Reflection On What It Means To Be Gendered Me

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My day started out with me getting ready for morning classes. I usually work after classes so I try to choose clothes that are appropriate casual business attire. Even though I am not told to dress feminine like, I still do it subconsciously. After reading Betsy Lucal’s “What It Means to Be Gendered Me,” was when I realized I was actually gender performing. What I chose to wear for the day was influenced by the ideology of gender norms and women’s fashion. I wear lighter colors and feminine clothing when I go out to display my gender. However, when I really prefer to wear darker colors and loose clothing. I only dress this way at home or where I am not surrounded by strangers. This is a way I try to display my gender to others who might …show more content…

As I stood in line I would think about what I should eat. I could think of eating more to satisfy my hunger or eat a little bit and exercise more to lose that bit of weight from the holidays. Then I thought how again I am conforming to the gender norms of women being thin and beautiful. This is when I realized how much of my personality is constructed by society. Even deciding on what I want to eat is influenced by society’s idea of what a woman is. As I was thinking about what makes me look womanly I thought of the reading “Doing Gender, Determining Genders: Transgender people, Gender Panics, and Maintenance of the Sex/Gender/Sexuality System” by Laurel Westbrook and Kristin Schilit. Their discussion on identifying gender based on physical traits that fit within the mythical norm of being a woman. This got me thinking about what if I do not fit within in these gender norms and what would happen if I didn’t. There are many individuals who are gendered policed because they do not fit within gender norms. I have never been gender policed, or if I have the other person never told me about it. I do tend to shop for some t-shirts in the men sections and I get stares from other women in the store on my clothing

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