Performativity and Punitive Measures

[Federica]

Can you think of any interesting example of gender performativity? Or punitive measures if we don't get the performative right?

[lady123]

I think one obvious example of gender performativity is evident within a school environment.  Whether it is pre school, senior school and perhaps even university, we all want to expose ourselves in a particular way.  Girls want to be seen as girls and boys want to be boys. They do through gender performance.  However, in some cases, there is confusion, for example, a girly boy or a boyish girl.  Some may not be familiar with this form of gender and therefore react in a certain manner, for example, violence/aggression/name calling.  Reactions such as these are formally known as punitive measures.  Butler would explain such slander through the victims (girly boy and boyish girl) performance not adhering to the "hegemonic beliefs and practices of a society" (Tom Tyler).   Is it wrong for these victims to be exposed to this ridicule? Yes of course it is, however is it simply an internalized reaction out of our control because it is a part of gender we are not accustomed to?

[Chesca]

One example I could think of for gender performativity is girls cutting there hair like boys and boys growing their hair like girls. In school this was seen as weird because girls are suppose to have long pretty hair and boys are suppose to have short hair. The punitive measures they receive is being picked on and called names because they are not performing there gender. It seems there is an unwritten rule that some how says you are allowed to punish those who don’t act accordingly to their gender which is shown through people being against gays and lesbians. I think that having these set gender performances allows others to know who you are, so by going against them you are telling people to criticise you. so maybe people bring it upon themselves.
Now a days girls having short hair and boys having long hair isn’t so bad but in schools I’m sure there are still those who pick on others for performing the wrong gender.

[chunnu]

The notion of ‘tomboys’ can be regarded as one of the examples. They tend to exhibit characteristics of the gender role of boys: wearing masculine-oriented types of clothes; involving in games/ activities that are typically considered to be the domain of boys etc.

Judith Halberstam (1998) has claimed that while the defying of gender roles is often tolerated in young girls, older girls and adolescents who display masculine traits are often repressed and punished. ‘Tomboys’ are somewhat regarded as social deviants who fail to perform their gender in the right way. However, I think it is unfair to apply such self-referent labels i.e. tomboys, lesbians, (Swain and Cameron, 1999) on them. After all, they cannot control and change their in-born sexual orientations, and we are no one to judge whether they are ‘able’ or ‘disabled’ in the society.

[katievolone]

It can be said that we see gender performances everyday. If you are labelled as a boy or a girl from day one, you are automatically conforming to your chosen gender. You perform that role with the type of clothes that you wear and the way in which you hold yourself. Me being a girl, I have long hair, I wear dresses and skirts and wear make-up in a 'girly' fashion, which if was seen on a boy would be queer. As said before there are exceptions, that being tomboys etc, however this could be seen as a retaliation to their chosen gender. They are performing the gender that they want rather than what they are given.

[gerrberr]

i think that we cannot escape the procreativity. The society demands from us a clear cut roles. Boys need to be brave and cant ever cry and girls have to be girly and wear dresses. that can be visible especially among teenagers. when a girl is growing up and has short hair and her body is not yet fully developed as a women she starts to be bullied and called a boy..it seems that from very early stage of our lives the roles that we play in society needs to be either a boy or a girl...even when our bodies is still changing
moreover i personally believe the gender is biological and it is cruel to call somebody a boy if you are a girl...

[sweetgirl]

The way we think about gender and sex tend to presuppose and preempt the possibilities of imaginable and realizable gender configurations with ones culture. In our lives male and females are constrained by existing discourses, As Butler (1990) argues that gender is something that can change in different contexts , in that sense gender is more of a performance. for example is a women who wears make-up will say to herself that 'I feel like a preety women today' similarly a man who goes for a shave in the barbers will say to himself ' what a handsome man I look today' we can see that through this process gender is something that we perform  and people are partly aware that gender can be some type of performance.

On the other hand there is not a real male or female performance, but through a genders frequent repetition we can follow the identity patterns. Our gender performances always very much depend on the cultural practices for example marriage, heterosexual relationships.

A women who besides to walk in manly outfits will be prejudiced against because the 'normal' people will consider this to be a weird way of performance.

[mgh_88]

I believe that people don't look at gender performativity in the same way that they used to. Over the last few years men are starting to use beauty treatments and some wear make up. In the past it would have been seen as strange if a man was getting a manicure or a fake tan and they would probably be ridiculed as a result however in this day it appears that these origionally female past times are becoming more accepted. It has even got to the extent where so called "hardman" celebrities openly talk about going in for these treatments!

[chunnu]

I agree with mgh_88 - we no longer 'punish' those who do not perform their gender right in the same level of severity than we would in the last decade. To be honest, my friends and I are often amazed at the stylish outlooks of the gays we come across (though we tend to judge only by their appearance and behaviour and presume radically that they are gay). We really appreciate the way these minorities expose their sexual preferences in public despite knowing that they might be ‘punished’ with prejudiced opinions and values by society.

Along with that, I've recently come across some funny videos from youtube in which some Taiwanese comedians imitate Korean pop groups such as WonderGirls and SuperJunior. The comedians' imitative performance of opposite gender did not raise controversy from the public, they had instead gained lots of popularity and supports from the local community as the show entertains audience in a positive way. Even though the Taiwan comedians are dancing and singing in costumes of the opposite gender, they are not punished or criticised the way they would be in the past. The comedians are rather applauded and approved due to their creativity and resemblance.

