A Lifelong Performance

Today I started my day like any other, got up, went about my normal morning routine, which included doing my makeup, hair, and picking out an outfit- the things that categorically make me a girl. This got me thinking about gender. What is gender? What does it mean to be a gender? 

The concept of gender is consistently reinforced through the simplest things. From day one, our parents have associated our gender identity with our biological identity (unless you're baby Storm of course), babies are wrapped up in colours of blue or pink, and given toys based on their biological gender. Then as we get older, we are treated a certain way based on this gender that that was determined for us- it effects our peer groups, our jobs, our everyday tasks. 

I got to thinking about gender development and the gender socialization theory. The gender socialization theory focuses on how one's environment shapes their gender identity and teaches social expectations. Talcott Parsons reinforces this by emphasizing how a child is like a pebble thrown into the social pond- essentially saying that gender is something enforced by society right from the get go. 

The way I see it is that gender isn't something we just decide, but it is something that is determined based on our regulative discourses. This follows with Judith Butler's theory of Gender Performativity. Judith Butler is highly known for her theory on gender performativity. It addresses gender as a performance rather than something that it inherent. It is some set of actions consistently being taken that create gender- both the idea and the attribute. One is not born a gender, but rather becomes one. The regulatory framework suggests that one’s biological sex should be coherent with their gender- but in todays society, this jus

t isn’t a thing.

Gender is such a complex concept, and is constantly changing with time. Gender follows such a broad spectrum, and fortunately we live in a relatively liberal society that allows for one to to go against the regulatory framework, but though one can go against the framework, society has not reached the point in which it is deemed as a norm. Regardless of the liberalistic views, many still deem it as inappropriate or absurd for one to challenge to “natural coherence”. Butler’s theory emphasizes that gender is just something we do, and for some it is linked with biological sex, and for some it is not.

One of the biggest problems I have with today’s society is the default pronoun of “he”. Male becomes the default gender. Society has given both gender particular norms, which conflicts with certain aspects of everyday life. A primary example of this is with professions, there are things like “male nurse”, or “male model”- in situations where the male default is challenged, there must be a readjustment. If a female participates in something that fits the male norm, then she would get “tomboy”- and it’s perfectly acceptable, but in reversed situations it becomes a problem. That’s just the beginning of a much larger issue. 

Gender is a spectrum, it is not something we are born with, it’s just something that we participate in. In our society, gender is a way of individually constructing ourselves and others and plays a large part in our day to day activities. Gender is a lifelong performance, I just hope one day our society will be accepting of characters that are more than just “male” or “female".

For a better understanding of gender performativity, check out this video made by The PBS Idea Channel on Youtube. It does an excellent job of explaining gender performativity, and uses the video game Sims to do so! (pretty interesting, and does an excellent job of summarizing Butler's book, Gender Trouble)