- Introduce the overall aim and argument that you are going to make
Gender is fluid and changeable throughout life to ones preferences.
- Establish your first main critical approach (I would suggest Gender as Performance by Butler, but you could start with feminist critical thinking, or . . . )
Many believe that gender is permanent from birth and unchangeable throughout life. However, Butler believes gender is a “performance” and we have fluidity of our gender identity – that “nobody is a gender from the start”. Put simply, she suggests that gender is fluid, changeable and plural – we have multiple identities we perform to different people in different settings.
- Develop this approach by using key words, phrases and quotation (Mulvey, Kilbourne, Moi, Wander, Wollstonescraft, Woolf, de Beauvoir, Woolf)
“it turned out to be more about gender categories. For instance, what it means to be a woman does not remain the same from decade to decade. The category of woman can and does change, and we need it to be that way.” Gender does not remain the same throughout history so why does it have to stay the same throughout your life?
“When we are ‘girled’, we are entered into a realm of girldom that has been built up over a long time – a series of conventions, sometimes conflicting, that establish girlness within society.” Historically gender was binary, either you were male or female and there was nothing you could do to change it. This caused a buildup of characteristics that you had to abide by to stay in your gender.”We don’t just choose it. And it is not just imposed on us. ” You didn’t have a choice, you were born as a man or a woman and had to stick to it whether you wanted to or not. What Butler suggests is that not only can this change, it needs to change.
- Apply your theoretical ideas to either or both of the set CSP’s
Score creates a clear narrative of all of the women almost idolising (for lack of a better word) the man showing their performances of their gender identities through this
- Show some historical knowledge about societal changes – particularly to the historical context of post-war society ie 1950’s-1970’s see this link)
The Score hair cream advert is an historical artefact from 1967, as such it can be examined productively by considering its historical, social and cultural contexts, particularly as it relates to gender roles, sexuality and the historical context of advertising techniques. 1967 can be seen as a period of slow transformation in western cultures with legislation about and changing attitudes to the role of women – and men – in society, something that the advert can be seen to negotiate.
Similarly, feminist critical thought became much more prominent and pronounced during the counter cultural movements of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, which heralded, among other changes a greater acceptance of birth control and divorce, abortion and homosexuality.
“However, the Score advert was produced in the year of decriminalisation of homosexuality“
- Establish a secondary theme or idea that you wish to raise (eg 2nd wave feminism)
Queer Theory, the idea of gender being binary is too simple, not everyone is just a man or a woman. There is a spectrum, and everyone fits in in different places. This affects gender performances as not one person “performs” to be just a man or a woman, whether you know it or not you may consistently express feminine ideals as a man or the other way around – even if its just a small thing. ” For example, look at categories such as lipstick lesbian, butch and femme, girly girl and so on, which illustrate the multiple, plural nature of identity, representation and performance”. Whilst we may fit into categories based on our performances, we no longer fit into the historical binary opposites of man or woman. Transgender people are a great example of this, they may have been once a man and now they’re a woman – a clear example that you no longer have to stick with your biological gender whether you want to identify as something else or change your body to fit your identity. Another great example is non-binary people, they fit into neither gender, showing you don’t even have to be a man or a woman – historically they may have been the only choices but that’s no longer the case. You don’t have to fit into those binary categories anymore.
- Develop this approach by using key words, phrases and quotation
Judith Butler, among others expressed doubt over the reductionist, essentialist, approach towards the binary oppositions presented in terms of: male/female; feminine/masculine, man/woman. Arguing that this is too simple.
- Apply your theoretical ideas to either or both of the set CSP’s
Maybelline, MannyMUA and the butler who – whilst they are biologically male – express typically feminine ideals with wearing makeup. Creating a change in gender roles as it shows that makeup is no longer just for women, anyone can wear it. This creates a blur between man and woman, they are no longer binary opposites. Furthermore, the way that Manny acts and speaks is typically feminine compared to
- Move forward to the present day to show some historical knowledge about societal changes – (ie non-binary world, intersectionality, use of new media etc)
‘In an attempt to understand what it means to be oppressed as ‘a woman’, some feminist scholars sought to isolate gender oppression from other forms of oppression’.
” It is from this that the development and articulation of intersectionality began to take shape.”
