Masculinity and Feminism

In "Attaining Masculinity," Paul Lewis discusses views on fictional women in the 1700's and 1800's, and their effect on early feminism. Lewis begins the article with a reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and then lists other examples of various fictional women showing a physical resistance to the patriarchy, all the way back to Charles Brockden Brown's "Ormund." Lewis mentions that Brown's depiction of Constantia; her man's education, management of her father's household, and her ability to defend herself from a physical attack. Lewis also mentions Martinette de Beauvais, who is a cross-dressing, woman warrior. These two women serve as early examples of feminism in fiction.

Lewis goes on to ask questions on how strong women were viewed in the 1790's: "How weak were women in comparison with men? Could women act physically in the world to defend and protect themselves? Could the excesses of patriarchal surveillance and domination be resisted only through moral (sentimental) suasion, or could women, driven to extreme postures of self-defense or to military activity in support of broader political objectives, use physical force?" (39). He discusses how Cathy Davidson described the social and intellectual progression in books written by women, while also omitting the idea that women could defend themselves physically. Lewis mentions how many Americans viewed Mary Wollstoncraft as trying to portray women as manly, with muscles and body hair.

The idea that women warriors could exist was strengthened during the American and French Revolutions, where there were women who "forgot the weakness of their sex" (40), in order to join their husbands in the trenches, which is why the representation of characters like Martinette made such an impact on feminism in the early 19th century. Lewis claims that for Brown, Martinette offers a "far more searching critique of sentimentalism that Davidson struggles to find in women's fiction of the decade." (44), and that Davidson essentially ignores Brown's book despite showcasing plot lines that fit into Davidson's argument.

But it's the combination of the three characters of Constantia, Sophia, and Martinette, who "explode assumptions of about female physical defenselessness and the superiority of heterosexuality." (44-45). Lewis says that, to Brown, sentimentalism in the form of seduction, fails to do more than defend a patriarchal order, and fails to understand what women can become.