I Am A Woman. But Why? EXEMPLAR
Topic: Gender
by Sofia, 2021 Cohort
Introduction#
I am a woman. I feel like a woman, dress like a woman, and act like one too. I also use the bathroom that has a squiggly cartoon dress on the door.
But when those labels are taken off bathroom doors, what do we find inside? I may feel, think and act like a woman, but how can I be so sure?
Simone de Beauvoir’s theory#
De Beauvoir’s 1949 book The Second Sex was a revolutionary take on what gender is. Before de
Beauvoir, society conflated biological sex with gender, asserting that those with penises were ‘men’ and those with vaginas were ‘women.’ De Beauvoir challenged this conception completely. She argued that gender was not the result of one’s sexual organs, and had no essential correlation to biology. Rather, it was engineered in the social realm. It was society that determined how ‘men’ and ‘women’ were to operate in the world, whether that be in regard to their appearance, line of work, mode of speech and beyond. Having an XX or XY genotype had nothing to do with it.
Let’s turn our minds to Waleed Aly, the acclaimed journalist from The Project, to flesh this out. Waleed has short hair and wears a suit every time he appears on the show. Unlike his female counterparts, he also wears barely any makeup, save what is necessary for the bright lights of Channel 10’s studio. De Beauvoir’s theory would assert that these behaviours are not the result of innate desires. Instead, they are socially constructed. Waleed became a man by virtue of living in our society. He was not born one.
Judith Butler’s theory#
In their 1990 book Gender Trouble, Butler built on de Beauvoir’s ‘becoming’ theory by arguing that this ‘becoming’ is performative. By this, Butler means that we stylise our bodies, behaviours and speech according to the frameworks - the characters - of manhood or womanhood. It’s useful to think of a television character to wrap our heads around this idea. Let’s take Olivia Colman, who plays Queen Elizabeth on The Crown. In her performance, Olivia Colman wears conservative, regal clothing; she puts on a posh British accent; and is adorned with jewels. Butler argues that the way we play characters mirrors the way we perform gender: just as Oliva Colman performs the character of Queen Elizabeth, I shave my legs and use ‘she/her’ pronouns in my performance of ‘womanhood.’
Conclusion#
So, these two philosophers believe that gender is socialised and performed. But what of the trans community, for whom gender is not a performance, but their truth? What if Waleed Aly’s desire to have short hair and wear a suit is genuine? And how can we even begin to know? These questions are big, and the sheer volume of scholarship grappling with them can feel overwhelming to sift through.
This morning, I asked myself why I wanted to use the women’s bathroom. I think that’s a pretty good place to start.
Disclaimer#
This content has been contributed by a student as part of a learning activity.
If there are inaccuracies, or opportunities for significant improvement on this topic, feedback is welcome on how to improve the resource.
You can improve articles on this topic as a student in "Unravelling Complexity", or by including the amendments in an email to: Chris.Browne@anu.edu.au