Unlocking Pandora's Box : female desire in three works by Canadian female writers

During the 1970s, an increased interest in women's issues, aS well as a re- evaluation of the restrictions placed on sexual expression, resulted in a significant number of texts being written by Canadian women exploring female desire. The introduction to this thesis looks at the 1970s from a historical perspective in an attempt to determine how the Canadian social climate is reflected in women's writing of this period. Chatelaine magazine is analyzed as a signpost of popular opinion regarding the status of women during the Seventies. The body of the thesis examines female desire in Alice Munro's Lives of Girls and Women, Audrey Thomas's Songs My Mother Taught Me and Margaret Atwood's Lady Oracle. In each, the protagonists exhibit a more liberal approach to desire. They continue to be influenced by traditional social values, however, as well as by the behaviour and attitudes of the older generation of female characters. In conclusion, the behaviour of the books' protagonists is indicative of the conflicting social forces women were subjected to in the 1970s. Although progress has been made toward eliminating the restrictions on female desire, the effects of childhood socialization continue to exert a strong influence over the characters' attitudes toward women's sexuality.