Gendered Understanding in Characterisation and Monologue

When people are charmed by the moment with the Tube Rodent, Fleabag describes it as ‘revolting’; charmed only by attention given to her (11). When performed by Waller-Bridge, it is clear that Fleabag is not attracted to him in the slightest, once again reflecting the apathetic quality of her hypersexuality. 

 Fleabag | Tube Rendezvous Clip | National Theatre Live 

A man cups her vagina at a bar and she says he's ‘nice actually’ because ‘he buys [her] a drink’ (20). Her disgust towards intimacy is a reflection of her vision of sex and relationships, the ease in lack of attachment, informed by the patriarchy. Fleabag’s guilt and grief are what makes her female; she is haunted by Boo’s voicemail constantly playing, constantly aware of what she has done, even if the audience is not. 

https://clip.cafe/fleabag-2016/answerphone-hi-is-boo/ 

Thus, she is humanised and the audience can relate to her comfortably. Subsequently, it is clear that this form of graphic monologue works primarily because Fleabag is a woman. A male protagonist would struggle to create depth in the description of their sexual conquests because that behaviour is normalised. The feminist language and perspective ‘constantly’ reminds the audience of how this expression of ravenous sexual exploits would be viewed if the person ‘delivering this monologue was a man’ (Stewart, 2013). An example of this is Chuck Palahniuk’s male protagonist in Choke, who also discusses sex with the same dejected manner as Fleabag. He says to his therapist ‘I want to fuck you so bad I can taste it’, utilising graphic and vulgar language to shock the audience (55). Although Choke follows a similar rhythm to Fleabag; being overtly direct and terse, the novel holds a differing sense of confidence because the narrator is male. He uses the monologue as a tool to report, there is no requirement of explanation for his actions. Men have the authority to claim an experience without justification. The gendered nature of characterisation is evident in Fleabag, which gives authority for the topics to be discussed on stage, to the audience in a direct manner.