Jennifer

Elsa Del Valle ENC 1102 4/20/2018 Introduction Sexism is a form of discrimination or prejudice directed mainly at women and girls. This concept has existed since ages back (Swim et al. 199). For instance, in ancient Rome, women were not allowed to hold political offices. In ancient China as well, women were supposed to be subordinate to their father’s, husbands and in case they were widowed, their sons. The term itself, ‘sexism’, was adopted recently in the ‘50s and ‘60s during the second wave of feminism. The term came about due to the need to raise awareness of the existed of women oppression within the society, based on their gender (Sepulveda 20). Junot Diaz is a renowned writer, who has won many awards for his literature one of which is the Pulitzer Award for his novel “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” (Andres). Over the years he has written many books and some of them have faced scrutiny particularly from women who consider them to be sexist. “This is How You Lose Her”, a collection of short stories revolving around a character called Yunior particularly has been considered sexist by some readers. However, other readers argue otherwise and Junot Diaz has come out and defended his literature, saying that his work was meant simply to expose the issue of sexism (Fassler). Therefore, many readers consider him to be brave for addressing the issue the way he did in the literature. As a writer, the only way one can make an impact in the society is to be honest in their literature. They should speak the truth about the world and about themselves just as Junot does in the literature. He exposes the truth about sexism which is very much present in our society. This paper will support the argument that Junot Diaz was not sexist in his literature by providing various points like the fact that in his literature the main character Yunior who is sexist ends up all alone and sad, a consequence of his nature. Supporting Arguments It is clearly apparent from the story that Yunior is very sexist, as intended by Junot. Yunior sees women simply as objects and not as people. Most of the time he spends his time talking about women’s bodies which are the only things he desires. There is one particular instance when he is observing his brother’s girlfriend Nilda and he describes her as bosom as a chest while telling the reader that she has a great bosom (Diaz, “This is how”). The issue is that Yunior is first of all very inappropriate in the way he refers to Nilda’s bosom as ‘chest’. He assumes that everyone is thrilled with the way he talks about a woman’s bosom the same way he does. Also, from the stories it is apparent that he rarely thinks about the emotions of the women he dates. He never cares to ask them about their desires, their complications, why they get into or end relationships with him (Fassler). He simply uses them to fulfill his sexual desires and beyond that he has no need for them. There is a girl called Veronica in particular, whom Yunior sought whenever he had no one else to turn to fulfill his desires. When the lady confessed to Yunior that she loved him, Yunior could not confront this fact and the relationship ended at that point. This shows how much she objectified this lady and thus how much of a sexist. All this was Diaz’s intention. He wanted to expose this issue of sexism and present it as it is regardless of how much some women may be appalled by his depiction of it. The issue of sexism exists in the society and Diaz portrayed this in his book to show how deep rooted it is (Pellicia, 244). He himself confessed in an interview with Joe Fassler that he risked writing a book that would be viewed as sexist, while his intention all along was to expose the issue. He further says that so as to tackle an issue head on the only way to start this is by showing that the issue indeed exists within the society (Fassler). In fact, Diaz further adds in his interview that through his character Yunior he wanted to reckon with the male privilege. He believes that men in the society are privileged and this is partly what motivated him to write “This is How You Lose Her”. Diaz also talks about men who consider themselves to be good and due to that mere fact, they are not sexist (Fassler). However, according to him the fact that one is good does not change the fact that they are not sexist. According to him they have to take an extra step and work actively to fight against the issue, and not just sit around and consider themselves good people. These are not sentiments of someone who is sexist. Diaz clearly shows he is passionate to fight against the issue of sexism in the society, through his writing and he has made his stand clear on the issue (Vizthum). As the story of Yunior progresses, it is evident that as a result of his prejudice against women, due to his limited insight into what women thinks and feel and how his actions can hurt them, Yunior can never maintain a relationship. This sexist view makes him to cheat on almost every woman he gets into a relationship, and he never cares about his actions. In fact, there is his fiancé whom he cheated on 50 times (Diaz, “This is how”). However, he realizes that he feels sad whenever his partners find out about his infidelities and he always try to patch up things with them. However, none of them work out and he is always left miserable. By portraying Yuniors failure to maintain relationships and have a go at a happy life, Diaz shows that actions have consequences. Yunior thinks that he will get away with infidelity but in the end the truth comes out. His infidelity is directly related to his sexist nature, as he never cares much about the women he cheats on, and in the end loses them. Therefore, we can say that his sexism is a direct