Inside vs. Outside

“If the body is not a “being,” but a variable boundary, a surface whose permeability is politically regulated, a signifying practice within a cultural field of gender hierarchy and compulsory heterosexuality, then what language is left for understanding this corporeal enactment, gender, that constitutes its “interior” signification on its surface?” (Butler, 139)

 

In Judith Butler’s “Gender Trouble,” they explore the idea that our bodies are constantly being perceived by others in our society. It’s impossible to escape the way our bodies signify gender to others because of the stylizations we have built over time surrounding sex and gender. In this sense, we almost lose control over our physical bodies. Once they are put out into the world, they are no longer ours. We may have our interior identity, but nonetheless we are expected to behave according to our perceived gender. Furthermore, Butler brings forth the concept of an interior gender and how this interior is connected to the exterior gender that we express, if it is at all.

 

The concept of interior vs. exterior gender relates to Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red in that Geryon is a winged red monster who is very much aware of how he is seen because of it. He hides his wings in an overcoat because his external body will alter how people treat him in the world “It was not the fear of ridicule, to which everyday life as a winged red person had accommodated Geryon early in life…” (Carson 83). When I first read this it felt like a metaphor for queerness. The idea that a queer person is seen as a monster by others is definitely relevant. However, I think this has more to do with the ways in which our bodies perform. Without us asking them to, our bodies perform for each other through the significance we give them. 

 

This bodily performance is subconscious, as it’s ingrained into us from birth, with the speech act of a doctor declaring a gender (as we discussed in class). The doctor looks at the sex of the baby and says either “boy” or “girl.” From that moment on, the baby is categorized into certain expected behavioral patterns in relation to their exterior. Their bodies therefore are their gender, as the two are assumed to coincide. Thus, we rarely give thought to the idea that maybe the interior and exterior are separate. Geryon is a “monster” on the outside and is thus perceived to be a monster. Once his wings are revealed, he can’t change the way they are perceived. They don’t belong to him anymore, their meaning is created by others. People have made up their minds. Like Butler wrote, there is no language often used to define the inside. “…He thought about the difference between outside and inside. Inside is mine, he thought” (Carson 29). Interestingly, Geryon seems to believe that the inside belongs to him while the outside does not. He cannot control how his outside is perceived, but only he can control his inside. His wings may make him a monster to others on the outside, but the inside does not have to follow suit. He has the power to create his interior despite what the exterior signifies, a distinct separation between the body and the interior much like what Butler writes about.

sources:

Carson, Anne. Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse. McClelland & Stewart, 2016.

“Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990).”

One thought on “Inside vs. Outside”

  1. This is a very significant idea from Butler that allows for the explanation of any gender non-conforming identity. Geryon’s wings can represent many things, but your analysis here shows it’s relation to a trans or non-binary experience. Separation of one’s self-identification versus the perception of one’s identity makes possible how the world can view Geryon as a monster, but Ancash can see Geryon as an “eyewitness.” Ancash begins the work for Geryon to un-internalize these hateful ideas about himself put onto him over time. I feel that this is similar to experiences of queer kids that grew up in homophobic, religious households, but now as adults are trying to navigate being out and/or proud of their gender identity and sexuality.

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