Gerds, H: Living Beyond the Gender Trap

This study examines the contributions of three North American authors, Marge Piercy, Cherríe Moraga and Leslie Feinberg, to the discussion of gender and sexual orientation as socially constructed determinants of identity and agents of oppression. Notwithstanding differences in literary approaches, the authors share an emphasis on their respective cultural and historical heritage which they often combine with a documentation of the social reality of living in the U.S. as members of an oppressed minority. The notion of difference as a catalyst for the creation of liberating and dynamic concepts of identity and the political (re)interpretation of one's heritage is a recurring element in the works of all three. The activist concerns of Moraga, Piercy and Feinberg for equal rights of women, transgendered individuals, homosexuals, Chicanas/os and other so-called minorities along with their commitment to fight discrimination based on race and class left a significant mark on their creative writing which justifies considerable attention. The focus of my cultural studies approach, then, is not on literary form but rather on message and content.