In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, the women who are portrayed are seen as sexually oppressive figures who emasculate the men in their lives for their own benefit. The story begins with the narrator, Chief Bromden, explaining the situation in the ward. The two groups of men, the Acutes and the Chronics, who both idly spend their time in the prison-like ward that is controlled by one woman Nurse Ratched. Until R.P. McMurphy enters the ward and disrupts all of the normal bland routines the ward goes through each day, giving Nurse Ratched the chance to flex her truly controlling and dominating qualities. As the story progresses more women such as Vera Harding and Billy Bibbit's mother, are introduced as forceful and controlling women.

Nurse Ratched intimidates the patients into sexual repression, making them feel ashamed of their natural sexual urges...