Albeit nearly a decade old , Boy with Flowers broaches similar issues ( such as having one ’ s gender-identification ignored ) and thus remains valid as a means of tackling the cultural obstacles that trans people face today . Before this background , this paper explores the techniques of subversion that Shipley employs in order to challenge hegemonic gender norms and , more specifically , the tropes that society uses to enforce binary gender . A trope of ‘ femininity ’ in Western culture is flowers , which , as indicated by the title , Shipley unsettles throughout the collection . I will explore one example in which flowers are utilised in attempt to socialise the speaker as a girl . This will then be contrasted with three other instances in which Shipley uses flowers as subversive symbols of the speaker ’ s body and transition into masculinity . Through this approach I seek to return authority to the speaker ’ s identity claims and lived experiences of the body .
My attention to the speaker ’ s lived experience is informed by the philosophical principles of phenomenology . Phenomenology brought subjectivity to the forefront of analysis in contemporary , western cultural theory . As Gayle Salamon explains , ‘ the body is more than merely its materiality ’ – equally important is how one feels in and experiences one ’ s own body . 1 Although phenomenology originated with Edmund Husserl , this paper draws on the more recent work of Henry Rubin , as he was the first to apply phenomenology to the context of transgender studies . Rubin ’ s adaptation is influenced by the Sartrean concept of the body as fragmented , containing three ontological levels . 2 The first level is the body-for-itself , or the body as point of view . This is how the individual experiences and identifies with their own body . The second level is the body-for-others : the body as object . This is how others perceive said individual ’ s body . The final level of bodily ontology , for both Sartre and Rubin , is the alienated body . This is when the individual is coerced into taking the viewpoint of others upon their own body . That is , when the body as point of view is understood as the body-for-others . 3
Shipley ’ s poetry resonates with Rubin ’ s approach to phenomenology : the speaker has a body image that is initially at odds with the physical body , which leaves them feeling alienated from that body . However , I argue that a phenomenological method is promising for the speaker as it advocates that the ‘ felt sense ’ of the body need not ‘ match ’ the body ’ s physical contours . Taking this forward , I will argue that just as flowers need not be restricted to symbols of femininity , neither should the speaker feel restricted by the material body . This is because Rubin ’ s phenomenological approach provides a necessary framework to reconsider what ‘ constitutes ’ a body .
1
Gayle Salamon , Assuming a Body : Transgender and Rhetorics of Materiality ( New York : Columbia University Press , 2010 ), 154 .
2
Henry Rubin , “ Phenomenology as Method in Trans Studies ,” GLQ : A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 4 , no . 2 ( 1998 ): 268 .
3
Ibid ., 268 .
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