As a woman in the predominantly male field of the FBI, Clarice must navigate the gender stereotyping and bias that makes her job twice as difficult. Clarice hides her frustration for fear of being stereotyped as difficult or abrasive, and she worries that she is one wrong move away from being pigeonholed into traditionally feminine roles like secretary. She polices her language, knowing when she sounds too “shrill.” She apologizes to Pilcher when she hurriedly pushes him for information, not wanting to appear bossy.

Harris shows the precariousness of Clarice’s situation when she meets Paul Krendler. Krendler finds her presence in Memphis overbearing simply because Clarice warns him against letting the Senator run the investigation. Krendler uses an explicitly gendered threat of ending her career in the “typing pool” if she doesn’t “do something about that mouth” (218). In this moment Clarice “lost it a little” and let her anger through (218). Krendler uses Clarice’s emotional outburst against her when he files for her expulsion. Events like this reinforce why Clarice feels the need to conceal her true feelings, as any heightened emotion from a woman is perceived negatively.

Clarice faces discrimination and harassment from almost all men that she comes in contact with.