Reading Holden Caulfield in the era of #metoo

When comparing the society of 1948 and 2019, we see stark differences yet some blurred themes that
don’t seem to have changed completely. As we read the words of Holden Caulfield, we look at many
parts and laugh, thinking of course no one would do that today, yet we often double back and realize
how rampant those issues of sexism and misogyny are. According to Holden, boys his age just go after
what they desire - status, money, and sex. The girls they encounter are just objects for their pleasure.

Take Holden’s roommate, Stradlater. He’s a basketball star who gets to borrow the coach’s car whenever
he needs, and he can never remember the name of the girls he’s going out with on a certain night. But it
doesn’t really matter to him - he’s getting what he wants. As he’s shaving and preparing for his date with
Jane Gallagher (who he mistakes as “Jean”), Holden is babbling on about how he and Jane used to play
checkers when they were younger, and mentions quirks of hers that he observed. Meanwhile, all old
Stradlater can do is mumble “yeah” and “uh-huh”, but he’s not really listening to Holden. A girl is just an
object for him, and what’s convincing him that this girl will be any different?

But where does Holden appear to stand on this scale of objectifying women? Well, it’s clear he sees
them as far more than objects. Aside from his keen observations of Jane’s unique characteristics, he
mentions that one of the reasons he’s still a virgin is that he listens to girls when they tell him to stop in
the midst of sexual activity. He seems to understand that they also have feelings, wants, and desires,
too. However, he sees this sensitivity to a girl’s requests as a character flaw of his - to him, boys aren’t
supposed to listen; they’re supposed to go forward with whatever is in their best interest. He also doesn’t
seem to extend much sympathy to girls that he’s not familiar with. Then again, he doesn’t really extend
much sympathy to anyone who he doesn’t know, and to very few people that he does know. Yet it’s clear
that the misogynistic society Holden is growing up in influences him as a character and a narrator.

Another characteristic that appears in this book is the idea of “it’s different when it’s her”. Alexis Jones, a
speaker who brings awareness of feminism to young men, talked about this notion in her 2017 Ted Talk.
She talked about how she would bring up the idea of rape culture to young men, and they’d be rather
indifferent, but then she’d bring up the boys’ sisters or mothers or female friends, and the view would be
completely different. The boys wouldn’t see much wrong with screwing a girl without her consent, but
when it was his sister being assaulted, it was “different” somehow. This notion is also pretty clear in
Holden’s case. When Stradlater returns from his date with Jane, Holden remembers how he knows
Stradlater would typically treat girls on dates - forcing himself on her despite her pleas to slow down or
stop. It was disturbing and angering for Holden to imagine him doing this to Jane, his former
friend/girlfriend, who clearly still means a lot to him. But this isn’t how he treats women in general -
as we see later, he labels the girls he encounters in bars and hotels as “dopes” and such. Yet again,
he doesn’t seem to extend much sympathy to people who don’t really influence his life for the better.