A fetish for women's breasts-their representations in flowers in the sky and joss and gold

Abstract

There are many terrains in the study of Malaysian Literature in English that are not fully mapped. One of these unchartered territories is women's breasts and their representation in literary works. In this paper, the presenter will look at the emergence of breasts and their representation in two novels: Lee Kok Liang's Flowers in the Sky and Shirley Lim's Joss and Gold. The discussion centres on the representation of women's breasts as objects of sex; the point of contact between mother and child· ' objects for ridicule, pleasure or grief. In addition, they are commonly held as objects of men's voyeuristic gaze. The primary aim of this paper is to imbricate breasts and their literary representations with feminist themes and issues. Subsequently, it is argued that the sexual objectification of breasts mirrors the predicament that women continue to face in a patriarchal society, which is the subordination of women to be objects of male pleasure. The presenter will conclude by suggesting that in the process of nation building, gender disparity should not be overlooked so as to achieve a truly egalitarian society. Thus, nation building is incomplete when one gender is constructed to be the sexual object of another.