“you cannot ‘understand Black women’s experiences of discrimination by thinking separately about sex discrimination and race discrimination’ “
the idea that an approach such as feminism, is NOT UNIVERSAL, SINGULAR or HOMOGENEOUS
Establish a contradictory argument that shows your ability to think and engage
- Develop this approach by using key words, phrases and quotation (3rd wave feminism Butler, Levy, Dollimore, hooks, Van Zoonen, Raunch Culture, Queer Theory, Intersectionality etc)
- Apply your theoretical ideas to either or both of the set CSP’s
- Summarise your main arguments
- Ensure you have a summative, final sentence / short paragraph
In this essay I will discuss the idea of gender fluidity and the ability to change your gender
identity throughout your life to your preferences.
Many people believe that gender is permanent and unchangeable from birth, you’re born as either
a man or a woman and that’s who you are forever. However, some people – like Judith Butler –
believe gender is a “perfomance” and that we have control over our gender identity, that “nobody
is a gender from the start”. Put simply, she suggests that gender is fluid and plural – instead
of the binary, two gendered world that we have lived in historically. She believes that we have
multiple identites that we perform to different people in different settings. Butler has said
that “what it means to be a woman does not remain the same from decade to decade”, what she
means by this is that gender does not remain the same throughout history – what it meant to be a
woman in the 1800’s is not the same as it means to be a woman now. Gender changes throughout history,
so why can’t it change throughout your life?
“When we are ‘girled’, we are entered into a realm of girldom that has been built up over
a long time – a series of conventions, sometimes conflicting, that establish girlness within
society.” The history of our binary world has caused a buidlup of characteristics that as a man
or a woman you had to abide by to stay in your gender, “We don’t just choose it. And it is not
just imposed on us.” You didn’t have a choice, you were born a man or a woman and you had to
stick to it whether you wanted to or not. What Butler suggests is that not only can this change,
it is changing.
Score shows the historical binary world that we lived in even in the 60’s, whilst the ad was
created in 1967 – during the rise of second wave feminism, and a greater acceptance of birth control;
divorce; abortion and the decriminalistation of homosexuality – there is a clear narrative in the ad
of heterosexuality, as if the ad is fighting against this social change. In the ad, there are five
women looking up towards a man – suggesting that men are higher up than women socially. Furthermore,
the women are holding the man up on a platform similar to how royalty would be held up – clearly
suggesting that man is royalty and women are peasants compared. Finally, in the ad the man is fully
clothed whereas the women are wearing little – creating a sexual dynamic in the ad which belittles
the women and further shows the mans power in the ad.
Maybelline is the polar opposite of Score. In the Maybelline ad, both the men and the woman are equal – they share
“center-stage” throughout the ad. In addition, towards the end of the ad when they change the scene – both the main
man and woman change into fancy and luxurious gold clothing, further showing their equality in that they both share
the change into the luxurious clothes instead of just the man. Unlike Score aswell, both of the models are fully
dressed, instead of sexualizing the woman and belittling her throughout the ad.
Queer Theory caused many to “express doubt over the reductionist, essentialist, approach towards the binary
oppositions presented in terms of: male/female; feminine/masculine, man/woman.” Not everybody is just a man or a
woman – there is a spectrum of gender ideals and everyone fits in to it in different places. This affects the idea
of gender performances as not one person “performs” to be just a man or a woman, whether intentionally or not
people express ideals of the other gender – even if it is just a small thing like how they sit or how they talk.
The consistent repitition of these stylized acts blur the line between what it is to be a man or a woman and caused
the idea of plurality through gender, thinking of gender as just male and female was too simple. “look at categories
such as lipstick lesbian, butch and femme, girly girl and so on, which illustrate the multiple, plural nature of
identity, representation and performance”. Whilst there may be categories that people can fit into based on their
identity, not everyone fits into the historical binary opposites of man or woman. The changes in our society,
including acceptance of different sexualities and preferences forced us to change our views on gender – transgender
people are a good example of this, they were born as a certain gender and their preference was to change. This is a
clear example that people don’t have to stick to their biological gender anymore as they did in the past if their
preferences don’t fit. Another great example of this is non-binary people, they fit into neither man or woman because
their ideals are different – historically the binary opposites of man or woman were the only choices, but this is no
longer the case. People don’t have to fit into these binary categories anymore.
In the Maybelline ad, both of the male models express typically feminine ideals in the sense that they both have an
interest in the makeup. This creates a change in gender roles as it shows that makeup is no longer just for women but
for anyone and everyone.
