not possible. It’s critical to understand that “same” does not mean “equal.” The issue here is about equal rights and equal access to opportunities.  Men and women don’t have to be the “same” in physicality to have the right to equality.

In the story, the narrator often mentions the steel bra she found at her friend, Tiya Anding's house. This bra is made of metal and cold, it is not a possible bra that is often worn by young girls in general. “two cones of stainless steel with straps made of hammered wire” (p.1)). This bra can be said as calming anger, “a sure protection for the delicate female flesh underneath” (p.1). Because every narrator tries to wear it, she feels a strange feeling covering her chest. The cold feeling of iron is described as calming the heart. The narrator always tells that after she wears an iron bra, she always feels cold in her heart. She also felt like she could fight her enemy because this bra was like a bra belonging to a female soldier. “I felt like a warrior riding with the wind, charging towards the enemy.” (p.2).

She felt she could put out what she wanted to say but she couldn’t. “I felt I was too weak to fight my own battles” (p.1). It can be said that in fact, the narrator wants to express her opinion but she is too afraid to face the risk.

The narrator for a moment imagined her conversation again with Tiya Anding, they talked about each other's husbands. Tiya Anding's husband, Tata Fernan, is a husband who doesn’t like his wife smoking and often forbids Tiya Anding from smoking. But she always dares to argue her words and say that her husband is a loser because he is afraid of his life. “That old man just cannot live without me,”  (p.3).

According to Tiya Anding, two people who love each other is a person who must undergo a mutually beneficial relationship. The Narrator only laments her breast that her husband is very busy and rarely notices her at home. When Tiya Anding's house was torn down, the narrator felt she had lost a part of herself. She felt very lost the friend she used to talk to. She then moved and drank water from the jug, and felt calm because the cold water made her think of the metal bra she was wearing. When the telephone call in the morning rang, her husband called her. She boldly issued her opinion for the first time, refuting what her husband ordered.

Gender

Gender is a socially constructed definition of women and men. It is not the same as sex (biological characteristics of women and men) and it is not the same as women. Gender is determined by the conception of tasks, functions, and roles attributed to women and men in society and in public and private life. [Gender in practice. Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation]

In this story it also seems, It can also be seen that the narrator's husband is a busy person, because he often comes home late at night and is rarely at home. “I knew Lindoln wouldn’t be home until midnight” (p.1). She has been married to Lindoln for eight years but she feels like living with a stranger. This may be due to Lindoln who is too busy with his work, according to him “A man needs a woman to take care of his needs and the woman needs a men to support her.”  (p.2).

Lindoln is a person who has a pretty good job, he also gives pretty good life to his family, but he is too ignorant and rarely at home to take care of the family. This might have caused the narrator to feel lonely, especially since his friend, Tiya Anding, who was always the person she spoke to had died. She felt increasingly lonely. She did have a comfortable life, but he felt there was nothing she had.

In this story, the role of gender is very visible, where the husband forbids his wife to leave the house. The wife may only do housework, such as caring for children, serving her husband, and be a good mother. So, it can be seen that women were only created to support men, the narrator is forbidden to leave the house, this can be seen from Lindoln's dialogue "stay at home. It's best for you and our children" (p.2).

The struggle for gender equality and efforts to release the grip of patriarchal culture in our daily lives must be placed. These explanations indicate that patriarchal culture discredited women. This is because the patriarchal culture in itself contains the illusion of hierarchy that men are higher than women. In everyday life, patriarchal culture breeds inequality between men and women; women are considered weak and lowly. In this position, women are in a vulnerable condition, for example; very vulnerable to discrimination, very vulnerable to sexual harassment, and so on.

Thus, patriarchal culture must be resisted and eroded for the sake of gender equality. The struggle against patriarchal culture is not limited to women, but men must participate in it. This is because patriarchal power is also detrimental to men; that man must meet certain criteria so that they are truly called men and if they do not meet the patriarchal criteria, then they will be nominated as a woman's position in a patriarchal culture.

 

References

“THE STEEL BRASSIERE by Iris Sheila G. Crisostomo.” (https://www.sushidog.com/bpss/stories/steel_brassiere.htm accessed November 20, 2019)

Napikoski , Linda and Jone Johnson Lewis. 2019. Patriarchal Society According to Feminism. (https://www.thoughtco.com/patriarchal-society-feminism-definition-3528978 accessed November 20, 2019)

Caprino, Kathy. 2017. What Is Feminism, And Why Do So Many Women And Men Hate It?. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2017/03/08/what-is-feminism-and-why-do-so-many-women-and-men-hate-it/#57ca9a107e8e accessed November 20,2019)

“What is Gender”. (http://www.gender.cawater-info.net/what_is/index_e.htm accessed November 20, 2019)