Fefu and Her Friends

“My husband married me to have a constant reminder of how loathsome women are.” 

Fefu says this in an unaffected manner, much to the horror of her friends. She describes relationships between men and women as necessarily combative and contrary, based on a hatred of women by both genders. Fefu says that she prefers to be masculine, but this stems from an internalized misogyny and a detestation of her own femininity, even as she tries to be supportive of the women around her.

“You see, that which is exposed to the exterior… is smooth and dry and clean. That which is not… underneath, is slimy and filled with fungus and crawling with worms. It is another life that is parallel to the one we manifest. It’s there. The way worms are underneath the stone. If you don’t recognize it… (whispering.) it eats you.” 

Fefu argues that there is a stark difference between the neat, clean way that people appear on the surface and the messiness underneath that they hide away from the world. She asserts that even if the other women pretend to be shocked by the discussion of things that are usually private, they are all truly interested in that which is horrifying and revolting.

“With the men [women] feel safe. The danger is gone. That’s the closest they can be to feeling wholesome. Men are muscle that cover the raw nerve. They are the insulators.” 

Fefu claims that women are unable to be comfortable with each other. She says this is because women are weaker and unable to control their rawness and irritability when they are alone together. This is a patriarchal assertion that works to prevent women from forming strong alliances without the observation and approval of men. Over the course of the play, however, the women show that they are certainly capable of connecting as friends without male intervention.