THE PORTRAYAL OF FEMALE MASCULINITY IN THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES NOVEL

This study aims to analyze how female masculinity is portrayed through novels.
Female masculinity refers to women exhibiting traits commonly associated with
men, such as strength and courage. This relates to the concept of gender which
recognizes that men and women can have masculine characteristics. The novel was
chosen as the object and data source to analyze this topic because it provides space
for in-depth character development, cultural and social contextualization, and rich
and complex narratives allowing a more detailed and nuanced exploration of gender
themes. The descriptive textual analysis method analyzes texts that represent female
masculinity. The main objective of this research is to find diverse depictions of
female masculinity in the novel and the characteristics of masculinity that the
female characters possess. From the novels analyzed, four female characters were
the focus of this research. The results showed that the four female characters in the
novel each portrayed at least one category of female masculinity; Miss Quinn who
represents butch realness, Bella who represents Femme pretender, and Agnes who
represents male mimicry. Fag Drag and Denaturalized masculinity categories were
not found in the female characters in this novel.