Bathrooms
Bathrooms are perhaps the single most dominant space reserved for the debate over gender identity. Much more so than the kitchen—which remains still the locus of the debate over patriarchal issues and feminist revolt—it is the bathroom that is sphere of legislation, confrontation, and the full blossom of imagery related specifically to gender conventions:
“The bathroom is a domestic space beyond the home that comes to represent domestic order, or a parody of it, out in the world. The women’s bathroom accordingly becomes a sanctuary of enhanced femininity, a `little girl’s room' to which one retreats to powder one’s nose or fix one’s hair. The men’s bathroom signifies as the extension of the public nature of masculinity—it is precisely not domestic even though the names given to the sexual function of the bathroom—such as cottage or tearoom —suggest it is a parody of the domestic.”
The Life of Death of the Tomboy
Girls upon which are hung the inherently pejorative term “tomboy” rarely represent a true threat to the stability of society. Although it may be discouraged, the undesirable elements of the tomboy almost always comes with a built-in governor against overreaction: the full expectation that it will be grown out of puberty sets in and the “natural” course femininity takes over:
“Tomboyism tends to be associated with a `natural’ desire for the greater freedoms and mobilities enjoyed by boys. Very often it is read as a sign of independence and self-motivation, and tomboyism may even be encouraged to the extent that it remains comfortably linked to a stable sense of a girl identity. Tomboyism is punished, however, when it appears to be the sign of extreme male identification (taking a boy’s name or refusing girl clothing of any type) and when it threatens to extend beyond childhood and into adolescence. Teenage tomboyism presents a problem and tends to be subject to the most severe efforts to reorient.”
Border War
Some might be surprised to find a connective link made by the author between the butch lesbian and the transsexual man, as the book refers to each respectively. Generally speaking, in the world of trans circa the second decade of the 21st century, these two categorizations are not necessarily considered definitely part of the same connective tissue. Keep in mind, however, that this book was originally published in 1998 and a whole world of difference has been made which has made much of the following imagery suspect. From a purely literary standpoint, however, the imagery remains just as strong:
“in the border wars between butches and transsexual men, transsexuals are often cast as those who cross borders (of sex, gender, bodily coherence), and butches are left as those who stay in one place, possibly a border space of nonidentity. The terminology of “border war” is both apt and problematic for this reason. On the one hand, the idea of a border war sets up some notion of territories to be defended, ground to be held or lost, permeability to be defended against. On the other hand, a border war suggests that the border is at best slippery and permeable."
What Being a Girl Means
Very late in the book, the author provides an anecdote from her tomboy youth. The imagery is more complex than it might seem at first; it is not merely about the desire for a commodity. The whole point of the descriptive passage is less the singularly specific details than horrible lesson which it effectively teaches about the difference between what it means to be a boy and what it means to be a girl:
“When I was thirteen, I wanted a punching bag and boxing gloves for my birthday, i believe that these accoutrements of masculine competition signified for me a way to keep adult womanhood at bay. I think I also saw boxing as a way to learn how to fight back against the boys of my age, boys I used to be able to beat up easily but who now easily beat me up as they experienced their first adolescent growing spurts. I was told that boxing was not appropriate for a girl my age and that I should pick out something more feminine. This was the first time that I remember being told that I could not do something because I was a girl.”
