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Fashion in culture
Gender stereotypes topic roles
Fashion in society
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Born Naked, the Rest is Drag
“Just 'cause I wear paint, does not mean I am not a man” is a lyrical snippet from "Kai Kai" by Sharon Needles. This particular phrase stresses that a drag queen can be considered tacky, offensive, or just plain wrong, instead of being viewed as an artist. Gone from males wearing messy make-up in ill-fitting dresses, where they can now be considered professional artists resembling supermodels, popstars and real women. Society loves to put people in defined categories separating male and female, while drag refuses to be categorized, blurring the codes of gender. With this in mind, becoming a drag queen is the conscious act of cross-dressing, while acting in a stereotypical behavior of this gender, attempting to challenge gender identity against norms. Through a Pinterest website forum from Season 4 of RuPaul's Drag Race: Episode 7, this serves to both glorify and subvert hegemonic norms, by the exaggerated performances, commentary and overall feminine behavior of the drag queens.
Reviewing the cast’s social behavior demonstrates gender-bending personas they use to express themselves and identify with. Heterosexual men may find this offensive and controversial, or should I say, confusing to their sexuality, due to their usual thoughts on conformity. For example, on the Pinterest forum pin one is a photo from the shoot where Phi Phi O'hara commented on having to appear woman-like by posing appropriately to hide his muscular physique, because biologically, women are expected to be thin, not muscular. “Conceptualizing gender as if it was distinct types or fixed to the individual through biology: since man and woman seem to be opposites or two fundamentally distinct types of being, gender cannot be relatio...
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... drag queens.
Works Cited
Codes of Gender. UW Libraries Media Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 July 2014.
"Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes." Filmweb. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 July 2014.
Lesser, Ronnie C., and Erica Schoenberg. That Obscure Subject of Desire: Freud's Female Homosexual Revisited. New York: Routledge, 1999. Print.
Melanson, Karen. "Queer Theory: Destabilizing Gender." N.p., n.d. Web. 10 July 2014.
"Pinterest Board: Born Naked and Rest Is Drag." Pinterest. N.p., 9 July 2014. Web. 10 July 2014.
Reger, Jo. Identity Work in Social Movements. N. p.: U of Minnesota, 2008. Print.
Rupaul Drag Race: Season Four, Episode 7: Dragazine. Perf. Rupaul Drag Race: Season Four Cast. LogoTv. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 July 2014.
"RuPaul's Drag Race Season 4 Trailer #1." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 10 July 2014.
Zeisler, Andi. Feminism and Pop Culture. Berkeley, CA: Seal, 2008. Print.
Judith Butler’s concept of gender being performative focuses on how it creates a sequence of effect or impression. Human have a consistent way of talking about their gender as if it were something that is simply a fact. People go about their lives following patterns that are interconnected with their male or female appearance. They get very settled in the expected behaviors and common attributes of male or female, without recognizing that gender is a social construction. It is difficult to wrap your head around the idea that gender is always changing and being reproduced because it is conversation that often goes unnoticed. Butler realizes that it will be a struggle to get people to grasp the idea that nobody actually is their gender and that
Littrell, Nereida. "Sigmund Freud's concept of bisexuality." www.examiner.com/article/sigmund-freud-s-concept-of-bisexuality . N.p., 17 march 2012. Web. 10 Apr 2014.
Sigmund Freud is an excellent example of male authority taking charge of a subject that he does not understand. Although Freud is largely recognized as a prestigious man of psychoanalysis, he had many outlandish ideas towards women, and he admitted to not understanding the complexities surrounding women. He clung to gender stereotypes and depicted the female as an inferior being, eternally jealous of men (Lax 394). The weak and incapable portrayal of female in Freud’s psychoanalytical theories treated the ability of women ever entering this new study of psychology. Freud’s arrival to America in 1909 began America’s fascination with psychoanalysis. The American Psychoanalytic Association was formed shortly after Freud’s visit and upheld a strict no women policy for fifteen years (McGovern). Freud was kind enough to share psychoanalysis with America, expect he made it a boys’ club with a no girls allowed rule and then decided to share his theories of female hysteria and penis envy (Lax). Sigmund Freud’s visit to America brought dangerous ideas and reinforced women’s role as inferior; however, the women of twentieth century America had had years of experience with controlling men and still found ways to infiltrate the American Psychoanalytic
Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl, are two very famous stars who represent America’s acting industry as two of the most highly regarded feminine and masculine actors. Both are thought to represent femininity and masculinity and very. It comes as no surprise that these two characters were chosen to play the parts of Abby and Michael within The Ugly Truth. The Ugly Truth displays a lot of stereotypes of men and women or what is expected to be masculine and feminine. According to Gendered Live: Communication, Gender, and Culture by Julia Wood, “A stereotype is a generalization about an entire class of phenomena based on some knowledge of some members of the class” (Wood, 2011, 122). Stereotypes can cause a lot of problems in society if individuals don’t fit the particular mold or idea of what it means to be feminine or masculine. Within The Ugly Truth, the first stereotype which arises is that women in powerful roles cannot have a relationship (Luketic, 2009). As an example, this particular stereotype causes a large amount of trouble for Abby when she takes to...