Thus, although some will still judge the minorities in “coloured-lens”, the mentality and focus towards them has changed over the last few years. I believe we are getting more accepting in regards to gender performativity and that we allow the minorities to integrate with the majorities.

[lady123]

I disagree with chunnu and mgh_88.  I believe as times go on, the acceptance of girly boys is getting worse.  Back in Shakespearean times, it was the 'done thing' for males to dress up as females in plays...but only for plays.  And you mentioned celebrities, do they not only wear make up on for show? For the hundreds of cameras on them?  If Ben Affleck was spotted wearing mascara or foundation out of the spot light, i am sure you would see 'has Affleck crossed to the other side?' (or some other reference to homosexuality) splashed across the front page of Heat Magazine.  It is the same case for Shakespearen's and Celebrities today, they only wore makeup/cross dressed for one reason and one reason only- for show. 

I think times are only getting harder and it will be a long road for these 'girly boys' to gain acceptance from society.  And i think the reason for this is simple.  As a culture, we are trained to stick by the norm and so when we are threatened by change, we freak out and rebel. 

[Tea and Cake]

I think I am inclined to agree with mgh_88 and Chunnu. I also believe that as a society we are actually more accepting of gender blurring now, in the 21st century, than we were 20 or so years ago, or even shakesperean times. I can think of numerous instances when I have been out in the city and seen 'girly boys' or 'butch girls' who are accepted in our society without challange or question. And I believe this to be because of the breech in social conformity or our generation. I actually think that our generation has not 'stuck by the norm' as Lady123 suggested but pushed the traditional 'normal' boundaries aside to freely express ourselves... For example, there is a gay pride festival in Sydney, Australia, every year called the Mardi Gras whereby thousands of people gather and parade (for hours!) to celebrate being 'alternative'. And it's not just homosexuals who enjoy this festival, but there are thousands of 'normal' (heterosexual) people who gather to celebrate indivduality and support the paraders for expressing themselves. I can't imagine that in shakespearean times or even 40 years ago that people would be so accepting of this flamboyant display.

In regards to the celebrities, I don't believe they are a very good example as it is their job to perform to an audience and they do this by masquerading as a character....so do we actually know the real person? Do we really care!? If they wear make-up 'out of the spotlight' sure the tabloids are going to expolit it as it makes a good story. Whether they do or not, does it matter? If male celebrities use female beauty products does that mean they're performing female traits? Or could it simply be that they rely so heavily on their looks in their line of work, that they want to try and remain looking young to further their career?

[chunnu]

I've recently read the BBC news about the virginity industry - Due to cultural and societal constraints, some Arabi women fake their virginity when they get married by undergoing surgery to restore their hymen. Christian communities in the Middle East are often just as firm in their belief that women should be virgins when they marry. Though these examples are a bit extreme from my point of view, they can be seen as illustrating gender performativity. A woman's life can be in danger if she is not a virgin - She will be ostracised by her community, or even murdered because she is expected not to be indulged in physical sex with any men before marriage.

"She can be in danger because sometimes it's a matter of traditions and family," says Dr Abecassis. Having said so, however, we are not in a position to judge or decide for these women. Somehow I pity these Arabi women as they have to keep the secrets to their graves - That they had faked their virginity when they get married. This is too harsh a punishment for them. Don't you think so?

P.S. The news can be retrieved at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8641099.stm

[Karla]

Males are expected to act masculine, and females to act feminine, as it is part of our culture and society which enforces this idea as the 'norm'. Butler says that 'culturally, it is as if we are trapped in the very ‘look’ of sex, enticed by the codes of gender’ (Elliott 2001: 115). If girls act in a lad-ish, tomboy like way they will be viewed as odd, similarly a male who is very in touch with his feminine side is also likely to receive criticism from those around him. It seems that if you are somewhere in the middle of the scale between male and female then your gender can be questioned, however I believe that as we are (in most cases) either born with one type of genitalia or another, this gives a clear distinction to which sex we are, no matter how we dress this up throughout our lives.

[emily]

I think that we are subject to gender norms from the day we are born. Being a girl, I was given dolls, barbies and soft toys to play with growing up. I also had a pink bedroom, compared to my brother's blue one. I think boys and girls are differentiated from the start, and their personalities are developed having been influenced by the way they are brought up. Therefore, I was subject to the stereotypes of being a girl, and have continued this growing up. Now, I wear makeup, have long hair and love to shop, which are typical girl traits.
However, if i were to wear no makeup, have short hair and loved to play football, I think I would be subject to punitive measures, such as bullying, because I would not be following certain social stereotypes.

[supernoodle275]

I believe our gender is set out for us, from the day we are born and the genitalia that we have. Obviously there are exceptions to this rule, for example hermaphrodites. However, this is just the biological side to it. Surely it is up to the individual person if they feel that they want or even need to act feminine if they are a male, or masculine if they are a female. I have homosexual friends who say they could just tell from a young age, that they did not feel like they were like the other boys, and preferred doing girly things. It wasn't a choice its just the way that they felt.

But stereotyping and always putting such a huge microscope over such things, why can't people let other people be whatever it is that they want to be?