The implications of perspective are amazingly complex in Woman’s World. The vantage point of the novel is layered with irony – a man writing about a woman who is biologically a man whose speech is entirely taken from women’s magazines, some of which are written by men. This means that although we explore a ‘Woman’s World’, the world is man-made, men hold all the power and even Roy/Norma, who seek to escape masculinity and prize and value femininity, impose the male gaze upon the femininity that they inhabit by pushing media-constructed ideals of daintiness, demureness and beauty upon women (especially Mary, the ‘housekeeper’). The fragmentation of advertisements to reflect Norma’s speech imprint their own distinct infomercialesque tonality upon Norma’s patterns of speech and thought. We are almost sold a version of femininity by Norma that she so willingly consumes herself, as she yearns to access the only form of ideal womanhood that she sees reflected in her world (except for Mary, who she consciously rejects as a woman on the same level as Norma herself due to her incongruity with the advertisements that Norma idealises). Nonetheless, the fact that Norma speaks through infomercials reflects the fact that she is a product of her society – she perpetuates the womanhood she is taught.  (Lila)

Roy, on the other hand, seems to be a more ‘grounded’ narrator, lacking Norma’s distinctive style of speech. However, along with the revelation of the readers that Roy and Norma are the same person, he is rendered further unreliable. It also problematises Norma’s attitude on femininity, as the male gaze already inherently present in women’s magazines are filtered through another layer of Roy’s point of view. Norma’s paradoxical omniscient and ironic alienation from femininity—through the very act of pursuing it to an utmost degree—therefore… (Henah) 

Whether this novel is a critique of the power of media through Norma’s narrative voice in “magazine speak” or if this novel uses media as a medium to communicate the plot, themes about gender. This tonally light novel is full of serious and thought-provoking implications. The unsettling comedy around “darker” times such as the police men’s treatment and the period entering Hand’s House through the voice of Norma heightens the tragedy and fear. The way that I perceived these moments, I recognised what was going to happen before it even occurred. This could be connected to the social context today. While this novel is written fully of magazines from the 60’s and 70’s, its interesting how there is almost an acknowledged widely known outcome (at least from a women’s perspective…) (Hannah) 

KL:it’s interesting how Rawle can rely upon his modern readers to…