Response 12: "From Interiority To Gender Performatives"

I do agree with Butler’s argument that gender is held to “’compulsory’ and ‘normative’ heterosexuality” (581). One reason is because even today, most societies around the world frown on any type of sexuality that isn’t heterosexual (homosexuality, asexuality) and because of this, “as a strategy of survival within compulsory systems, gender is a performance with clearly punitive consequences…indeed, we regularly punish those who fail to do their gender right” (585). “the gendered body is performative” and expectations of how gender is portrayed varies throughout the world (583). The idea of what is means to be male is primarily characterized by “male” traits such as aggression and an external toughness, physical and emotional. The football quarterback is the epitome of an ultimate male, in the West anyway. However while strength, especially physical is a generally universal standard/expectation of masculinity expected from men, the definition of masculinity is different in other areas of the world, such as parts of Asia. In Korea, men are increasingly becoming meterosexual, they even get clear pedicures, and Korea is actually one of the largest emerging markets for male facial skin care and some cosmetic products. While the idea of a meterosexual male has slightly permeated towards the West, it is still not an idea that is absolutely accepted. While Derrida might disagree, a universal truth is that human beings do not want to be shunned by their societies. Due to this, many perform repeated actions that are associated with either gender to fit in so that they are not excluded for being themselves. In a way, this act of attempting to fit in by performing expected gender roles is in a way a mimicry of what it means to be an ideal man or an ideal woman.