Analysis Of Caitlyn Jenner And The Inevitability Of Gender

What makes a man a man and a woman a woman? According to Judith Butler, there is no innate or biological predisposition from which gender originates. Rather, gender is a “performance…with the strategic aim of maintaining gender within its binary frame…through a stylized repetition of acts” (Butler, 191). Thus, because gender is unrelated to sex, gender performance is not natural, but rather performed in accordance to compulsory heterosexuality. This essay will use Caitlyn Jenner, a transgender celebrity, to prove the inevitability of gender performance, as her transition to womanhood was a conversion from a performance of masculinity to an enactment of femininity.

Central to Butler 's claim is the idea that “the body has no ontological status”;

Caitlyn Jenner, born Bruce with male anatomy, exemplifies the malleability of gender, as despite her yearnings to be a female, she was conditioned to perform masculinity. Moreover, Caitlyn as a young boy gifted at running, was put into track and field, where she trained to become an Olympic decathlon athlete. Caitlyn believed that participating in sports, a stereotypically male activity, reinforced and helped prove her masculinity. She subsequently dressed in “male” clothing, sustained her desires to cross-dress, and worked diligently on maintaining a toned body (Bussinger, 2015). Caitlyn’s, “acts, gestures, enactments… are performative in the sense that the essence or identity that they otherwise purport to express are fabrications” (Butler, 185). While Butler eludes that all

Thus, Jenner’s emergence as a woman represents how transgenderism is rooted in the binary distinction of gender. Moreover, as Jenner appeared on the Vanity Fair cover with long hair, makeup, and a feminine bustier, she embodied the physical characteristics of “femininity”. Notably, her womanly appearance was accompanied by the statement, “call me Caitlyn”, thus indicating her change in pronoun (Bussinger, 2015). By physically adhering to feminine stereotypes, Jenner’s “acts, gestures, and desire produce the effect of an internal core…but produce this on the surface of the body” (Butler, 185). Moreover, Jenner fashioned herself on the surface as a “feminine” body in order to demonstrate her feminine core. This essay calls to question: is it necessary for Jenner to perform feminine stereotypes in order to be considered a woman? Accordingly, Butler claims, “the various acts of gender create the idea of gender, and without those acts, there would be no gender at all” (190). Thus, Butler alludes that to be associated with either male or female, one must perform the “acts” that constitute that gender. Therefore, despite the fact that Jenner’s new identity reflects her sexual orientation, she still continues to perform gender. Transitioning to womanhood for Jenner thus is a conversion from performing masculinity as she acted as “Bruce”, to femininity and she now performs