Strategies for Challenging the Patriarchy: Critical Theory in 'Fight Club' and 'The Passion of the New Eve' Anonymous College

Gender studies is the interdisciplinary study based around ideas of the masculine and feminine. It also looks at sexual differences and the more fluid definitions of gender which have arisen over time. This theory can also be broken down into three sub categories: Women’s studies, Men’s studies and Queer studies which can be further broken down into the three categories of: gender identity, gender expression and biological sex. These three categories help us look at the social, biological, and cultural constructions of gender and help us analyse the ways in which femininity and masculinity can be viewed as fluid entities which change depending on the different factors of life that shape them. From gender studies, feminist theorists have also identified the social system of patriarchy where males are shown to take dominant roles through various aspects of life such as the workplace, thus forcing women into the position of ‘other’. Through my essay, I am going to locate the patriarchal aspects of both Chuck Palahniuk’s psychological thriller ‘Fight Club’ (1997) and Angela Carters dystopian novel ‘The Passion of New eve’ (1977) and assess the ways in which characters in the novel effectively challenge this system or conform to it....