Judith Butler says we perform gender and she isn't wrong. Back when gender behaviour was strictly enforced within the binary, people who didn't fit hid their proclivities as much as they could.
This was separate from stage productions where gender could be mocked, emulated or exhalted; something which was tolerated and even praised provided it remained there.
Masculine and feminine behaviour has always extended well beyond the sex binary but outlaws risked ridicule or shunning. So an underground culture was created consisting of drag balls, married "crossdresser" clubs or stealth transitions by transsexuals longing to live authentically.
We castigated divergences as if it were a crime.
Today expression and identity in the west have been freed to a point where hiding has become unnecessary and many even consider dysfunctional because it's become pointless.
Most people just don't care.
No comments:
Post a Comment
All respectful comments are welcome :)