Blog Two
“Gender is a performance�, to me, elaborates that gender is not the anatomy of the body. It is the way we act, dress, speak, and in the end, how we present ourselves in front of others. Our everyday lives being the stage in which we perform our gender on.
I especially liked the fact that Richardson pointed out how we, as humans, like to classify things. This is so true. We like to know how things fit together and when a piece of this puzzle does not fit in with everything else, many people do not know how to react. We have all, from birth, been living and performing our gender as it has been taught to us. These teachings do not necessarily mean that someone sat us down and said “this is the way you act�, although it could have been part of the learning process. Most people have learned gender performance through watching people and media. I believe that this performance does make gender a real thing, regardless of whether it matches the anatomy.
I do believe that the gender that one performs affects their everyday lives. To this day, women are still looked down upon by many because they are thought to not be as good or as smart as men. Also, transgenders are not treated with the respect that people should give them as human beings just like the rest of us. I have also heard that many people believe that in today’s world, it is a great disadvantage to be a white male, once thought to be the prime race/sex/gender. I think every gender has its disadvantages and advantages. If gender was thought of in a different way or didn’t exist at all, our culture would be a very different place.