cause of his constant breakups and the resulting sadness (Diaz et al, “The fWord”). By portraying it this way, Diaz shows that the sexist nature of someone comes at a price and this way shows that it is a vile act. In fact, there is a law student who used him to take care of her while she was pregnant while in truth the pregnancy was not his. This may be a direct consequence of his previous actions where he used women. This time he was the victim. This way, the writer shows the consequences of his sexist nature. The nature of Yunior has cost him a lot, but he does not know how to stop cheating on these women. In fact, Diaz says that Yunior feels a pelagic despair whenever he is confronted by another break up. He finds himself doing the same thing over and over and get heartbroken repeatedly yet he has no insight into why the same thing keeps happening to him. From the way Yunior mourns the women who leave him, we see that he might actually love them but he does not know how to keep them. By presenting his literature this way, Diaz demonstrates that this bias against women may be implicit. Gender bias, the basis of sexism is something that is within us, introduced by out associations within the culture we live in (Yarwoski). These bias results from our brain’s actions where while trying to avoid the realities of life we instead act in this manner. Yunior showed from his interactions with women that he had this implicit bias against women. He most definitely was not aware that he was doing wrong and this is why he repeated the same thing. So as to acknowledge that something exists it has to be first exposed. This is what Diaz does through his character Yunior. Diaz shows in his literature that this bias was implicit since Yunior never knew what was happening. Without acknowledging the existence of something, particularly biases that are unconscious, like sexism is, nothing can be done (Yarwoski). The short story in the collection that makes Diaz’s stance on the issue of sexism very clear is the one and only story which was not written from Yunior’s point of view. The story is titled Otravida, Otravez. This story, told by a Dominican-American woman called Yasmin shows an abrupt change in perspective. This woman’s boyfriend had a wife who had stayed behind in their home country (Diaz, “This is how”). Yasmin comes to find out about this and it is clear from the way she acts that she empathized with the man’s wife. Yunior would not have shown such care under the same scenario unlike this woman. In Yasmin’s story, the language used is kind and gentle. It is a clear opposite of the brutish language in Yunior’s stories. This shows that the author’s depiction of sexism was simply subjective to Yunior and no one else in the story. Yunior’s stories are filled with descriptions of women, their butts, busts and so forth. This story however, has none of this. Despite the fact that Yasmin is not perfect, she is capable of self-reflection and looking into the err in her ways. She also shows what Yunior cannot and that is deep empathy for the poor woman whom her husband left. This is an indicator that Yunior was simply being used to display sexism and supports the argument that Diaz as a writer is not sexist at all. It makes more sense to consider Junot as brave rather than as a machismo filled writer who without regret objectifies women in his writing. For someone to be the great writer he is they have to be brave and take risks. Junot himself said that he knew that many people might take offense of his portrayal of Yunior as a sexist male chauvinist. However, great art is the kind of art that challenges a reader and fuels debates the kinds of which Junot’s literature have. If he had instead decided to play safe we would never have gotten to know about his literature. Moreover, this safe kind of literature is stagnant and makes the society stagnant as well. He had to express sexism as much as he did to capture people’s attention and he successfully did. Many writers fear taking risks in their writing and that is why they have never grown as both writers and individuals. Also, they have made very little impact in the society. This is not Junot. He aimed at making an impact by strongly expressing himself yet being subtle at the same time in his literature. By being subtle he sparked debates that help mold the society and foster change. As a writer the best way to make an impact in your writing, which I believe every passionate writer intends to do in his/her writing, is to be honest as much as possible. A writer should speak the truth about the world and themselves as both people and writers. One needs to abandon the comfortable lies of everyday and embrace the painful truth. Ultimately everyone appreciates someone who is honest rather than one who protects them with lies. As a result, it would be wrong to say he was simply being sexist in his literature. His intention was to simply challenge the reader with the truth which is the fact that sexism very much exists. In the last story, “The Cheater’s Guide to Love”, we start seeing the beginning of Yunior’s enlightenment about women and how they should be treated (Geraldo). As he contemplates his life, he realizes that his girlfriend was right to leave him, much as he did not want to admit this. He exposes to the reader the folder which he had hidden away for a long time. The folder contains all the emails and photos from when he used to cheat. His ex-fiancée had discovered his infidelities and compiled them in the folder and sent them to him. As he goes through the contents of the folder, Yunior for the first time admits that he was cowardly to do what he did to all those women. He accepts the truth that he indeed lied and cheated countlessly and now he felt sorry for his