Women in Brokeback/Fight Club

In a society which declares women as equals to men, some of my male friends are sometimes surprised when I take offense at their degrading comments. “Stephanie, it was just a joke,” they declare, “Why are you girls so sensitive about everything?” I don’t consider myself overly touchy about the situation; I would simply rather be treated as a human being than a potential one night stand. The women in Brokeback Mountain and Fight Club are in essentially the same situation – they are sub-par to the men, subject to a man’s mood swings, and kept around more as a showpiece or sexual partner than anything else.

When considering Fight Club’s Tyler Durden as a separate entity rather than a part of the narrator’s mind, he is a perfect example of this situation. To him, Marla is simply someone to call and use for sex. He explicitly tells the narrator that, other than these nocturnal meetings, he does not want to see or talk to Marla at all. And before the narrator himself starts falling for Marla, he too wants nothing to do with her. He is hardly even civil because of his jealousy of Tyler and Marla’s relationship.

In Brokeback Mountain, the wives Alma and Lureen are mostly background characters to the intense relationship between Ennis and Jack. The two marriages are more obligatory than loving. Alma accepts her position as subordinate to Ennis and also manages the household, a stereotypically female role. Lureen and Jack seldom talk and simply stay in their marriage because it is familiar to them. The women, like Marla, are simply part of the surroundings of the men’s world.