Gender Fluidity In 'Hedwig And The Angry Inch'

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Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a rock musical centered on a confused individual named Hedwig. Her plight grows out of a botched sex change operation. She ended up with neither the working penis she had to begin with, nor the working vagina she had been attempting to gain. However, Hedwig, by nature, is neither completely male nor completely female, even when she had fully functioning male genitalia. Instead, she is something called gender fluid. John Cameron Mitchell, by writing a character that is gender fluid such as Hedwig, destroys the gender binary in order to illustrate that by avoiding polarizing concepts like male and female characters, stories can explore a more diverse range of human experiences.
Gender fluidity is what’s known as a gender identity. According to Dictionary.com, the word refers “to a person whose gender identity or gender expression is not fixed and shifts over time or depending on the situation.” Gender fluidity is an identity that exsists outside the conventional gender binary of man and woman or male and female. While, gender and gender identity are, admittedly, very complicated concepts, society is actively trying to figure out and define them. While the notion of Hedwig status as a gender fluid …show more content…

When Luther comes across young Hansel and sees him lying, face down and naked, he initially mistakes Hansel for a woman. Hansel doesn’t correct Luther. Rather, he simply stands up, revealing his penis, and states, “my name is Hansel”. While Luther seems surprised at misidentifying Hansel’s sex, Hansel doesn’t seem to care. This strikes the story’s listener as odd. Most individuals would at least be taken a bit aback at being misgendered. Hansel doesn’t even mention it. In fact, he’s largely silent on the issue. It can be assumed that this is due to Hansel not having a strong attachment to the gender that he was assigned at

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