Fighting Pressure from Both Sides: Gender and Feminism in The Virgin Suicides Hadley Ingersoll College

The 1970s in the U.S. was a pivotal time in politics and social change. Second wave feminism was characterized by the sexual liberation of women. As women began to become familiar with their sexual identities there was also the desire for them to define the rest of their identities. The hope to create a unique female voice carried over to to the political sphere. After major changes started in Washington women stepped up to fight for workplace rights and other opportunities that matched their male counterparts. However, this struggle to create equality began long before this new group of feminists arrived on the scene. The same attack on unequal opportunity and the push for legislation protecting against this can be seen back to the 1920s; where brave women forged on with their newly granted voting rights and tried to gain more ground. The second wave feminists held onto those old goals while also redefining the platform on which they stood by focusing on an additional aspect of oppression; the social paradox that women deal with in regards to sexuality.

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides is set during this critical era in feminism and follows the tragic lives of the five Lisbon sisters. Before they each committed...