Podiobook Review: Phallocentrism in Scott Sigler's Infection
I've been discussing feminist theory in class and I've finished listening to Scott Sigler's Infection.
The following entry is a perfect illustration of what happens when I rehearse hip hop figures with my head upside down and that all its content (thank God, there's not much in there!) gets shacked and mixed.
I said I'd talk about Infection again, once I was done and here goes, though this isn't really what I had initially planned to do. First a bit about the plot before getting to the sticky part.
Percy Dawsey is 6-foot-5, 265 pounds of ex-linebacker, and he's got quite a temper to go with it. A severe knee injury put an abrupt stop to his football career; and so Percy's found a nice, boring job in an office. Through daily, persistent effort, he tries to put his violent past behind him. All seems to be going well until Percy starts getting uncontrollable itches in more or less confortable places. When the itching does stop, something else, much more disturbing appears on Percy's skin. Percy's been infected by unknown, microscopic parasites. He doesn't know how, or even when and really, when they start taking the shape of triangular growths, those questions become the least of his worries. Percy's main concern is to get rid of these "Triangles" which are threatening to take over his mind and body, creating paranoia, schizophrenia and unleashing Percy's excessive and aggressive behavior that he's been working so hard to control. Infection portrays Percy's desperate attempts to carve out the Triangles from his body before he completely loses self control.
Ok, so I listened to it till the end, and though some parts got me irking in disgust, I kept on listening because this stuff's really good. It's very different from what I usually read/listen to, it's much more violent, but hey, I'd been warned and it's nice to have change of genre once in while. So yeah, I'd recommend it, but it's not what I want to get at right now (some review that makes lol!)
I'm trying to get at the portrayal of masculinity in Infection, with a special focus on Percy Dawsey, in order to demonstrate that definitions of gender are in fact, socially constructed and have little to do with biology. Spoilers ahead.
Ok, here goes... This is really sketchy, but I'm trying to make it simple: gender studies is basically the battle field on which Essentialists are trying to decapitate Constructionists, and Constructionists are fiercely pulling down their clubs on Essentialists' heads. It's all very entertaining really, if you happen to be looking from the outside.
Anyway, their quarrel finds its origins in the definition of gender. Basically, essentialists believe in natural differences between men and women, while constructionists believe that these differences are socially constructed, and that men and women are, apart from the obvious, identical on a psychological level. It's kinda like the ancient innate versus acquired dilemma. Judith Butler and her ground breaking work Gender Trouble is the constructionists' mother (her book is my teacher's Bible!). And her theory relies strongly on the idea of performance. Since differences between men and women are socially constructed, and we keep maintaining them, then we are all performing a part everyday.
At first glance, Percy Dawsey is a living cliché of masculinity: the guy's huge, muscular, short tempered, sports addicted... doesn't get any better than that, does it? But really, the whole story wouldn't work if its characterization was that simplistic. Percy's violent domestic background and education (he's got a college degree) somewhat challenge the picture of a two-neuroned, testosterone-filled sportsman; so do the will and discipline he displays when controlling his violent drives.
The Triangles influence Percy on a psychological level, messing with his hormone levels, manipulating him and basically mindfucking him. But Percy's incredible discipline and self control don't just go down the drain, in fact, they make all the difference. This also explains why most of the narration takes place inside Percy's head (this doesn't mean that you don't get a lot of action... believe me you get all the action you signed for... and more) and we learn loads about the character and why and how he came to be what he is. Percy's dysfunctional family is portrayed as we get flashbacks of a submissed mother, and a homophobic, sexist and violent father who beat all the members of his household and taught his son discipline the hard way. Percy's taken it all in, and while he hates his father who died of cancer a few years back, he's also grateful (and so are we!) to him for teaching him what he did or Percy might never have tried fighting the Triangles in the first place.
Ok so the things grow in his body, till the point where they are ready to hatch... um... sounds scrunchy, doesn't it? And well, too bad for Percy, one of them is located on one of his testicules. He pretty much ignores this one till the very last minute when it is prepared to hatch and well, at that time... there isn't that much options left. So Percy basically cuts off his own genitals, killing the thing that was nesting inside him, burns the apartment he happens to be in, and leaves severely injured, holding his cock in his hand. Impressive... discipline and his father's words keep him going.
That's the whole ironic part... forget about the pain, the guts it must've took... just think about virility and masculinity, Percy's image of himself and his father, think about what it meant for him to have to cut off his manhood in order to survive and come on top of the Triangles. Isn't it completely ironic that Percy remains the winner, the one in power even without his virility which is supposed to convey him all these features?
This probably needs a bit of an explanation... What I'm alluding to is the difference between Freud and Lacan's perception of male genitals. Freud focuses on the real, biological aspect, while Lacan sees the "phallus" as a metaphor, a sign, a psychological representation of manhood and power. There have been analysis in which biological women are in possession of power, precisely because they have this "phallus" though not physically... this ties up with gender differences being socially constructed rather than natural.
I'm not saying that Percy Dawsey, under his macho airs is in fact a gentleman who regards women as equals... because really, he's not. Sometimes during the narration, we're unsure as to whether the homophobic and sexist comments are Percy's or the Triangles'; but at other times, we're not. Even if these are just insults uttered in a specific context (I don't know how PC I'd manage to be with parasites in my body!), Percy is not a model and he's not supposed to be, otherwise the whole argument would lose its impact (and the story would be boring too).
What I'm hinting at is the subtext message that resides in the last chapters. Masculinity, power has nothing to do with biological attributes. Percy has to be shot in his injured knee to be stopped, and that's quite a while after he's cut off his genitals! I've mentioned analysis in which women gain control through the possession of a metaphorical "phallus", well here's a man who gains and remains in control without his biological attributes!
This proves that gender, has in fact, little to do with biology and more to do with socially constructed images. After all that he's been through, Percy only emerges stronger and more determined. He's got a purpose now: to stop the Triangles. His grip on power and self control has been tested and he's come out victorious.
So of course, if you've reached this point of the entry, I once again recommend Infection, not only for the action, characterzation or major plot (I've left out info about the Triangles' origin) but also because it's nice illustration of gender constructionism with a nice ironical twist to it, and with a result that I hadn't encountered before. I know I've complained about the violence but I've come to realize that the story would have a much lesser impact without it. The violence is part of Percy, part of his paternal inheritance and in the end, it's what allows him to survive. It's also what makes the constructionist argument that much stronger as it fits archetypal patterns of gender definitions.