Abstract

The present literary study posits the argument that contemporary women’s poetry depicts androgyny as a subversive tool against patriarchal order and gender-specific behaviors. The selected poetry of American and British women writers is explored for the representation of androgynous role and the ways it problematizes and challenges patriarchal stereotypical norms of gender identity and gender determined attitudes and performances. To substantiate the claim in relation to this particular motif in contemporary women’s poetry, the theoretical concepts of flexible performativity, inter-gender egalitarianism and enhanced artistic capability from within the broader theory of Androgyny are applied to substantiate the claim in the analysis of the poetic works. A close reading of the selected poetry is done to show that androgyny is employed as a subversive tool in the selected body of creative writing.