Performing To Be A Man Or Woman
Have you ever wonder why men and women do certain things? Why they dress a certain way. Or why conversations within men are so distinct from the conversations women have within each other. Well is because they’re doing a performance. According to Judith Butler, gender is something that is socially and culturally constructed and something that is also performed. Gender is something performed, a performance that is composed of stylized acts also known as the Performativity Theory. The way how we dress, the way how we talk, or how we present ourselves in public are all stylized acts. This is how men and women are created. Women are expected to dress in a more provocative way such as wearing tight shirts, skirts or dresses to show off their figure. Women are taught that they shouldn’t be dressing in loose clothing because then they would be consider as a “tomboy” or be thought to be a lesbian if she is dressing as a man or at least how a man should be dressed.
Women must take care of their skin and make it soft, smooth, hairless and wrinkle-free, they must apply make-up to disguise their skin’s imperfections. This is told repeatedly to the majority of women. Is normal for people today seeing a man with an unappealing face and think nothing to it but when people see a woman with an unappealing face they tell her that make-up should be their new bff and is the key to cover their flaws. This is something all women have probably heard in their lives, including me but most of the time we fall for their remarks and do what society wants us to do, cover our imperfections as women. Why? Because we have fallen into the category of “women” and want to be accepted by everyone else.
In addition, society believes women should have a soft and gentle voice and be more compassionate towards everything since men are taught to not show their feelings. Therefore, men have to be the “tough one” or put on a font that they know what they’re doing and no emotions is going to affect their decisions. Men are more able to do anything they want or like in public since the majority of the time they won’t be judged. Furthermore, women are only allowed to gossip while men are allowed to talk about sports or politics. It is shown in society that men are the only ones who can be allowed to talk about sports or politics since that’s what makes them a man.
Men’s actions in sport, as well as sport media’s framing of sport, largely reproduce and ideologically naturalize existing gender, racial/ethnical, sexual, and class hierarchies. A man feels more superior or “manly” when they talk with other men about their sport teams or about the latest policies or laws that have been passed. Therefore, if a man doesn’t do these acts then they are seen as weak and not as a true “man.” If a woman doesn’t do any of these stylized acts then is more likely that we’re going to hear, “That’s not lady-like” or “be more of a woman.” What society expects from a man or woman is usually predictable and the stylized acts are usually repeated often enough to give the impression of two stable categories, “woman” and “man.” Butler mentions, There is not a gender identity behind the expression of gender; that identity is performatively constituted by the very expressions’ that are said to be its results. Overall, Butler is saying gender is nothing beyond a performance therefore, let’s embrace that and try to perform these acts differently and not how they are set by society. Let’s break those repeated performances and stable binaries and cause some gender trouble!
