PROSTITUSI PEREMPUAN PADA CENGKERAMAN ZAMAN DALAM NOVEL CA BAU KAN DENGAN NOVEL RE DAN PEREMPUAN: KAJIAN GENDER DAN KEKUASAAN

Abstract

Female prostitution is not merely a moral or economic issue, but a clear manifestation of power imbalances and patriarchal domination that persist continuously across eras. This study aims to examine and compare the representation of female prostitution, mechanisms of body commodification, and dynamics of power relations in the novel Ca Bau Kan by Remy Sylado and Re dan peREmpuan by Maman Suherman. The research employs a qualitative descriptive method with a diachronic comparative literature approach, framed through Michel Foucault’s power relations theory and Sandra Lee Bartky’s gendered body discipline critique. The findings reveal that both novels share similarities in constructing women's bodies as commodities due to economic-structural coercion, placing the female protagonists (Tinung and Re) in subordinate positions under dominant control, and depicting biological sacrifices in handing over their children for a better future. Conversely, prominent differences emerge in the historical settings (colonial Batavia versus contemporary modern), forms of prostitution (conventional-heterosexual versus modern-lesbian), the protagonists' educational access up to the tragic ultimate fates of the main characters and their offspring. This study concludes that despite operating within two distinct temporal contexts, patterns of oppression and bodily exploitation against women continue to perpetuate similar structures of domination. Literary texts thus function as critical social discourse and a medium of resistance against recurring structural injustice from the colonial period to the modern era.