Bethel Yilma

Engh 202 K01

25 September 2023

How Sexual Assault can Pivot a life, “The Woman” - Jones

“‘I was raked when I was five’... Retta laughed. ‘They don’t say raked they say

raped’”(12). In this scene, Winnie, a seven-year-old, recounts how she was raped by her cousin

when she was five. A terrible trauma to undergo at such an age and Winnie is cognizant of the

rape and the implications but brushes it aside. This can be to portray that she is mature to others

as she had this adult woman experience but she “is fine”. Winnie’s mother is unaware of the

abuse and when she finds blood on her dress she brushes it aside but Winnie comprehends it as

her mother accepting the incident that Winnie is becoming a “little woman”. Winnie’s mother's

sexual proclivities and the constant switching of partners confuse and disgust Winnie as she

learns of the negative connotations of being queer. This trauma and the exposure to her mother’s

“deviant” sexuality force Winnie to mature or give her the idea that she is maturing into a

woman. In “The Woman” Jones uses Winnie to enact the effects of sexual trauma on children, in

their sexual maturity, relationships, both sexual and platonic, and how they view sexual activity.

Sexual maturity differs from person to person, and it is sometimes a controversial topic

especially when it comes to how mature those under the age of 18 should be. In the beginning of

the short story, Winnie felt that she was mature enough to be knowledgeable about sex and this

exposes her to a lot of sexual experiences at a young age. From her rape to her mother’s multiple

sexual partners in the house to her first relationship, Winnie's sexual maturity is more developed

than her peers’ her age when she was 7 years old but is quickly stunted as there is no one

teaching her in a healthy manner. Winnie even taunted Retta, quizzing her on her sexual
experience stating that she doesn’t know what sex is or what her own genitalia is like. When they

had a sleepover they continued talking about topics too mature for their age and they proceeded

to touch each other's genitals, all of these acts are incredibly inappropriate for children their age.

Winnie expressed a different level of sexual maturity compared to her peers and you see this

through her words and how she views sexual activity.

After Winnie was raped she became more sexually aware but does not seem to

understand how sex is viewed as taboo. Because of how quickly she was exposed to sex, she had

too much experience too quickly and wasn’t able to absorb all the nuisances of sex It is shown in

multiple parts of the reading that she is unaware of what is socially acceptable to say from when

she first goes to school and states that her teacher is sleeping with her mom to when she is in

high school. While Winnie has does not any friends after her best friend, Retta, leaves she hangs

around the girls who smoke in the bathroom during lunch, though they are usually quiet when

they brought up sexual activity this interaction happened, “‘Tell ‘em that you have been givin’

out too much pussy,’ I said. They looked at me like I was bad, and made me bad,”(22). Winnie

clearly didn’t know what she said was bad but from the reaction of the girls she realizes that she

had misspoken and proceeded to feel “bad”. This links back to how Winnie thinks she is sexually

mature, but it’s clear that she does not understand all the complexities and the implication of

giving out too much “pussy”. At the end of the short story, Winnie is having sex with Garland,

how it goes about is awkward, and feels a little pushed, “I started in my room, but changed my

mind, and take him into my mama’s bedroom”(26). The choice to go have sex on her mother's

bed was an interesting tidbit for me as it felt that she does not view her sexuality in the first

person but instead through others as well as the fact that she views her mother’s bedroom as the
center of sexual activity in her home. This separation of herself from sexual activity and her lack

of sexual knowledge spills into her relationship both sexual and platonic.

