Gender Performativity Essay

Firstly, the important point is that the concept of the gender is different from the “sex” and it is established as an another category from the aspect of the social and cultural human behaviors. Thus, it more reflects how we recognize and categorize our own identities into the socially constructed group. In other words, people cannot adopt their own “gender” freely, and it comes from the interaction with other member of the society. Based on this idea, Kendall Gerdes (2014:149) defines that ”Performativity is the connection between gendered embodiment, gendered experience, and gender’s discursive force.” In short, gender performativity is not what we really are but what we did or do. It is no exaggeration that gender performativity is our

Most of the students are required to choose one of the two types of the uniforms divided by the gender. Followed by this rule, girls have to decide to have a red school bag and wear the skirt, while boys have to have a black backpack and put on the pants. In other words, without recognizing, people follow the social stereotype of the gender, and categorize themselves into one gender through acting “the gender.” Also, people are required to behave as an expected gendered character as one of the roles in the society. Also, the term “feminine” or “masculine” can be thought that they are generated from, or part of the gender performativity. For example, the woman’s practice of the wearing makeup can be regarded as a part of the gender performativity to be accepted as a “feminine” from the society. Thus, the action which labels people into one gender itself can be recognized as a gender

In Japan, the criticizes for the woman who works instead of doing housework or who does not have a child are still exist. For example, this is my personal experience that one of my friend’s sister who got married but she decided not to have a child for her carrier, was criticized by their parents, and from their pressure to have her children, she became to have depression and as a result she was no longer able to work. This clearly indicates that her parents have a typical image that woman has to have a child, and do housework as a gendered role. This is socially formed stereotypical role of women, and these images are constructed through human history or