The readings for tomorrow’s class were very interesting, and showed how complex and confusing sex and gender can be. I have learned in many classes how sex is biological, and gender is socially constructed. Though gender is, without a doubt, socially constructed…these readings also indicated that sex isn’t always so black and white, male or female.
Specifically for lesbians, coming to terms with a certain type of identity is far more complicated than I ever realized. Ariel Levy introduces us to “bois” who, she says have “nothing to do with goddess or sisterhood or herbal tea, and everything to do with being young, hip, sex positive, a little masculine, and ready to rock” (121). Unlike those who are butch and seen as manly and responsible, being a Boi is seen as more of a “boy,” who hasn’t grown up yet and is instead ready to party and hook up. Bois are more similar to teenage boys who are toying with their identities…the label is far more flexible than other labels before it. While most people are used to either very femme lesbians or very butch, a producer for Dyke TV stated that “everything in our world is set up as a dichotomy and I just feel like that’s so limiting” (127).
In the article “One Bad Hair Day Too Many” by Jennifer Reid Maxcy Myhre, Myhre discusses the experience of shaving her head, which she says is a “constant slap in the face to those who believe that the boundaries between masculine and feminine are clear and rigid, inherent and right” (86). Myhre discusses how even some lesbians feel as though she gives them a bad name. In our society, dichotomies are truly everywhere. Myhre brings to light that there isn’t always straight/lesbian, butch/femme, or even male/female. There are so many levels of in-between that need to be accepted just as anyone else.
The first chapter of “Dueling Dualisms” takes a practical approach and reveals how even biology cannot even explain male and female differences. Sterling states, “The more we look for a simple physical basis for ‘sex,’ the more it becomes clear that ‘sex’ is not a pure physical category” (4).
Overall, these articles show just how difficult it is for many people to know their own identities because society is constantly trying to categorize everything and everyone. If a girl who is not yet “mother-age” cuts her hair short, she is immediately assumed to be a lesbian. If a college aged male chooses to carry a bag instead of a handbag, he must be gay. Labels are everywhere and we can’t help but assign them and try to find universal truths and patterns…but this is exactly what gets us in trouble. We need to learn to see people as individuals, not members of groups. If we are able to do this as a society, then differences won’t be differences anymore…they will just be characteristics that make up individuals…and perhaps things like sexism, racism and homophobia will cease to exist.
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People have a natural urge to label and to categorize. The problem is that everything does not fit neatly into boxes; life is a little bit messy sometimes. There is a spectrum of sexuality, gender, masculinity and femininity, and this idea makes us uneasy. Jennifer Reid Maxcy Myhre, who refers to herself as an androgynous young feminist, points out, “people are uncomfortable around me because I do not, at first glance, fit easily into a gender category” (Findlen 87). As a result of our discomfort, we apply new labels (like “butch” for instance) and hurls insults in order to silence those resisting this simple classification.
ReplyDeleteWe have begun to learn that we cannot always base determinations of sex (biologically male or female) on external appearance. Some individuals (intersexed individuals) simply defy our rules. If appearance does not work, what about chromosomes? Genitalia? Brain anatomy? To some people, it sounds absurd to have to base sex off of such tests, but that is the point. Why do we need to have an answer to this question? If someone believes that they are male or female or somewhere in between, shouldn’t that be good enough for the rest of us?
Myrhe is one such individual who is able to fight back: “I refuse to live my life in a box labeled “female.” In my more ambitious and perhaps foolishly hopeful moments, I imagine a world in which there is no simple categorization by sex, no gender, but only people. I imagine a world in which people are attracted to me not because of what sex I am (or appear to be) but rather because they find me fascinating. I imagine a world in which I am at home” (Findlen 88). I agree with her sentiments and wish that we could stop this dangerous habit of categorizing people (especially based solely on external criteria), but I am doubtful that this will happen. People will always see difference. Perhaps we can lessen our discomfort as we become more exposed to it or begin to see difference as a source of strength, but I think the urge to classify will always remain.
Still, even if we continue to see difference, can we at least move beyond dualisms? Can we give people more options? Julien (nee Julie) Rosskam explains, “I’m so against the whole butch-femme dichotomy… I just feel really defensive; I don’t like when people feel the need to put people into categories like that. If you had a line of women we could put them on a spectrum from the most femme to the most butch but everything in our world is set up as a dichotomy and I just feel like that’s so limiting” (Levy 126-7). Will we ever ease the identity development processes of individuals like Myrhe and Rosskam and allow them to fall somewhere on a spectrum, rather than in only one of two boxes?