Sexism towards Female Characters in Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Abstract

This research focuses on revealing and analysing the representation of sexism towards the female characters of Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2007). In the form of qualitative research, the Theory of Representation (Hall, 1997) and the categorisation of Ambivalent Sexism Theory by Glick & Fiske (1997) are applied. This research found two significant types of sexism represented in the novel, namely Hostile Sexism and Benevolent Sexism. Both types of sexism consist of three categories in the aspect of paternalism, gender differentiation, and heterosexual relation. Hostile sexism (HS) is categorised into dominative paternalism, competitive gender differentiation, and heterosexual hostility, while Benevolent sexism (BS) is further categorised into protective paternalism, complementary gender differentiation, and heterosexual intimacy. It is also found that there are several acts which represent counter-sexism. As the author of the novel, Clare depicted a new form of 21st-century post-feminist heroine story while also bringing up the issue of sexism and the dominance of male authority.