The feminist theory of gender performativity comes from the prominent feminist Judith Butler who discusses this issue in her 1990 book Gender Trouble. Butler theorizes on page 24 of her book that gender is performed because “gender proves to be performative –that is, constituting the identity it is purported to be. In this sense, gender is always a doing, though not a doing by a subject who might be said to preexist the deed.” For me what this means is that gender is fluidly performed based on attributions we have given to each gender (a gender norm).
The theory of gender performativity has always been something of interest to me, mainly because it is not a theory I had learned in high school, only in university. I think that in a way yes we do all perform our genders, but is this wrong if we are comfortable doing so? In my own life I have not come across anyone who was uncomfortable being either male or female or who was uncomfortable performing those genders…maybe I am just not meeting enough people. The media however does play an integral role when it comes to gender performance, this could be through television shows and commercials which prescribe certain roles for women and men.
I recently came across this video of a young boy who looks to be no older than 10 years old. In the video he is provocatively dressed in female attire and provocatively dancing to a pop song. I was stunned after watching this video, the first thing I thought was “where are his parents and why are they condoning such behavior?” It is clear in the video that someone may be filming him because of the way the camera zooms. What is evident in this video is that this young boy is performing gender as a female character. I am not sure if this boy was doing this for entertainment, peer pressure, or just out of a desire to explore a feminine nature within himself. Take a look and leave me your comments with regards to what you thought about the video.
Resources:
Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc. USA. pg.25
©2011, Zain Alglaieny
Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc. USA. pg.25
©2011, Zain Alglaieny
My issue is with your wording. In the part where you say... "I was stunned after watching this video, the first thing I thought was “where are his parents and why are they condoning such behaviour?”"
ReplyDeleteWhy is what he is doing worthy of being condoned? If a girl was dressed like a rap star/gangster (traditionally a male role), would you still be saying "where are her parents? Why are they condoning her behaviour?"
It seems like there's a double standard - its ok for girls to act/dress like boys, but it's not ok for boys to act/dress like girls?
This 'standard' of it not being ok for this little boy to dress feminine and dance like a hootchie, sort of makes it ok for others to say that regarding women (since women are still deemed "inferior" across most societies).
Instead, shouldn’t we be celebrating the fact this boy (regardless of peer pressure or for fun) doesn’t subscribe to societies gendered norms?
-S
p.s. I think he did it for fun, he seems to enjoy dancing and he doesn't have any looks of "I don't like this" on his face...
The issue with parents condoning such behaviour is allowing him to both dress and dance provocatively then post it on the internet for the world to see. You never know who will watch this video and how they will react to it. Also, how old is this boy? He looks like he may be at least 10 years old or younger, and this to me is not something a 10 year old child should be doing online.
ReplyDeleteSame goes for a female of that age, if she was dressed just as provocatively. My issue is not that he is wearing female clothing, but the style of revealing/sexy clothing he is wearing. If a young girl dressed as a gangster/rap star it is also something to question (why is she wearing that, is this appropriate, etc.).
There is no mention of double standards in this post, this is an assumption on your part. But as I have just finished saying, the issue is not about this boy dressing as a female, it is about this boy dressing provocatively and dancing provocatively. We all shake our heads and have negative comments about women in music videos, who are dressed just like this boy and are dancing just like him (some to a much higher degree than this). Is this an acceptable standard we want our children to imitate?
Kudos to the boy for being brave enough to explore those boundaries, but again is this the most appropriate way for him to do so? With child pornography being such a high crime in today's society should we not feat that his young boy is being overly sexual at such a young age, maybe even catering (in an accidental way perhaps) to many pigs who watch child porn?