SEPARATION ANXIETIES - Lsu - Louisiana State University

privilege over them simply by looking and whistling, activities over which they have no control
and from which they have no defense except in numbers—in sisterhood—and, later, in their
reconstruction of their appearances. In one respect, these characters create for themselves a more
masculine appearance to challenge men’s expectations; their refusal to “look feminine,”
especially en masse, rejects the power of the male gaze. 6 In the early parts of the novel, their
refusal to meet men’s expectations of their vulnerability is perhaps best exemplified when
Wimpy attempts to rape Maddy. When the members of Foxfire save Maddy and physically
punish Wimpy, their intoxicating sense of collective empowerment again demonstrates a
practical aspect of communal feminism—strength in numbers. Through Wimpy, Oates represents
the actual dangers of patriarchy by constructing the Hammond men as incestuous power brokers
who wield their masculinity like a scepter. She further represents sisterhood as one response, as a
choice that may in fact be a necessity for female safety and survival.
Other abuses of male power in Hammond further exemplify compulsory heterosexuality,
including the actions of Rita’s antagonists, the male gangs and the teacher Lloyd Buttinger. The
character of Buttinger functions as a site of collision between male sexual desire, patriarchal
domination of political power, and the use of language as a tool of oppression. He also becomes
a symbol for Foxfire’s sisterhood. As a teacher, Buttinger is in a position of power and trust. His
unchecked abuse of this power and trust reflects the dominant community’s ability to bend its
own rules. 7 The girls’ destruction of Lloyd Buttinger as a professional and as an authority figure
is, therefore, an aggressive step in their rewriting of the dominant community’s paradigm.
Oates first introduces Buttinger in Chapter Four of Part One, entitled “FOXFIRE: First
Victory!” The chapter focuses on Buttinger’s abuse of Elizabeth O’Hagen, the Foxfire member
who is nicknamed “Rita,” “Red,” and “Fireball.” Oates writes Rita as a long-term victim of male
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