Gender Performance essay

Gender comes with expectations and beliefs for example in the society that we live in, the women are expected to be tender, motherly, caregivers and beautiful. On the other hand, the male is expected to be providers and be involved in sports. They are also expected to be less emotional as compared to their female counterparts. Butler says that gender is a mere socially developed idea and people who go against the ideas are seen as queer. This paper will examine whether gender is stereotyped or subverted using the critical theory. It tells how masculinity and femininity is a masquerade. Masculinity and femininity are the major ways by which gender performance is manifested. As a matter of fact, women can put on the male clothes every of dressing but remain relevant.

There is no clear definition of who is male and who is female. Womanliness is a mere idea imposed by the society. There are so many stereotyped versions of gender as defined by the society. Several theories can be used to explain these stereotypes. One of the major theories that are used to explain this is the queer theory (Pullen et al, 2016, 1-5). Queer theory is a branch of critical theory which explains that identities are not fixed and therefore they do not determine who people are. The theory explains that it is meaningless to make a generalization about women and other groups. From the time of birth, a human being gets to develop the mentality how gender is perceived. This happens through gender socialization where group membership is learned. The world of sports has also seen a lot of stereotype.

It is usually perceived boys are mentally oriented towards the masculine sports such as football, rugby and basketball while their female colleagues usually have preference for lighter sports such as ballet and yoga while they are in school. This has denied most of the students the opportunity to try out the sports that could work out for them. Levine suggested that “By using only makeup, gendered outfits and stereotyped poses the contractedness of the gender binary is portrayed. Epstein, 2014, 1-3). It’s, however, true to say those women put on makeup for themselves. It makes women feel confident and ready to face different situations. It is perceived that female have darker lips and eyes than men and thus makeup is necessary. The mass media has played a major role in the transmission of inequalities and gender differences using the electronic and the print media.

The newspapers for example been cited containing headings such as “what it means to be a woman of a man. ” In doing so, the media has created an imbalance between boy child and the girl child. The patriarchal values in sports reinforced by the media, (Spaaij et al, 2015, 400-411). Girls are faced with the problem of living; in two different culture; that of the sports and their larger culture. The queer theory was effective in the analysis of gender performance and it is explained that gender socially constructed. It is, therefore, necessary that avoid stereotypes that may undermine capabilities. Bibliography Bettcher, T. M. Trapped in the wrong theory: Rethinking trans-oppression and resistance. Journal of International Women's Studies, 16(2), p. Pennell, H. and Behm-Morawitz, E. The empowering (super) heroine? The effects of sexualized female characters in superhero films on women.

Sex Roles, 72(5-6), pp. The female man. Open Road Media. Spaaij, R. Farquharson, K. and Marjoribanks, T.