I Hope you are all enjoying my previous posts investigating into the construction of the two genders! As I have been focusing on the construction of gender, I really want to predict the next steps for the boys and girls of the future! So everyone aboard my magic carpet as we gaze into the next future…
Gender constructs, as I have previously mentioned are constantly being reinforced and broken down by various factors within our society. A great example to consider is the educational performance that girls are achieving throughout every educational level as apposed to previous generations, due to changing in attitudes and legislation allowing girls to out perform boys. Another is looking at the hope for women to enter independent careers of their own. I’ve been brought up with a stay-at-home Dad and a breadwinner Mother, which has really helped me see no limits at the things woman can achieve.
Now we can look into our pop culture and see the introduction of androgynous models, (http://www.buzzfeed.com/saeedjones/8-stunningly-beautiful-androgynous-models). Our generation is quite rightly on the way to producing a whole new level of ‘normal’, or even eliminating the word from our vocab. Andrej Pejic is a successful Australian androgynous model of Bosnian ethnicity, who was scouted when she was turning 17 working at McDonalds. Pejic describes herself as living ‘in between genders’ and because of that was seen walking both female and male catwalks in Paris Fashion Week in 2011.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrej_Peji%C4%87). We can also see androgyny featuring within our music. Michael Quattlebaum Jr. better known by his stage name Mykki Bianco, is an energetic American rapper changing the foundations of rap for our society. An example of Mykki Baby’s stage presence is evident by a critic describing his performance as a ‘hip-hop exorcism: a little grungy, unapologetically raw and a maybe more than a little fucked up’(http://www.blogto.com/music/2012/11/transgender_rap_star_gets_raw_on_dundas_west/) While this type of performer is still new to us, you can not deny the talent and that breath of fresh air that Mykki Bianco brings to the scene. (Here Mykki Baby’s sound cloud so you can all give it a listen.https://soundcloud.com/mykkiblanco)
With figures like Andrej Pejic and Mykki Bianco appearing in society, other institutions now accept the changing view of gender. The German’s may be one step ahead of us with trying to achieve this! As they try to get their heads around a gender neutral language! (‘German’s try to get their tongues around gender- neutral language’ Phillip Olterrman, The Guardian.) German is a language that focus’ on the allocation of masculine, feminine and neutral gender articles (Der,Die or Das) which personally created a lot of problems for me when learning it throughout school! But the language is now causing new problems for the new generation as they cope with the fact that “At the moment, German is a very comfortable language, but a very unfair one.” Mark Twain once noted. With gender confusion spiraling out of control all over the world, Germans are now seeking for a more fair language as well as a society.
Society constantly adapts to change, which is evident when looking at all the technology changes we’ve had in our lifetime! Even in my last 20 years I can identify changes, such as not being able to use the internet and the phone at the same time! So in my belief gender is changing as much as our society (it has too!). One of the most significant and influential changes that has happened within our society has to be the social movement of feminism. Feminism has constantly reinforced our need as a society for our gender identities to become both more fluid and acceptable. With feminists insisting equality (quite rightly!) it has broken down many of the constructions that surround femininity. Third wave feminists especially have made the notion of choice more acceptable for females, therefore abiding or declining past gender stereotypes are OK! Woman have the ability to choose their destiny and are able to be stay at home mothers without accepting their oppression.
Another example of recent gender construction changes is the presence of Drag. As we all know from our attendance at the Pantomimes throughout the Christmas period, that Drag is where a man dresses as a woman, and often acts with exaggerated femininity for an audience. More often than not this form of expression is seen as entertainment and is enjoyed by many. This shows that gender boundaries are becoming more accepting within our society, and are even being enjoyed. Judith Butler was one of the first critics to determine gender as a performance due to the introduction of Drag. She advises that drag is a necessary mechanism within our society, as it seeks to uncover the truths behind gender identity, pointing out that an individual does not have an obligation to belong to any particular gender. (Gender Trouble, Judith Butler.) However, this may be the more popular of the examples for changing gender boundaries, the aim is still to over perform and turn the individual into a mockery, public humiliation you might even say!
Gender boundaries are changing! I am personally excited to see what happens! But I do believe it will be hard and I dare to say that I will still be quick in dressing my future Granddaughters in pink little dresses! (Although that image is still quite cute…) I will personally try my hardest to reinforce the choice an individual has to either reject or conform to societies expectations, and remember that there is no right or wrong answer, as the whole form of gender is a made up construction.
Hope this argument has sparked off a debate with yourself! Feel free to comment and share your thoughts with others!
Pippa Dean 