The Long History of Gender Identity Issues
Some people treat gender identity—especially as it relates to female masculinity—as if it were a phenomenon that sprang full-blown from the era that produced Xena and Buffy. The throws the reader backward in time, in a non-linear chronology—to highlight the myriad ways in which women have challenged conventional expectations about femininity and masculinity over the entire course of civilization. This theme is especially important in light of how much of the attacks against 21st century reappraisals of normative gender roles often stimulate a backlash based on the idea of it being something along the lines of a fad. By illustrating how the same issues that are now part of the mainstream have been there along in the shadows and nooks and crannies of the historical record, the narrative forces the opposite to find a new line of argument supporting their critique.
Performative Constructions of Gender
One of the themes which the book explores implicitly to a greater extent than it does explicitly is the notion that masculinity and femininity are divided in part because one is performative in nature—and therefore artificial—while the other is non-performative and therefore more authentic. It does not take much in the way of intellectual acrobatics to figure out which is which. Just think makeup, high heels, rapidly cycling fashions, nail salons and hairstyles. Because masculinity it usually implied while femininity is expressed, the quality of one being a performance of gender and the other being a natural fact becomes an underlying foundation for how projections of female masculinity are so often inextricably bound to its “look.”
Gender Ambiguity
The overarching theme upon which all the subjects discussed touch upon or come back to is the simple rejection of the insistence that gender is a completely unambiguous proposition. Less so in the early decades of the 21st century than at any time before, but still very much the mainstream idea is that gender is absurdly simple: only two exist and it is as easy to determine and pulling down your pants. The book is constantly questioning this misapprehension that sex and gender are interchangeable and inarguably synonymous. Part of the pursuit of this theme stems from the reality that the overwhelming majority of individuals are beset by behaviors, characteristics, and a multitude of other factors which betray widely accepted conventions of gender stereotyping. Some of the most feminine women in the world are bald or sport a “boy’s haircut” while paragons of masculinity are actors making a living wearing makeup. Gender construction is built upon a paradox: public opinion is based strongly upon widely accepted conventions of femininity and masculinity that are routinely subverted every minute of the day, yet this subversion is not viewed creating any ambiguity.
