Reading a couple of articles on gender performativity (the repeated acts of gender stereotypical events/activities) piqued my interest. Researchers of 2 separate studies did interviews with women (Australia) and transgender folks (UK)… and came up with this theory: that people perform their gender.
The study with women examined smoking as an external portrayal of gender identity- cigarettes as a fashion item and the style of smoking as an expression of femininity. Cigarettes for women are designed to look “feminine”… long, slim and white, in contrast to more masculine-looking cigarettes, which are bigger. The packs are usually in light colours. Of course this has a lot to do with advertising, the portrayal of smoking in the media has tremendous impact on meaning that women associated with smoking. We get words like weaker physique (therefore slimmer with filter), supposedly clean and mild (therefore white). The style of smoking amused me the most: women prefer to hold their cigarettes between their index and middle finger, prefer to make their act of smoking visible; men often wrap their thumb and index finger around the very tip of the cigarette. [Note: participants are straight.] Smoking becomes a display of femininity.
From their study, the authors made mention of make-up, one’s mannerism and posture… and how these come together to produce the effect of gender. These products targetted at women and act as a gender tool- to give the perception of an inner gender identity. Constructed gender identity: the performance of acts to be feminine. The study of MTF transsexuals went along the same line, bringing in deeply ingrained gender roles and the extent of learning that one has to go through before becoming (behaviorally) a woman- for some of them. Gender identity is distinct from behavior and yet has a two-way influence.
These couple of articles reminded me of other experiments that were done before. Such as what you do… is what you become. The most famous being the Prison experiment in 1971. People who were assigned to a position of power… became real tyrants over time. [This experiment was brought to an early close because of suicide cases and other depressive disorders.] Good indication that your behavior affects what you are.
That sparked me to think about our sexual orientation. While behavior springs out of and then reinforces what we think we are, which has a larger part to play? It could be an interaction efect i.e. when someone has a strong identity, behavior would have less impact on identity; for someone with a weaker sense of identity, behavior has a larger leeway to modify it; where there is no sense of it, behavior then brings in an identity. And then there are probably other factors like salience of the identity in the self as well as the context. Is it a core aspect of the self? This, i think, has a direct influence on the extent of how important stereotypical behavior is to a person. For example, a woman in which being a woman is a large part of her identity would take more pains with “looking feminine”. A person who has a greater vocational identity coupled with a low sense of gender may be less likely to dress feminine. That’s my conjecture. [This said, i believe that most of the women have deeply ingrained gender roles, whether we like it or not. So it's a matter of the extent of expression.] And the context: in a place where differentiating yourself as woman is useful, you would do it. E.g. Governing behavior via expectations in a social context. When it’s an all-women context, perhaps, one can be less bothered with feminine behavior. A probable reason why some girls in school are less dainty, more sporty?
However, salience does not always result in manifestation. Salience speaks of attention and awareness. Manifestation has an element of choice. So, sexual orientation is naturally a salient part of a person’s self because of all the considerations that come with it. If it’s accepted, it will continue to be a salient part of identity. Manifestation (behavior) of it is another step beyond that.
*ponders*
Reference:
Gilbert. E. (2007). Performing femininity: Young women’s gendered practive of cigarette smoking. Journal of gender studies, 16(2), 121-137.
Johnson. K. (2007). Changing sex, changing self. Men and masculinities, 10(1), 54-70.
