Precarious, Performative, Playful, Potential...Perspectives!

In class we started to discuss Wilchin's question (one of many): Why do a gender at all? However, we didn't get very far in our answer. I noticed that many of us were focusing on potential individual actions, and kept getting stuck on the fact that any of our actions, no matter how unique or transgressive, would inevitably be read through the “slits” of the gender binary. This seemed to mean that none of our actions could lead to the option to not do a gender at all.

Thinking about this topic later, I was struck by a huge misunderstanding in my approach to the question. I think the foundation of not “doing” a gender has nothing at all to do with individual actions, and everything to do with observation. To not “do” a gender, I don't have to change my way of behaving-- in fact, I could change my way of walking, my way of speaking, my way of dressing and it wouldn't make the slightest difference. To not do gender, and to allow others to not do gender, I have to change my way of seeing.

The issue of gender is fundamentally an issue of the observer. If none of us observed gender, it wouldn't exist. I look at the pink, dresses, dolls and lipstick and see symbols. After learning to instantaneously recognize and interpret these symbols, it's nearly impossible for me to step back and see only a color, a piece of fabric, a toy and a red paste. Trying to unsee gender is like looking at a typed page and trying to see abstract art instead of language. I'm not even sure that I can.

For this week's posting, I wanted to jump off of a topic that we seemed ready to talk about in class, but ran out of time. On the board when we left was a discussion of the New York Times article, with the names "Butler," "Foucault," and "Barad" listed. While we talked about Butler, I'm also interested in probing into the New York Times article through the diffractive apparatus of Wilchins' summary of Foucault.

In Wilchins' summary of Foucault, I was particularly interested in the idea of dressage: through a fairly grim process of repetition akin to that done by prisoners, we learn to behave and enact gender in a particular, societally accepted way. It seems to me that the therapists are advocating the same position on sexuality: through a dressage of sexuality, people attracted to the same sex (I am purposely refraining from using the words "gay" or "queer" for any idea of community that might annex) may be influenced to behave in a way that is in line with their religious beliefs. In this way, they become prisoners of desire; they must be taught by dogged repetition to be full members of their community by conforming to a "straight" sexual identity, if not a straight sexual orientation.

Hello, Anne, Kaye, classmates, & web browsers,

Greetings. My name is Joshua. At this particular moment, I’m sitting on my very comfortable bed, very proud of myself for successfully logging onto my account.

I am very much looking forward to this semester with all of you. After reading through “Listening To Understand,” I want to share, briefly, a few swimming thoughts.

Hey all,

I'm a senior (yikes!) political science major at Haverford College, and so excited for this class. I love the idea of interdisciplinary courses, and wish the bi-co more fully embraced them. I'm particularly interested in the interception of race and gender, because I think we (as a society) too often get stuck in the bogs of white middle class feminism while unintentionally marginalizing other movements. Other than that, I'm extremely interested in public health as it relates to sex, gender, and identity.

Hi everyone! My name is Kim. I'm an English major and gender studies minor at Bryn Mawr. I am really excited to be taking this class. I have always been interested in how fashion and gender intercept. There is a saying, "gender is a drag", and I think that is so interesting and true. In Riki Wilchins book there are a lot of theories on socially constructed gender, and I believe that fashion and clothes are a way to play with and explore gender and gender roles. I think this ties in well with the "Playful" in this course title, because through fashion we are able to manipulate and play with our own gender, and the way society views us.

Hi everyone! I’m Gavi. I’m a Haverford sophomore and a likely English major. I am also so psyched to be taking this class. 

I was really struck when, in the conversation we had after reading the higher education timeline and the Wilchins excerpt, Anne commented on the timidity of our visions for the future. This comment forced me to consider my position both in the classroom and outside of it, as a student and as an activist. I’m taking this course because I’ve been interested in gender and sexuality issues for years, and I want an education that prepares me to discuss these issues in a critical, academic manner.  Often, though, I operate in this false dichotomy where I separate my academic life from my nonacademic one. Sometimes, this means that I’m more restrained in class. My comments are more reserved and I’m careful not to stray too far from the direction the class is generally moving toward...

Hello.  My name is Shannon Yaeger and I am a junior at Bryn Mawr who is majoring in English Literature and considering a minor in gender studies.  In thinking about the 5 P's in the title of this class, three which I most drawn to are play, potential, and performative.  I think these three words are interlocked for me when I consider gender and sexuality, and the ways in which our social conceptions of them are changing.  We all start out with playing at our own genders, both as children modeling what we see in adults, and then as adults who are trying to find their place on the spectrums of gender and sexuality.  Similarly, I think that most expressions of gender are largely performative as our expression of our genders are displayed through action.

Hi all! My name is Sara, and I’m a junior Psychology major at Haverford. I am also a Gen/Sex minor who has thus far explored this very broad topic from both a psychological and an anthropological perspective, and I’m excited to continue my studies through a variety of new lenses this semester.  I think the “p” that currently intrigues me the most in our course description is “playful.” Today, so many of the topics that lie under the Gen/Sex umbrella are fraught with tension and emotion, yet we often tend to forget that sexuality is something to celebrate and enjoy. It’s reassuring to know that although we will be delving into deep issues, our class will still maintain a sense of levity and fun!