Sexual and Gender Labels in Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown

Sexual and Gender Labels in Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown

Sexual and gender identity remains a crucial subject and most people traverse around it in conversations. Rita Mae Brown, in her book ‘Rubyfruit Jungle’, follows the life of Molly Bolt, a young girl who struggles to find her identity amidst intrinsic confusion and social constraints. Throughout her childhood, Molly struggles to find her true identity, and the stereotypes intensify. However, as she grows into a young woman, she becomes a powerhouse with a strong aversion towards labels and stereotypes based on gender and sexuality. She incessantly fights against the constraints of the labels of gender and sexuality used against her. Although they play a critical role in identity formation, gender, and sexuality labels often result in stereotypes that infringe authentic self-exploration and access to opportunities for success.

Socially sanctioned gender and sexuality labels tend to mask the whole authentic identity of an individual and grossly affect self-perception. Harbaugh and Lindsey opine that young people identifying as members of the LGBTQ community experience more negative life outcomes when compared to their heterosexual counterparts (Harbaugh and Lindsey 3). In the narrative, Molly ceaselessly affirms that her gender does not define her, and refers to her other qualities like being smart that do not relate to her gender or sexuality. Brown also details Molly and Cheryl’s conversation as “…I tore off my napkin and told Cheryl  I was the new doctor in town. Her face corroded. “You can’t be a doctor. Only boys can be doctors. Leroy’s got to be the doctor…. I’m the smart one and being a girl don’t matter.” (Brown 23).  Stereotypical gender labels groom young boys and girls to conform to certain career expectations that often leave girls disadvantaged. These labels dictate that girls should only possess soft skills and perform soft tasks, while boys take up heavier and ‘masculine’ tasks. Molly rightfully identifies that the ability to be a doctor does not depend on gender, rather how smart somebody is.

Sexuality labels propagate unnecessary distress for the people who identify in non-mainstream sexual orientations. Many young people identifying as members of the LGBTQ community feel the urge to conform to the majority and suppress their true selves with a cover. The practice of covering is not new for the young people, they tone down their gayness to avoid stereotypes that may cost them their identity and social position. According to Harbaugh and Lindsey, heterosexuals believe that heterosexuality is right, just, and natural, while other forms of sexuality are inferior and ungodly (Harbaugh and Lindsey 3). Molly Holt expresses her distaste for labels and their oppressive nature in a conversation with her friend Leroy. According to the Narrative, when Leroy fears the label “a queer,” Molly tells him, “I think you are Leroy Denman … I don’t give a flying fuck what you do, you’re still Leroy … Why have you got to label everything?” (Brown 54). Such nametags prevent young people from fully expressing themselves in fear of going against the majority and facing a myriad of consequences, sometimes fatal. Masking the identity of a person with a derogatory label prevents the revelation of the real self.

In addition to identity sabotage, stereotypical labels are often barriers to academic achievements and fair consideration in social judgment.  In the narrative, Molly details her campus experience as she says, “I was escorted to the looney ward by two campus policemen… The next day in my mailbox was a letter from the scholarship committee informing me that my scholarships could not be renewed for “moral reason.” (Brown 100-101). People associate non-heterosexual orientations as evil, abnormal, and dangerous. Molly loses her scholarship and stays in the psychiatry ward because some people in her environment felt her sexual orientation meant she had a problem. These ill-informed associations of non-mainstream sexual orientations lead to the disrespectful, unfair, and grossly cynical treatment of the LGBTQ community. The baseless and unwarranted distress over homosexuality prevents many smart young people from exploring different careers and having an equal plane field as their heterosexual counterparts.

Stereotypes dictate the treatment of people with different sexual orientations and gender identities and their acceptance in society. One of the problems experienced by gay, lesbian, bisexual, and queer young people is parental rejection (Harbaugh and Lindsey 3). Parental rejection often sets the ball rolling for community rejection and creates in the young adult identity confusion. Molly’s mother openly tells her, “…That’s your problem, smart-pants. You’ll have no friends and you got no family.” (Brown 103).  Molly’s sexuality and tolerance for the nametags determine her acceptance or unacceptance as even her friend Leroy explains to her,  “You ain’t gonna find many people that think like you so you’d better be ready to hear what they call you when you talk to them the way you talk to me.” (Brown 54). No one seems to accept Molly as part of their family or community and her adamant rejection of labels contributes to this difficulty. The wide acceptance of labels as identity has left young people without a choice, they have to adapt to get recognized and be a part of a community. Parental and social rejection gives them little room for belonging and support forcing them to conform to the labels in the bid to find a ‘family’.

History details the mistreatment and unfair consideration of women in corporate institutions. Gender dictates promotion, the viability of ideas, at work behavior, and ultimately one’s success. In the narrative, molly showcases her film and describes the reaction as “No one clapped. No one made a sound (Brown 183). She expresses her disappointment in the filmmakers’ directness in underappreciating her work but exhausting her gender and sexuality. The perspective of women and what they can achieve shows in Molly’s childhood and resounds in her adulthood. The intricate weaving of this culture is evidence of the heft that gender and sexuality stereotypes carry and its effect on the social, academic, and economic success of young members of the LGBTQ community.

Rubyfruit Jungle recounts in detail the journey of a young girl, Molly Holt, to finding herself and her willpower to beat sex and gender barriers. Different societal set-ups, beliefs, and practices force young people into conforming to destructive social labels for them to get recognized, get chances to pursue their dreams, and express their authentic identity. The social labels for sexual orientation result in stereotypes that threaten the integrity of identity for young people as illustrated by Molly Holt’s struggle to deny labels. Cultural gender roles contribute to the discrimination against women in their attempts to take up jobs socially sanctioned to be for men. Ultimately, gender and sexuality labels force young people into conformity and frustrate the efforts of those who have the willpower to fight.

Works Cited

Brown, Rita Mae. Rubyfruit Jungle: A Novel. Reprint, Bantam, 2015.

Harbaugh, Evan, and Eric W. Lindsey. “Attitudes Toward Homosexuality Among Young Adults: Connections to Gender Role Identity, Gender-Typed Activities, and Religiosity.” Journal of Homosexuality, vol. 62, no. 8, 2015, pp. 1098–125. Crossref, doi:10.1080/00918369.2015.1021635.