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Quin’darius Lyles-Woods

Ashely McFarland

GWST 1102

February 10th, 2019

Stone Butch Blues : Institutionalized Fear of the Non-Conforming Gender

Within the book Stone Butch Blues, for Jess and her friends, it was very clear on how the

hoi polloi felt about groups that did not want to conform to biological and and assigned gender

roles. Throughout the book there was a much needed emphasis on how brutal life was for them,

eventually turning them to “stone” because of the abusive actions done by the ruling patriarchy.

The most prevalent and reoccurring action in this book was the rape by men. In society today,

this action and its abusive destructive nature is not only seen in the book but all around us. It is

one of the ways that society and its structures conspire against Jess and her friends due to their

gender identity, gender expression, and sexuality.

Referencing to Chapter Four, when Jess was brutally raped while in school for trying to

express who she was she a person set the reader up for how the rest of the book was going to go.

Even in childhood/ adolescence there will be no escape during the time period that she lived in.

This exemplified the way that society was rigged against her by detailing the happening of the

rape and how powerless she was with the action. In the quote below you can already feel the

submission to what the world has labeled her as with the the world choice guilty as charged.

[He wanted me to pay attention to the rape. He fucked me harder. “You dirty Kike

bitch, you fucking bulldagger.” All my crimes were listed. I was guilty as

charged.]
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Along with this horrific scene it was what happened worse that really dug deep. When

Coach Moriarty walked in on the rape and saw Jess there covered in a grotesque mixture of

blood, sperm, and dirt, he called her a slut. Denouncing the actions of the boys that have raped

her and exhibiting his microagressions for Jess and her non-binary stance towards life, Coach

Moriarty declared that it was in fact the reparations for the crimes of having the audacity to be

who she is.

Jess and her friends are fighting to change this. In the quote below Jess tells Ruth that she

doesn’t feel like what she did in life had a bigger meaning and more importance. Even though

throughout out the book it shows how changing she was towards the feminist movement to end

sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression, as originally said by bell hooks. Many women in the

story and men at times explained their gratitude towards Jess and her way to make them feel

more of themselves after showing her bravery in such hardships.

[“When I was growing up, I believed I was gonna do something really important

with my life, like explore the universe or cure diseases. I never thought I’d spend

so much of my life fighting over with bathroom I could use.”]

All in all the normalization of rape in the book and in society as a whole is one of the

ways that society conspires within Jess and the non-binary group. Denouncing its importance and

seeing it as the fault or “crime” of the person that is just trying to be themselves. The audacity of

individuality pushed horrific tragedies toward these groups due to their identity, gender

expression, and the sexuality of the butch women.

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