Dısempowered ‘others’ and the female solıdarıty ın sue townsend’s bazaar and rummage (1982)

Abstract

The patriarchal order of the society pushes the woman behind the surface mostly by regarding them as the secondary sex. As a result of this, they are ‘othered’ through gender and sexuality or economic and social issues, and thus feel repressed because their femininity, sexuality and even individuality are denied in order to maintain only the continuance of the patriarchal order within society. Yet not only men but also women discriminate against the female as ‘the other’ by inheriting this patriarchal ideology in their consciousness due to the normalisation of the constructed process of othering. Sue Townsend in her play Bazaar and Rummage (1982) describes this construction and internalisation of otherness imposed by both men and women. In the play, a group of agoraphobic women try to confront their fears by organizing a rummage sale through which the origins of their illness are explored. Agoraphobia is a symbolic symptom to represent what these women have gone through as a result of the repressive patriarchal order and how the fear of ‘outside’ – which is regarded as a man’s place, not woman’s – makes them psychologically crippled since this whole system restricting and oppressing them in so many ways do not allow women to have their own identities and makes them subjected to this system. However in the end, Townsend promotes a female solidarity to heal these women’s psychological wounds by going against their fear and anxiety. Keywords: Othering, imposition and internalisation of the otherness, repressive and inherited patriarchal order, agoraphobia, female solidarity