Something that is often overlooked in a feminism, or in our own feminist analysis, is looking at the way that masculinity is constructed and reinforced. Feminism tends to have a certain type of connotation that it only deals with women’s issues. But something important to note is that we wouldn’t have a “woman” category with something that is opposing it–or something that, in some cases, even negates it. In this case that is what the “man” category does. People tend to associate Feminism with putting the woman as the “other” or the “victim” and this reinforces that males/masculinity is the superior group. But it’s worth noting that this isn’t always the case, and the film Boys Don’t Cry supports this claim by demonstrating what a tight construct of masculinity exists for men.

Constantly throughout the film we see ways in which Teena achieves her masculinity. This is by the way she dresses, her haircut, getting in a bar fight, or simply driving a car really fast. These are ways that she has interpreted through her upbringing as ways to identify as male. Her struggle to identify as a man confirms the notion that constructs of masculinity is just as hard to achieve as constructed norms of femininity. There were even times in the film where Brandon was ostracized for not being what a typically masculine male would be.

Something else worth exploring is the rape scene between John, Tom and Teena Brandon. This scene is carefully placed right after Teena’s sex is revealed. It stands almost as a way for John and Tom to reclaim their masculinity by exhibiting their power over Teena Brandon. I speculate that there is also a battle for territory for John, since he is aware that Lana and Teena have been seeing one another.

In fact, it can be argued that rape is not so much about sex as it is about power, force, or ownership. In the films that we have seen in class, rape always occurs after very powerful moments for characters in films. For example, in Foxy Brown, Foxy is raped after she exhibits her independence. Teena Brandon is raped, not only it is discovered he is having an affair with a woman that John loves, but John is also challenged by the fact that Teena Brandon is a woman who is charming the woman he loves. In his flight to regain the woman he loves, he exhibits his power over Teena Brandon by raping her, ultimately to possess what he believes rightfully belongs to him.