I'm going to have to have you go back a
little ways, back when we got to watch a few clips from Orlando
(based on the novel by Virginia Woolf). Since Dr. Hague offered to
let anyone borrow it if they wanted to watch it, I just had to. For
all of you who have yet to see it, you are missing out. The story
alone is a good reason to watch it, but the added cinematics, the
things they do with costumes, scenery, everything is well worth the
94 minutes of your life. Also, random fact that floored me (and could
attest to the differences between men and women if you so please) is
the fact that even though Billy Zane's Character, Shelmerdine, only
has 12 seconds of screen time, not only is he one of the two highest
paid actors, but he also has the spot right underneath our leading
lady for Orlando.
Now, onto what I really wanted to talk
about. This conversation may seem odd, but if you just watch the
movie, I promise a conversation like this may not seem as strange any
more. My boyfriend was not here to watch the movie with me, but I
gave him a run-down of the movie and we got into the hypothetical
conversation of what it would be like if we magically switched
genders. I felt that if I were to magically wake up one morning and
be a guy, my personality and interests wouldn't change. However, when
I see my boyfriend magically waking up as a girl, his personality and
his interests change. My boyfriend didn't see either of us having a
change in interests or personality. He looks at his sister and sees a
girl who hates shopping, loathes dresses, plays video games, and
can't cook to save her life. He sees me, and though I have a handle
on all the domestic things (like cooking, sewing, and taking care of
kids), I love to skateboard, go adventuring, play video games, and
taking me out to see a horror movie on Valentine's day is a
completely appropriate (and fantastic) idea. I asked a guy at work if
he thought his personality would change. His answer was yes, because
he would have, and I quote, 'girly hormones and PMS'.
My focus on this in this class is the
idea that these stereotypes have been around for a very very long
time. We start to find people fighting against these stereotypes,
especially starting in the 18th century. W have popular
female writers, some who love locking horns with prominent male
writers. We have stronger female characters, and we have people
getting more concerned with women's rights and starting to get more
concerned with seeing them as more than property. True, they were no
where near where we are today, but they were starting to see a
different picture than we have.
With this in mind, do you think our
seeing guys doing 'girly' things or girls doing 'guy' things in this
day and age as being acceptable has evolved from social things or
literature? Or do you think that we still have a stigma about what is
appropriate for boys and girls to do? Do you think it is a
generational thing? How do you think that an 18th century
audience would take a gender-neutral utopia? What about x children
(Children who are raised with neutral names, clothes, toys, and
ideals)?
Wow this would be a very interesting discussion if you had brought it into discussion. But yes I would have to agree with the others as to say that even though the person may see their own personalities had changed the people around them will see them differently.
ReplyDeleteJust to start biologically (when your co-worker is talking about girly hormones) the estrogen in women change people's aggressive behaviors and the way they run their lives. Just case in point me as a male for example (as much as I don't EVER want to think of me being a girl). If I were to lead the same lifestyle I would as a girl that I do as a guy I would be an outcast because of my height 6 feet 4 inches. If I continued my eating habits (See food diet, I see food and I eat it) I would most likely gain much more weight throughout my entire body. I do work out three times and week and run another two, but between both my eating habits and active lifestyle I believe I still would not be in GOOD shape.
Which brings me to another point is the lack of testosterone. In my mind the reason that I do have such a drive to lift, run and do anything risky is because of my testosterone. Right now I love to lift and run and do crazy things because some where deep down I want to be able to kick someone's butt if I needed to. If I were a girl the only motivation to stay fit would be to attract men, but if I still have memories of how I was as a guy I would be too grossed out to even think pursuing any. Not that fact that I think I would AUTOMATICALLY want to be lesbian, but the fact that I know the cruel and unusual things that men do to women and the disgusting habits that we have. So I would refuse to sink to that level of grotesque.
But onto your other questions I would have to think as the patriarchial society that we still have today, I believe that the gender roles have been fuzzy for awhile.....for females. I believe it is more acceptable for a female to do male things than males to do female things.
Your idea on the lack of testosterone and reasons for working out bothered me. I skateboard, go rock climbing, I almost had to call 911 last time since I was doing it without gear and ended up falling. I don't think gender has anything to do about that. I don't think gender has a lot to do with working out either. There are plenty of girls who go to work out to look good. There are guys that do that too though. And though there is the idea of the guy working out so he can kick ass, my workout is purely seidoken karate, because I love kicking ass.
DeleteI think that your final argument was wonderful. I agree with your idea that gender roles have been getting fuzzy for awhile now. And for a lot, it's a lot easier for them to see females doing male things than vice versa.
As literature moved along through the 18th and 19th century there slowly evolved more and more writing discussion in texts focused on the constructedness of various stereotypes. In the 18th century we saw how the construction by men of the woman's role came to be questioned and slowly deconstructed. The scene in "Orlando" which portrayed the conversation between Orlando, Pope, Swift and Johnson, though entirely an unlikely situation, certainly exposes the way in which the Patriarchy looked down upon women who were independent and sought knowledge. I wonder how Swift, Pope or Johnson would have handled the same situation in Orlando's place? I think that is what we do today, question gender constructs by offering the reader the point of view of the woman, but its still obvious that there are a lot of pro-Patriarchy men in society, I like to call them neanderthals. Personally, I am glad I am male, I am because I realized just how difficult women have it, but I would gladly take the chance on a first hand experience if I were to be changed like Orlando was. A fresh outlook is the way to a fuller life.
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