Winnie’s sexual relationships are shaped by her internalized homophobia resulting from

her mother and most importantly her perceived maturity after her assault. When she was with

Retta they would be sexually inappropriate for children their age, “‘Trying to feel pussy. Let me

feel it. I don’t think you know what you got down there.’”(16). During this event Winnie and

Retta are touching each other and they feel good doing so, Retta expresses how they are

supposed to have a boy make them feel this way and when Winnie retorts that she would never

let a boy do it, Retta says that she is queer and that it’s different doing it when you're a girl than

when you are an adult. This sort of language added to Winnie’s disgust with her mother’s sexual

orientation leads Winnie to want to be straight. Even if it was uncomfortable in her first

heterosexual relationship which caused her to end it, “But I didn’t go out with him anymore

because he kept wanting to kiss me and I didn’t want him to”(18). Winnie's first boyfriend, Lew,

clearly was trying to have sex with Winnie and initiated physical intimacy on multiple occasions,

from kissing to groping her chest, Winnie being the way she is is uncomfortable with the

advances and would make excuses to not talk to him. Winnie’s trauma is more apparent in her

sexual relationships than in her platonic relationships as she is shy which causes her to have

fewer friends.

Winnie's friendships never really took off after Retta leaves, we see how she doesn’t get

any real friends even when she was in high school. In Winnie’s first conversation with Garland

we find out she doesn’t sit with anyone at school and she is nervous around people, “After Retta

left, I didn’t make any more girlfriends. Some of them tried to get friendly but I wouldn’t get

friendly back”(19). It is apparent that Winnie bonded with Retta through her trauma and it is
hard for her to make new friends as she may feel the need to have to express herself completely

to a new person as difficult and scary. Her friendship with Retta is unique and helped shape how

she views sexual activity amongst friends. The “friends” she makes in school are acquaintances

at most as they don't talk to each other much, “I’d stand down in the girls bathroom with the

girls that smoked, and sometimes they’d talk to me. But most of the times they didn’t talk to

me,”(21). Winnie doesn’t even refer to them by their name but by their skin tone, dark chocolate,

and milk coffee, and we only learn of their names at the end when they finally have a full

conversation, and we only learn Shirley is milk chocolate. Friendships are hard to make but are

important as you can learn from each other, Winnie learned good or bad that being queer is

considered bad from Retta and from dark chocolate and Shirley, and that certain comments are

inappropriate in a social context.

“‘I was raked when I was five’... Retta laughed. ‘They don’t say raked they say

raped’”(12). There is a multitude of things that can be considered one of the most pivotal

moments in one's life, and rape is a big one is sexual assault, the lack of control over your own

body is a traumatizing experience especially when you do not have a way to express what

happened to you. As a child you are more malleable to the circumstances around you and are

molded by these events, Winnie is a great example of this as her life is completely altered by her

rape from when she was seven to even when she is in high school. It is unfortunate that this

happens in real life and not just in this short story, but Jones does an excellent job of showing the

impact on Winnie, and all the emotions she carries.

Dear Bethel,
You certainly raise a number of salient points in your discussion of Winnie’s exposure to sexual
assault and other highly sexual experiences that aren’t necessarily age-appropriate. Here’re a
few points to consider:
1--organization: Think about how you might organize your essay more effectively. For instance,
you broach the topic of Winnie’s pivotal encounter with Retta early in the essay but delay your
more sustained discussion of it much later. Similarly, you raise the very critical point about
Gertrude seemingly ignoring the signs that something untoward occurred between Winnie and
her cousin, but you don’t really delve into Gertrude’s action and comments in much depth. This
would seem to lend credence to your idea that silence and Gertrude’s failure to provide a
proper, age-appropriate sexual education harm Winnie’s sexual maturation.

2—I’ve included a link to the Purdue OWL website. You want to get a firm grasp of especially
serious grammatical errors such as comma splices; such mistakes diminish your otherwise
powerful critical voice.

3—Recall what we discussed in our writing workshop about clarity. You might try reading your
paper aloud to someone—a friend, a classmate—to get a sense of whether your prose is as
clear as it can be.

Grade: 84-5=79
Sources:

Ruff, S. S. (Ed.). (1996). Go the Way Your Blood Beats: An Anthology of Lesbian and Gay

Fiction by African-American Writers. H. Holt. 080504427X

Received: Mon 10/2/2023 3:18 AM

Dear Bethel: