Monday, November 12, 2012
What is masculinity?
After today's class discussion, I was intrigued by what the various nations consider to be "masculine." As we mentioned in class, the East is seen as a more feminine version of masculinity, whereas the West is seen as having an assertive masculinity. Song utilizes his performance of a woman to point out that people from the East are not seen as being ultra-masculine. This brought me to question what exactly masculinity is; what defines masculinity? What does it mean to be masculine? As we discussed in class, racial and sexual stereotypes are often used to identify one's level of masculinity. So is masculinity solely based on society's stereotypes? Or is masculinity, like identity, something that can be assumed through performance? I find it interesting at gender is so flexible in this play; that Song was able to hide her/his true identity from Gallimard for decades floors me. By donning a disguise and refusing to show her entire naked self to him (along with adapting a submissive attitude), Song prevents Gallimard from discovering that she is actually a man.
1 comment:
I feel that this play strongly argues that society dictates the level of masculinity in society. Even now in the western culture, we can still see strict guidelines that determine who is and who is not masculine in society. For example, male cheerleaders are considered incredibly effeminate. Even I will admit that when I think of a male cheerleader, my mind doesn't imagine a masculine figure. However, it is pretty common that male cheerleaders appear and act as any male in society, possibly more so than any of your average sports players. However, because we have created this image of the male football player and the female cheerleader, our culture immediately generates uncompromising regulations of what is masculine and what is feminine in our culture. In the eastern culture however, society had not, and still hasn't today followed such a strict social norm of separation between gender roles, therefore, we see their idea of masculine as very feminine in comparison.
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