The Broadened Notion of Gender and the Possibilities It Implies in Winterson’s 'Sexing the Cherry' Priyanka Negi College

Jeanette Winterson’s 1989 novel Sexing the Cherry, through postmodern elements of experimentation of literary forms and untraditional narrative structure as well as featuring elements of magic realism subverts the established notions regarding gender as well as sexuality. This subversion from the prevailing ideas of gender does not just happen in a role reversal manner, but also asserts to broaden the spectrum of gender itself, whilst drawing close attention to the formulation of the conventional gender identities (and gender binarism) and at the same time, demolishing them.

The long-established gender identities are perturbed through various characters and methods, such as through Dog-Woman, the motif of grafting and the provocation of a dilemma in Jordan of his gender. It is to be noted that Winterson reverses the gender specific expectation by shifting the focus on the “selves” of these characters rather than their roles, and thus normalizes the unconventional roles that they play. In the words of Gilbert and Gubar, “The woman who speaks out is branded as an active monster.” Winterson adheres to this definition when she pens the character of the Dog-Woman, and in doing so, she challenges the repressive patriarchy, which...