Gender is Always a Performance

I am currently taking a Sociology class about the body. One of the things we discussed is that gender is always a performance, from a sociological point of view. That is because gender is largely socially constructed. Gender is a performance that makes people “put on” masculinity and femininity in order to embody socially prescribed roles about what is appropriate for their biological sex. I felt that the readings about the female pirates show the social construction of gender, thus raising interesting issues that the other fallen women narratives did not raise.

There are still many situations in the modern world where people are forced to put on gender (it could be argued, as I stated above, that we are constantly doing gender). One of the most obvious is how men and women often have to put on traits usually assigned to the opposite sex. For the female cross-dressing pirates, putting on gender was a way to cross societal gender norms. Now it is primarily a way for people to cross occupational norms. Think about Hillary Clinton. In her run for the Democratic nomination, she was often accused of being to masculine because of her assertive business personality and pant suits. In order to achieve her political aspiration, Hillary has had to take on “masculine” traits. Interestingly, her adoption of masculine behavior has both helped her succeed an earned her intense criticism. Politics is not the only arena where women often have to act masculine to achieve- this is very true in the business world. Females who are high on the corporate ladder often have to dress in more masculine attire and act aggressively and assertively in order to compete with male competition. Like Hillary, these women are often criticized for crossing the gender barriers, showing that taking on male attributes is often considered, even in modern society. Men often have to assume feminized roles as well according to their occupations but the examples aren’t as prevalent or clear.

One huge way that people have to “put on” and “take off” gender is in the case of transgendered individuals- who are neither male nor female. We live in a society where a person must be assigned a sex- so these individuals are either assigned/or choose a sex. However, many of these people feel they are constantly acting a part. They feel that they have to act feminine or masculine when the either truly identify with the other gender or with neither.

In short, it is kind of shame that people even feel they have to “put on” traits of the opposite sex. Our society places too much of divided emphasis on what are female traits and what are male traits. Psychologically, a healthy individual will have both female and male traits. The dualism that society assigns to gender makes people feel they have to put on masculinity or femininity. Perhaps it would be healthier if we had a more integrated view of gender. Who says women have to be caring, overly emotional and wear pink dresses? Who says men have to be aggressive and like cars and hinting? It would probably be healthier if we did not assign such rigid gender norms at all. Maybe then we wouldn’t have cross-dressing pirates.