by Amanda Cartigiano
We hear a lot about female representation when it comes to television and music, but rarely does the mainstream media pay any attention to women in literature. Of course, there are many popular works featuring feminist characters and/or narratives, such as Jane Eyre, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and The Color Purple, but I want to highlight some of the challenges that arise when literary giants like Charles Bukowski butt up against feminism in their own writing.
It’s important to understand Bukowski’s conception of women, and the time period in which he was writing them. His famous novels, Women and Ham on Rye are considered autobiographical, in that the main character, Henry Charles “Hank” Chianski, is the alter-ego of Bukowski. Growing up with a father who had a negative impression of what he considered “the weaker sex” deeply impacted Bukowski’s own understanding of women.
Because of the deep, concrete language and imagery in poetry, Bukowski’s misogynistic ways are thoroughly represented, and he seems to be fixated on the subject. To be able to think about and view women in such a degrading manner for a space in literature only reinforces a biased, sexist representation.
“there are some women there who go where the money goes, and sometimes when you look at these whores these one hundred dollar whores you wonder sometimes if nature isn’t playing a joke dealing out so much breast and ass and the way it’s all hung together, you look and you look and you look and you can’t believe it”
Between 1930 and 1970, there were many social and political movements that attempted to forge justice and equality for women. With the start of Women’s Liberation and second-wave feminism gaining tremendous notoriety, women were marching forth demanding change about their worth. But, Bukowski seemed to have kept his work separate from what was happening around him. His creation of characters exemplifies what Bukowski experienced and so he came to the conclusion that, “Women are aggressive and disloyal whores.” In Jani Korhonen’s essay, “The Portrayal of Women in the Novels of Charles Bukowski”, she discusses two critical components of misogyny and sexism: male perception of female hostility and male perception of women as sex objects. When you have no respect for someone, let alone an entire gender, it’s almost impossible to characterize as them as legitimate people. So instead, Bukowski used violence and anger to make his writing more compelling.
Most feminists would think to stay away from Bukowski’s writing, considering the way he talked about women, but the majority of his work was written in the late ’70s through the early ’80s when common misconceptions about gender representation and equality were ubiquitous. Perhaps there wasn’t as much talk regarding a need for change back then as there is now, but that still does not erase the existence of misogyny in his literary work. He often wrote from the point of view of his alter ego, which creates a nonfiction perspective, and while Bukowski feels as though it was necessary to talk about women this way, it’s difficult for other women to maintain engaged because it is all too real.
Characters in literature usually follow the same prescription as characters in film, but because text is not an instant visual, it takes a while for society to react. The designation of women as sex objects is still a significant topic discussed in gender related media and re-creating that dead-ringer in writing can be done through various elements of characterization.
Bukowski’s written portrayals of women are important to note here because since his work is considered autobiographical, it implies to his readers that these were his own experiences. We write what we know, and that’s how he knew women. We often give writers the benefit of the doubt for our satisfaction if we believe the work is good, but ethically, it’s also appropriate from the viewpoint of another writer to comprehend the sociological flaws that make an appearance as well. We can’t change the book, but we can be conscious.
For more info on Amanda, check out her interview.