The butch/femme couple and the reproduction of patriarchal marriage in Ann Allen Shockley’s Loving her

Abstract

Abstract: The historical objective of feminist movements, whatever their trends, has been the end of gender inequality and patriarchy. Despite the efforts of feminists, the traditional model of gender remains the norm in American society today. At least, this is what is pictured in Ann Allen Shockley’s Loving Her, the fiction on which our work is focused. While the Terry-Renay couple rebels against the social construction of gender and patriarchy in order to enjoy their sexual life, the reader discovers many signs of these forces on their relationship. In this work, carried out through the prism of feminist theory as well as queer theory, our objective is to show that the lesbian couple in which Terry plays the role of the Butch (masculine lesbian) while Renay represents the Femme (feminine lesbian) is nothing but the reproduction of the traditional couple in the patriarchal system. Keywords: butch/femme, gender equality, patriarchy, queer theory, feminism.