Some can be dancers, comedians, events hosts, models, DJs and so much more but I’m just here to talk about drag queen singers. This essay will talk about the production of a drag queen music video and what has to be done to change the appearance of the artist and also depict the meaning of two music videos.
Gender can be interpreted in many different ways. One interpretation is Drag. Drag is an artform that has been since Ancient Greece. Through the years, drag has changed a lot from its eEarly sStages to 50’s,60’s, 80’s,90’s and RuPaul’s Drag Race. Drag has also maintained a consistent, and at times rocky, relationship with the LGBT+ Community. Drag is a popular form of self-expression that breaks the boundaries of gender
According to Gwendolyn Smith (2010), lesbians, gays, transgender, transsexual, cross-dressers, sissies, drags king and queens, have someone they view as freak. Smith considers this to be a human phenomenon, especially among marginalized groups. Smith expresses that those that consider themselves as gender normative finds comfort in identifying the “real” freaks, in order for them to seem closer to normal. Smith attempts to tear down the wall of gender normality as it is socially constructed as simply male and female. According to Smith (2010), “we are all someone’s freak” (p. 29). Smith asserts that there may be some type of fear in facing the self’s gender truth, “maybe I was afraid I would see things in my own being I was not ready to face, or was afraid of challenging my own assumptions” (p. 29).
Freud's most important articles on homosexuality were written between 1905, when he published Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, and 1922, when he published "Certain Neurotic Mechanisms in Jealousy, Paranoia, and Homosexuality."[1] Freud believed that all humans were bisexual, by which he primarily meant that everyone incorporates aspects of both sexes, and that everyone is sexually attracted to both sexes. In his view, this was true anatomically and therefore also mentally and psychologically. Heterosexuality and homosexuality both developed from this original bisexual disposition.[2] As one of the causes of homosexuality Freud mentions the distressing heterosexual experience: "Those cases are of particular interest in which the libido changes over to an inverted sexual object after a distressing experience with a normal one."[3]
Halperin, David. "Is There a History of Sexuality?." The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. Ed. Henry
Masson, J. M. (1984). The assault on truth: Freud's suppression of the seduction theory. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
In Sigmund Freud’s “Sexual Morality and Modern Nervousness”, contained in Sexuality and the Psychology of Love, the writer presents separate roles for men and women as it relates to sexuality, even referring to a “double code of morality” (22) for the genders. In his paper the former often takes the role of the subject while the former becomes the object. In fact, women are described as the “true sexual guardians of the race” glorified, it seems, instead of truly studied. However, in one particular section of the essay, Freud turns his focus onto the female sexuality. In specific he references the various factors that, in his eyes, can influence the female sexual formation. The primary influences being that of the society, primarily the institution of marriage, and that of the family, which would include both a woman’s parents and children. After discussing these elements, Freud then
In today’s society people are becoming more open about their gender. Celebrities are becoming trans-gendered and this is affecting society because it leaves people in confusion on if the person is male with feminine traits. This causes society to view a trans-gendered person different than others because they chose to change their gender from what they were born as at birth. Changing from male to female allows people to view that person to be weak because generally the male is the dominant sex in life. In culture women are marked by wearing dresses, their body structures and having the title “Mrs.” while men remain unmarked by their clothing and appearances.
Gender is a socially constructed phenomenon, and how acceptable one’s relationship is determined by society’s view of gender roles. Because the majority of the population is characterized as heterosexual, those who deviate from that path are ...
For example, the representation of women on television was for a long time restricted to roles of “loving wives, dutiful daughters, gossiping girlfriends, fashion plates, and the occasional dowdy maid, nanny, or granny” (Zeisler 2008, p. 9), which is a reflection on the roles it was considered ‘acceptable’ for women to take on in real life. Often going against the hegemonic gender ideal is used as shorthand for comedy within popular culture, such as men dressed femininely being played for laughs on countless sitcoms. Popular culture that genuinely challenges hegemonic ideology often faces backlash, as was the case when Ellen DeGeneres’ character coming out on Ellen (1997), as did the actress in real life, resulted in the show being cancelled after only one more season. This is reflective of what was the pervasive belief, that heterosexuality is the only acceptable option, though the changing attitudes about this can be seen through the increased inclusion of gay and bisexual characters in pop culture over the past two decades. Looking at the relationship between gender and popular culture consequently becomes important to the field of gender studies as it provides a way to study not only what is considered to be the gender norms in a society, but how these norms have
Stein, Edward. The Mismeasure of Desire: The Science, Theory, and Ethics of Sexual Orientation. New York, NY: Oxford UP, 1999. Print. 20 Oct. 2011