actions. This shows that he was starting to see the error in his ways and he was probably at the beginning of a turn around in his life. Certainly, the writer, Diaz is addressing his readers, particularly men through this. He is implying that men who are sexist in nature like Diaz should confront reality just as Diaz did and realize that their ways only end in grief (Williams III). Hence, they should change their ways so as to enjoy life more. However, majority of story focused on Yunior’s infidelities and break ups and as a result the main focus was mostly on exposing his sexism, and the sexism in our current society as well, and to demonstrate the consequence of such actions. Sexism never ends well for anyone. As a man, one cannot connect with the female gender, in an intimate fashion when they are constantly sexist. Women want to be respected, and not simply objectified the way Yunior did to his female companions (Wecks). Failure to do this ends in constant heartbreak to someone. Diaz did well in the novel to expose this truth, which pervades our current society. In fact, Diaz himself when interviewed said that due to his actions, Yunior found himself so far from any human connection due to his dehumanization, yet he really longed for a human connection (Fassler). This is what happens when someone fails to appreciate women and understand their nature. This further supports the fact that Diaz by all means is not sexist. It is true that many readers, women in particular have been appalled by Diaz’s presentation of Yunior as sexist. Some have not even completed the book due as they simply conclude that Diaz’s literature is nothing more that sexist. However, I believe that by portraying his character as sexist, he was trusting the reader to be impartial and see beyond the sexist nature of Yunior, to the truth about sexism that Junot was trying to portray (Samuel). This was his main purpose in the short stories. To even support his criticism for sexism he showed that there were consequences of this. However, some readers were in such a rush to dump the book that they failed to realize the truth of the matter. In fact, come have gone on to critique his writing without even opening a single page in his book. This kind of attitude just shows how much ignorance people have. It is apparent to an open-minded person that Diaz bravely tried to expose the issue by presenting it as it is through the character Yunior. He made no attempt to hide anything from the reader but presented Yunior as brutish as he was. This shows a man willing to put anything on the line if only to make a strong statement about what happens in the society (Lim). Conclusion In conclusion, I have started by presenting a brief description of the issue of sexism, how it came about and why it did. It came about from the need of women to raise awareness about their oppression in the society. I also introduced Junot Diaz, a renowned writer whose work “This is How You Lose Her” in particular has been considered by many to be sexist while others defend him saying that he was trusting the reader to see the truth for themselves. My stand on whether or not Junot is being sexist in his literature is that he is not being sexist. His character Yunior was evidently sexist as portrayed by his limited view of women, never caring about their feelings. He only wanted to fulfill his sexual desires and be done. Therefore, Diaz shows that such actions have dire consequences. As the short story ends, Yunior has no one in his life. Despite his numerous relationships, nothing never works out. This way, Diaz shows us that actions like sexism never end well for somebody. As a result, he is clearly not sexist. Works cited Andres, Kaitlin. "The fW ord in The brief Wondrous life of osCar Wao." lass: 8. Díaz, GGGJunot, and MIn Darkness We MeetN. " Andres, Kaitlin. "The fWord in The brief Wondrous life of osCar Wao." lass: 8. (2015): 53. Díaz, Junot. This is how you lose her. Penguin, 2013. Fassler, Joe. "How Junot Díaz Wrote a Sexist Character, but Not a Sexist Book." The Atlantic 11 (2012). Geraldo, Wilson. “Gender Criticism of Junot Diaz's 'The Cheater's Guide to Love'.” Viva, 17 Aug. 2017, viva. Media /gender-criticism-of-junot-diaz-s-the-cheater-s-guide-to-love. Lim, Thea. “Breaking the Barrier: On Race, Gender, and Junot Díaz.” The Millions, 24 Oct. 2012, themillions.com/2012/10/breaking-the-barrier-on-race-gender-and-junot-diaz.html. Pellicia, Michelle F. Ramos. "Reading Junot Díaz and filling the void of Latinx writers in US Literature." Confluencia: Revista Hispánica de Cultura y Literatura 32.2 (2017): 241-246. Samuel, Sigal. “What Women Can Learn From Reading Sexist Male Writers.” Electric Literature, Electric Literature, 24 Nov. 2015, electricliterature.com/what-women-can-learn-from-reading-sexist-male-writers-a83f6. Sepulveda, Fremio. "Coding the Immigrant Experience: Race, Gender and the Figure of the Dictator in Junot Diaz's" Oscar Wao"." Journal of Caribbean Literatures 7.2 (2013): 15-33. Swim, Janet K., et al. "Sexism and racism: Old-fashioned and modern prejudices." Journal of personality and social psychology 68.2 (1995): 199. Vitzthum, Virginia. “Junot Díaz's Pro-Woman Agenda.” ELLE, ELLE, 9 Oct. 2017, www.elle.com/culture/books/reviews/a14353/junot-diaz-interview/. Wecks, Erik. “This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz is a Difficult but Illuminating Tale of Failure and Growth.” Wired, Conde Nast, 15 Jan. 2018, www.wired.com/2012/11/junot-diaz/. Williams III, James, and Jolanda-Pieta van Arnhem. "But then you have to make it happen." Code4Lib Journal 28 (2015). Yaworski, Karen Fay. Playing Rough: Racial and Gender Stereotypes, Performance and Misreading in the Fiction of Junot Díaz and Dany Laferrière. Diss. University of Toronto (Canada), 2016.