The Steel Brassiere: a Confinement or an Empowerment?

The story is narrated by an unnamed housewife who finds a steel brassiere at the soon-to-be-demolished house of her late friend, Tiya Anding. Later at home, she puts on the steel brassiere and feeling strange yet also powerful. Women wore corsets from the 16th century to the 19th century, but they were designed to shape the women's torso rather than provide support. However, the modern bra that’s used to support women's breasts are just invented in the early 20th century and has become a symbol of women. The bra got a long history with the feminist because there has been a myth that spread among the feminists during the Women’s Liberation Movement in America in 1968 when women gather to protest Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The second-wave feminists were associated as “bra-burners” when the truth is bras were just one of the things the demonstrators were encouraged to carry that day, which implied that the male-dominated society kept women trapped in traditional ideas of beauty, but they weren't burned.

1. Feminism

Feminism has meaning advocacy of women's rights, and the subject of bras itself is closely related to women and feminism. Tiya Anding’s steel bra that the narrator found in her soon-to-be-demolished house properly belongs to an ancient warrior princess which gives the author the push that she needed to fight her own battles.

The steel bra symbolizes strength and protection since it looked like sure protection for the delicate female flesh underneath (2000:1). The steel bra reminds her of the comforting and reassuring words of Tiya Andings, and by the end of the story, the bra is the thing that builds up the narrator's courage which helps her decides to take charge of the relationship completely ignoring calls from her husband.

The narrator's friend, Tiya Anding, can be the symbol of feminism in this story since she believes that the relationship between her and her husband, Tata Fernan is equal, and she also won't let her husband has power over her by not letting him tell her what to do and not to do. She once said that her husband can't live without her and the feeling is mutual because they equally need each other.

2. Gender

Observing from the gender feminism point of view which focused on gender roles and convinced women that they are victims of male oppression, the type of oppression that’s expressed in the story is sexism which is shown by the narrator's husband, Lindoln, who oppressed the narrator by insisting that she stays at home after having their children by saying 'Stay home. It's best for you and our children,' (2000:2) He uses dominance such as making decisions for his wife and the family, what to do, and she must obey without making any question because he feels the need to be in charge of the relationship because he’s a man. Lindoln also uses gender roles as an excuse and expected his wife to act based upon her assigned sex 'supposed' to do such as taking care of children and stayed at home while he, the man of the family goes out takes care of everything else for her. He’s also proofed to be a good provider for his family by giving a big house with a lush garden, a dutiful maid, and an excellent cook giving more reason for his wife to not leave the house.

Stereotypes are a widely accepted judgment or bias about something even though they are overly simplified and not always accurate. Domestic behaviors are one of the gender stereotypes kinds. Some people expect women to take care of children and stay at home, while men take care of finances and work outside. In this short story, Lindoln kept his wife up all night with his how to be a good mother lectures by saying 'No mother in her right mind would permit her children to play in the rain’ (2000:3).

The roles associated with women are neither granted to them at birth nor inherently, but rather socially constructed. Women are typically expected to dress in a feminine manner, to be courteous, attentive, and nurturing, this is why by lecturing his wife on how to be a good mother, Lindoln promote the domestic behaviors in his household.

3. Patriarchy

Patriarchy is a system in which men have most of the power and significance in a society or a community. As we can see in the story, the narrator's husband, Lindoln, makes the narrator feel oppressed after she gave birth to their first child, Jonathan as can be seen from the text 'he was really closing a door and locking me in' (2000:2). The predominant feminine concepts are not natural to women, but instead, they have imprisoned women and held them in the secondary status to men.

Domestic abuse occurs whenever one person in an intimate relationship or marriage tries to dominate and control the other person. The narrator state in the story that her husband won her over an argument by saying ‘a man needs a woman to take care of his needs and the woman needs a man to support her’ (2000:2). It suggests that Lindoln views women as an object to fulfill his needs and that women can’t be independent and need support from a man. The narrator’s fear towards her husband is also shown when Lindoln insults her when talking about the soon to be demolished house of her friend, Tiya Anding she stated that she wanted to walk out of the room in protest but didn’t because she was too foolishly kind (2000:2).

Lindoln also shows some signs of being an emotionally abusive partner. Emotional abuse includes verbal abuse such as yelling, name-calling, blaming, and shaming. He yells at his wife and slammed the closet door with a loud thud when lecturing her on how to be a good mother after their children came down with a cold after playing in the rain when she was taking them out to the park. He then continues to tells her that “the kids get into more trouble when they’re with you” (2000:3). Lindoln doesn’t have to yells and blame his wife for what happened to their children. Even though their children's sickness is partly his wife's fault, he should try to reason with her in a more civilized manner so he doesn’t seem too harsh and hurt his wife's feelings.

Emotional abuse aims to whittle away the victim’s sense of self-esteem and independence. It leaves the victim feeling that there is no way out of the relationship or without an abusive partner, they're nothing. In the story, the narrator questions herself after her talks with Tiya Anding whether if she can live without her husband or not. It’s enough proof that deep down the narrator feels that her relationship with her husband is not healthy which is why she felt that even though she had married Lindoln for eight years but it felt like she’d been living with a stranger. (2000:2)

The way Tiya Anding remembered Lindoln whenever she spoke about her husband, Tata Fernan, suggests that Lindoln and Tata Fernan are alike in a way, such as being patriarchist and trying to control their wives by telling them what to do and not to do.