Performative Nature of Gender

If genders are a social construct (and if that’s bad), why are we constructing more of them?

The terms “gender” and “sex” are often misunderstood because of their varying definitive use. Firstly, before we set off deeper into this thought, let us simplify it by seeing them in two perspectives. Sociology and biology both are sciences, but their definition of gender does differ significantly. If one were to look through a sociological view of “gender,” it is a social construct, while “sex” refers to the physical differences of people with XX or XY chromosomes. This also means that “gender” and “gender roles" become separate topics. A gender role is what society expects; gender is a wide range of traits that often have connections to sex due to gender roles, but this isn’t necessarily always the case. When seen through a biological lens, “gender” and “sex” are both recognised as a physical description of people’s chromosomes.

If one was to take any radical position through a biological determinist’s lens; which focuses on the point that “all” human behaviour is innate and gender is not a social construct; one cannot deny two things, one – the definition of what it means to be a “woman” and “man” changes from time to time. Two – traits associated with these roles are different in different parts of the world. So, what do we get from these two points? Our definition of gender changes faster than we think (often in a timeframe could be considered generation to generation). It is faster than any biological evolution. It happens to be different worldwide, and these differences are reflected in cultural aspects; it is a social construct.

If you are still confused, let us use material examples from our everyday lives – Money. Money is a social construct. This does not mean that there are no real-world consequences from your bank account balance. Realising money is a social construct does not change whether or not you need to pay your bills. We do know there is any inherent value in this paper. What we buy into is the “idea” that it is valuable.

Gender is real. Being a social construct does not mean it is not real or existing. The significant part is acknowledging something is a social construct in acknowledging that society gives it a meaning. And these meanings are ever-shifting, as discussed earlier on the basis of culture and time. Gender is real and not just objective reality.

There has been an ongoing discourse around the world for gender equality, which focuses on women’s oppression, as it should. We also need to address the influence of traditional male stereotypes that affect how gender inequality is continued. In this sense, we need to keep in mind that these stereotypes do not work in isolation. They are part of a more massive structure – Gender. Freud says that “human subject has always been sexed.” He stresses that despite biological differences, men and women have become a particular social subject. The biological individual can be viewed as a blank canvas upon which gendered identities are projected and performed through socialisation.

According to Judith Butler; Gender is performative. It “is real only to the extent that it is performed.” When something becomes performative, it produces a series of effects. For instance, someone tells you, “I promise you,” they are merely telling you these words but simultaneously changing your expectations. The critical aspect of the performativity is the repetitiveness of the acts being done. She also goes to compare this to a “ritualised production” where particular actions are repeated over and over again. Accordingly, let us say many young boys were to start wearing dresses tomorrow and wear them often for a few years. Over time this notion would be normalised.

Note that Butler here is trying to convey that nobody is a gender before doing gendered acts. Following this, she says that “identity is assured through the stabilizing concepts of sex, gender, and sexuality.” A reference to gender performative, establishing an identity through it. This is also reflected by Butler’s comment that there “is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender; that identity is performatively constituted by the very ‘expressions’ that are said to be its results.” That may give the impression that gender identity becomes a shell since it does not exist before, but only during gendered acts.

Furthermore, Butler stresses that being labelled as “men” and “women” is an internally unstable affair. She conveys that gender should not be portrayed as a stable identity as it is constructed through time in an exterior space by stylised repetitive period actions. We should interpret this claim as being impossible to identify as a sex or gender. Since it is a performative act, it exists when performed. “If the inner truth of gender is a fabrication and if a true gender is a fantasy instituted and inscribed on the surface of bodies, then it seems that genders can be neither true nor false, but are only produced as the true effects of a discourse of primary and stable identity.”

Gender has been one way for systematic, identity-based discrimination, and segregation. And in fact, it still is. Gender identity does not precede gendered acts. They exist at the same time. We grew up being taught about these. Engrained into very our beings; look at our names, for example. We see the world through the way we are taught to look into it. But what is wonderful? The fact that we can always unlearn these things. Arundhati Roy says this in her unconventional novel The God of Small Things, “Change is one thing. Acceptance is Another.” Start today by changing your definitions and see through the world through different shoes. Learn and reflect. Learn to accept these changes and know how things flow more resonant than we realise it to be.

Sources Used

• www.itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/2018/09/yes-gender-is-a-social-construction-no-that-doesnt-mean-its-not-real/

• www.e-ir.info/2015/03/29/its-a-mans-world-the-effect-of-traditional-masculinity-on-gender-equality/

• Judith Butler’s Notion of Gender Performativity – To What Extent Does Gender Performativity Exclude a Stable Gender Identity?