The Scarred Lips of Women: Toward a Reconstruction of Gendered Discourse in Contemporary Society

Grounded in Foucault’s theory of power and the body, this paper, in dialogue with post-structuralism, feminism, and critiques of consumer society, examines the gendered implications of the imagery of “mutilated lips” in contemporary American fiction. It argues that lips, as the nexus of desire and power, have been culturally sexualized, commodified, and internalized into women’s self-discipline. Texts such as Last Night in Twisted River and American Pastoral link lip trauma to sexual violence, class oppression, and fractured maternal bonds, exposing the collusion of patriarchy and consumerism in sustaining gender order through aesthetic norms. At the same time, mutilated lips also signify possibilities of resistance: stuttering, filth, and acts of self-destruction function as practices of “counter-gaze,” carving out spaces for subjectivity within disciplinary structures. The study concludes that the imagery of “mutilated lips” represents not only individual trauma but also a postmodern ethical metaphor wherein domination and resistance coexist.