He's going to touch me there - a comparative feminist stylistic analysis of agency and gender in selected erotic literature for women

Ravnsbæk, Natasja Nielsen

4. term

English, Master

2019

68

Specialet undersøger, hvordan tre populære erotiske romaner for kvinder – Dark Lover (J.R. Ward), Fifty Shades of Grey og Grey (begge af E.L. James) – skildrer kønsroller, romantiske relationer og seksuel handlekraft (dvs. en persons mulighed for at handle og træffe valg i seksuelle situationer). Fordi Grey genfortæller historien fra Fifty Shades of Grey fra Christian Greys synspunkt, giver det mulighed for at se, hvordan fortællerens køn påvirker fremstillingen af relationer og handlekraft. Analysen kombinerer korpusstilistik (kvantitativt at tælle og sammenligne sproglige mønstre) og Sara Mills’ feministiske stilistik (at undersøge, hvordan sprog afspejler og former køn og magtrelationer), suppleret af teori om feminisme, køn og handlekraft. Der er gennemført både kvantitative og kvalitative analyser af de tre tekster. Kvantitativt viser resultaterne en tendens til at favorisere manden i Dark Lover og især i Fifty Shades of Grey, hvor mandlig dominans gentagne gange understreges. I Grey favoriserer sproget kvinden, hvilket tyder på, at fortællingen er stærkt fokuseret på fortællerens romantiske interesse. Dark Lover viser desuden på nogle områder en mere ligeværdig relation mellem kønnene. Kvalitativt fremmer Dark Lover en mere lige seksuel handlekraft, hvor begge parter har initiativ og valg. I Fifty Shades of Grey og Grey tildeles kvinden derimod ringe eller ingen seksuel handlekraft. Fifty Shades-fortællingen rummer også italesættelser af kvindelig skam, og adgangen til Christians perspektiv i Grey synliggør antagelser om mænd, der stemmer overens med traditionelle, stereotype forventninger til maskulinitet. Samlet set skildrer alle tre tekster stereotype kønsroller – mest markant i Fifty Shades-fortællingen – men de adskiller sig i deres behandling af seksuel handlekraft: Dark Lover nærmer sig lighed, mens Fifty Shades of Grey og Grey oftest placerer manden som den drivende og aggressive part.

This thesis examines how three popular erotic novels for women—Dark Lover (J.R. Ward), Fifty Shades of Grey, and Grey (both by E.L. James)—portray gender roles, romantic relationships, and sexual agency (that is, a person’s ability to act and make choices in sexual situations). Because Grey retells the story of Fifty Shades of Grey from Christian Grey’s point of view, it allows the study to explore how the narrator’s gender shapes depictions of relationships and agency. The analysis combines corpus stylistics (quantitatively counting and comparing language patterns) and Sara Mills’ feminist stylistics (examining how language reflects and shapes gender and power relations), supported by theory on feminism, gender, and agency. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted across the three texts. Quantitatively, the findings show a tendency to favor the male in Dark Lover and especially in Fifty Shades of Grey, where male dominance is repeatedly emphasized. In Grey, the language favors the female, suggesting the narrative’s strong focus on the narrator’s romantic interest. Dark Lover also shows, in some areas, a more balanced relationship between the genders. Qualitatively, Dark Lover promotes more equal sexual agency, with both partners initiating and having choices. In contrast, in Fifty Shades of Grey and Grey, the woman is given little to no sexual agency. The Fifty Shades narrative also includes discourses of female shame, and access to Christian’s perspective in Grey reveals assumptions about men that align with traditional, stereotypical expectations of masculinity. Overall, all three texts portray stereotypical gender roles—most prominently in the Fifty Shades narrative—but they differ in their treatment of sexual agency: Dark Lover leans toward equality, while Fifty Shades of Grey and Grey most often position the man as the driving, aggressive party.

[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]

feminisme ; stilistik ; erotisk litteratur ; Fifty Shades of Grey ; køn ; Dark Lover ; Grey ; agency

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