Gender Reversals and Sexism Theme Analysis

The Power provides a critical look at gender dynamics. At the beginning of the novel, gender relations reflect contemporary society: a patriarchy in which men are more generally dominant, which Alderman posits is due to the fact that men are more able to inflict violence, and therefore more able to gain power. But after women start to gain the power, they turn those gender dynamics on their heads. Alderman makes a point to highlight the inequality that women lord over men in passages that feel eerily parallel to current discourse on sexism, only with the gender roles reversed. This allows readers to look with fresh eyes at contemporary society, as Alderman uses the shock of descriptions in which men are subjugated in comparison with how normalized discrimination against women has become in reality.

The frame of the book introduces the fictional author of the text, Neil Adam Armon (an anagram of Naomi Alderman), asking a fictionalized version of Naomi herself for advice about his work. This exchange of letters sets up a world in which women are the dominant gender, hinting at some of the small ways in which men (in the new world shaped by the power) face discrimination. After reading the book, Naomi responds to Neil by noting the unlikelihood of male crime gangs and police officers, and by saying that it is more likely that women provoked the violence initially. She also mentions that she’s turned on by the descriptions of being locked up for sex by men, that they constitute a fantasy for many women. These casual and inappropriate dismissals are a mirror of the way in which many professional women are treated in contemporary workplaces. At the end of their exchange, Naomi recommends that Neil publish the book under a female pen name in order for it to be read more widely—another nod to how women’s writing has historically been taken less seriously. All of these examples show how even the novel’s frame prompts readers to reexamine inequality between genders.

Within the novel proper, the acquisition of the power starts to tip the scales from men to women, and small changes in gender dynamics ultimately give way to total reversals. This highlights for readers some of the horrors that occur in the real world, giving readers a fresh perspective on the inequalities that society has come to tolerate because they have been normalized for so long. Initially, a kind of playful violence becomes normalized and even encouraged in girls as they play and hurt each other with their powers, in much the same way that rough play is more acceptable in boys today than in girls. As fights between boys and girls break out on the playground, parents start telling their sons not to go out alone—a reversal of advice frequently given to young girls. When Margot acquires her power, she describes feeling a “constant ease.” She starts to speak “how a man speaks,” bluntly and with confidence. Society rewards her for this behavior: when she disobeys Daniel, her superior, to spearhead training programs for young girls, people start to take notice of her. They ask for meetings to see whether she is interested in running for “something a little more ambitious.” Strength and ambition begin to be valued in women, in contrast to the way they are normally more valued in men. Eventually, in Bessapara, men need permission from women to go out in public, and various men’s rights are curtailed including the freedoms to vote, own businesses, and drive cars. This seems absurd and horrific, but it has direct parallels with many freedoms that women lack in a variety of countries today.

The mirror between The Power and today’s society becomes particularly horrifying in examples of women dominating men in brutal sexual encounters. It provides a parallel that demonstrates how sexism in today’s society enables violence (often sexual violence) by men against women. As the power starts to become more widespread, posts on internet forums pop up saying that boys like to be electrified and hurt—that it is arousing to them, tying together sexuality, lust, power, and also subjugation. But rather than wielding the power responsibly, some use these findings to justify hurting and even raping men using the power. Ricky, Roxy’s brother, is raped and castrated by women using their power. When Roxy seeks them out in vengeance, they say that Ricky was begging them to have sex with him and hurt him, that he was literally “asking for it.” This choice of language is particularly important, because it has historically been language that men use to justify raping women, by implying that the women gave subtle or implicit consent. It forces readers to understand that there is no way Ricky could have wanted this to happen, just as women never “ask for” rape. A final example depicts one woman raping and murdering a man in an act of war: Alderman provides a graphic description for this episode that is clearly meant to deeply disturb readers. Yet in recognizing that women are usually the victims in acts like these, readers are forced to reflect on how sexual violence against women has been normalized, and the novel asks men in particular to imagine how they might feel in a world that brutalizes them in the same way today’s society brutalizes women.

Alderman’s book is an eerie mirror that allows men and women to envision a world in the others’ shoes. Many of the passages describing violence and rape are deeply troubling to read, particularly because depicting men as the victims of these crimes is unusual. Alderman invites that shock, calling up the parallels as a way of reminding readers that current society should be shocking: its inequality and sexism are brutal. Alderman leaves readers knowing that while the inequality in the book is fictional, the parallel inequality in today’s society is very real.