“That is not how a boy walks, or how a girl sits!” As Hayles would claim, these are significant verbal injunctions which illustrate, or act as inscriptions for how an individual should act within society (200). Thinking of the statement that is not how a girl sits transcends to a movie scene from Basic Instinct.
Sharon Stone’s character is brought into a police station for questioning, under suspicion for murdering her boyfriend. As she is being question, Stone sits as a “lady should sit,” as inscribed by society; however, when the officers leave the room and are talking amongst themselves, watching through the hidden glass, she knowing they are watching breaks society’s norm. Her act of defiance is uncrossing her legs and sitting like a guy for a split second, then retuning to sitting with her legs crossed. To our dismay she is wearing no undergarments.
This in turn represents the physical force and aggression spoken of by Johnson (206). In breaking away from the system, Sharon Stone’s action asserts her sexuality over the male officers; hence, she gains power in the situation through her aggressive behavior. The system is forever changed.
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