After reading Judith Butler's "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution" piece, I have thought a lot about gender and the meaning of gender overall. One of the questions that seem to be brought up in the piece is about gender and if it is something that we have, as a society, created rather than it being something to do with our bodies. Butler goes a little bit into the difference between gender and sex, but I want to discuss what she says about gender. She feels that gender is something we create on our own. That "the body becomes its gender through a series of acts which are renewed, revised, and consolidated through time" (523). Rather than gender being something that we associate with sex, it is something that we create through different clothes, acts, etc. related to society. Simone de Beauvoir says that gender is a "historical situation rather than a natural fact" (520). Gender is not inherent nor is it dependent on the body that a person is born in.
The reason I chose to focus on this question is that it is something I am still trying to figure out on my own. There have been several readings prior to this that have made me thought about gender and the role it plays in our society. Since I could understand it, I have always been a person who believes that anyone can identify however they choose. I will respect the pronouns of any person, regardless of the sex that goes along with their body. (Side note but a fun fact I learned the other is that there are, biologically speaking, at least five sexes! Tell that to the people who claim there are only two genders and try to use biology.) But after reading different chapters and articles, including Butler's piece, I seem to have a greater confusion with gender. I am getting to the point where I almost don't see a need for it? I think it was interesting to read that Butler sees gender almost as a performance. It is something that society puts on us rather than being something that is inherent in our bodies. These things make me question gender and why we put so much emphasis on them. It seems to me that if gender has nothing to do with sex, why are we so obsessed with it? Butler makes the point that those who fail to perform their gender acts are punished, and I agree with that, but I think those punishments seem to be decreasing (522). Butler's piece was published in 1988, and I do think we have come a long way since then. I don't think the world is perfect, but I would like to think it has gotten at least a little bit better in terms of fighting gender norms and gender roles.
To answer my initial question, I agree that gender is more of a performance rather than being something we are born with that relates directly to one's sex. I do think there is a lot more to this topic and I have just barely scratched the surface. However, I guess the only way that we can work to be rid of these gender performances is to fight them. Rather than enforcing gender roles, we can choose what we want to do/wear/etc. with the reasoning being, we enjoy it rather than we must because it makes sense with our biological sex. I hope I have answered my question. This reading and the question is just so interesting to me and makes me think a lot about our society and the odd obsession over other peoples gender and how they portray themselves. This topic is fascinating to me and it is something that with each read I am further developing my ideas surrounding gender in our modern society.
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