Gender is and is not

“Genders can be neither true or false, neither real nor apparent, neither original nor derived. As credible bearers of those attributes, however, genders can also be rendered thoroughly and radically incredible” — Judith Butler

This statement resonates with me for several reasons. I really like how Butler states that “genders can be neither true or false” (Butler, 141). I like this statement because they are saying how gender identify cannot be validated in some instances and not in others. They are simply saying that gender just is. I also really like how the first statement is worded. The first sentence sets up what gender is and what it is not. It sets up the parameters for gender. However, the main idea of this sentence is to show that gender cannot be define or put into a box. It just is.

The second statement is clarifying. The main idea is to stat that while gender cannot be defined into specifics, it can be “rendered thoroughly” (Butler, 141). My favorite part of this statement is how Butler states that gender is “radically incredible” (Butler, 141). It is fitting that these two statements end the section of “Subversive Bodily Acts”. I believe that Butler’s main idea in this passage is that gendered acts are performative and are used to signal “inner politics of the body” (Butler, 141). This idea is summed up beautifully by Butler when they state, “In other words, acts and gestures, articulated and enacted desires create the illusion of an interior and organizing gender core, an illusion discursively maintained for the purposes of the regulation of sexuality within the obligatory frame of reproductive heterosexuality” (Butler, 136).

The idea that there is no “gender core” and that expression of gender through the “surface of the body” is performative was groundbreaking for me (Butler, 136). My experience on this earth has been being defined as a woman. I wear feminine clothing and I overall purposefully dress specifically for the male gaze. Yes, I am that girl who will probably have a predictable life in the suburbs with 2.5 kids. Which to most people in this class will sound anti everything we have talked about the entire semester. It is the embodiment of a heteronormative lifestyle (I am not saying that this is a good thing by any means). I write these statements to not push forward the agenda of making this lifestyle seem like the only right one (It is far from it). I write these statements to communicate that what Butler has stated about how “the gendered body is performative” has made me rethink how I present myself to the world (Butler, 136). To be honest, I am frustrated with the fact that I have been brought up with the idea that my insides are gendered and that my outsides should reflect what is on the inside. I wonder what my life would look like if I presented myself to the world as a human rather than a future wife and mother. Anyways, back to Butler. Gender is and is not a lot of things. Gender just is.

Cereus Blooms at Night & Allegories

In Vivan M. May’s essay about Shanu Mootoo’s cereus Blooms at Night, May makes many claim about the novel. However, the most interesting claim made is when May analyzes the use of allegories in Mootoo’s work. The claim is the allegories that Mootoo uses “pushes readers to delve into the silences and fissures of the known” (May, 108). This claim stood out to me because the story is set in the fictional Caribbean town of Paradise and “suggests a novel that is more allegorical in nature” (May, 108). May goes on to state how the allegories “lie somewhere between fact and fiction” (May, 108). The most interesting example of this in the text is when Mala goes to check on her father’s body. “Did she only imagine the vapour of hot air that passed over the balde?” is a statement that showcases May’s claim (Mootoo, 229). Mala obsessed with her father’s body and at times is convinced he is still alive. Mala’s loss with reality results in Ambrose “fearing once more for his life” and thus, he abandons her (Mootoo, 228). Mala’s break with reality only continues to grow. She isolates herself in her house and “worked until she had created an admirable wall that was almost impenetrable” (Mootoo, 230). Here we see Mala struggling between fact and her version of reality. Mala’s story of abuse and how she is coping with her trauma is a significant part of the novel. The novel is a “collective [of] stories” that are meant “to be heard and understood in new ways” (May, 108).

Queer Time and Space

“Queer time and space are useful frameworks for assessing political and cultural change in the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries (both what has changes and what must change). The critical languages that we have developed to try an assess the obstacles to social change have a way of both stymieing our political agendas and alienating nonacademic constituencies.”

Jack Halberstam’s In a Queer Time and Place; pp 4

I believe that this passage is refuting the idea queer time and space is abstract. In contrast, it reveals how queer time and space is tangible. It illustrates queer time and space have the power to influence culture in the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries.  Thus, it is essential to expand the “critical languages we have developed” to find a home for all things queer by adopting the terms “queer time and space”. Queerness does not fit into the box of “normativity”, and it opposes the conventional forms of identification. Thus, queer time and space has its very own framework with core principles that do not change. Perhaps the time and space can be fluid. However, it will always be quintessentially queer and will refute the “middle-class logic of reproductive” mindset. This logic is similar to the philosophical theory regarding the primary cause responsible for the shapeliness of motion in the natural order. This is known as Aristotle’s concept of the unmoved mover for his explanation of God. Like God in Aristotle’s argument, queerness can also exercise its influence on natural beings as their final cause.

In this passage, it is also implied that queerness is not seen as natural. In fact, later in the text, Halberstam analyses western culture. In western culture, time is governed by a woman’s biological clock, the needs of children, and familial ties. For queer time and space to exist there must be an epitome of substance that allows time and space to stay distinctly queer. It is essential to develop a new critical language that represents time, space, and places that are queer. Being queer is more than having physical relations with people of differing identities. It expands past the rainbows and gay best friends. Queerness has its own space and time that is different from the heteronormative way of life. In sum, what I am really trying to say here is that queerness is tangible and can be seen observed in cultural changes.

Written on the Body Post

Passage location: pg 89 “Written on the body is a secret code only…..She has translated me into her own book”

This passage is significant because it touches on a central theme that the body is like a text. In this passage, there are many refences that compare the body to a piece of text. Words such as written, code, palimpsest, and letters all cluster together to communicate this idea. When the narrator compares themselves to a palimpsest, it is their way of communicating to us that their story is not linear. Their story has been “so heavily worked” that it is hard to read. Moreover, there is a lot of repetition when it comes to words that have to do with writing. The word choice shows that there is a theme of comparing the body to a text. Thus, this passage also delves into identity and how there is more than meets the eye. The following is another interesting cluster of words from the passage: never, secret, away, only, rolled, and certain. These words feed into the idea that they like to keep their body “rolled”. Just as a book is folded, so too is the narrator’s body. According to the narrator, Louise is the only one that can read their body. The narrator is describing their body exactly how it is being read by Louise. We are readers, share a special bond with Louise and in turn with the narrator as we too are actively reading the book that the narrator’s body has made. In sum, the passage is about how the narrator tries to stay rolled up so that no one can truly know who they are. However, the word choices show that they are doing the opposite Louise. The narrator is contradicting themselves when they are with Louise. What I am really trying to say here is that I think these lines are an essential aspect to the novel and touch upon the idea that the body is like a text.