I wouldn't say that one doesn't actively "perform" masculinity, maybe that was once the case, but i think society is getting more polarised in it's depictions of gender now, to the point where bio boys are getting quite anxious about being masculine enough. (Although this might be an Australian phenomena, where masculinity is shown to be a very rough, brash affair?)Certainly i've noticed that passing is getting harder, ppl either need to be old or blind or exceptionally stupid to sir me now. It virtually never happens with ppl under 35 or so. Which sucks, cause i like passing. :-( Ah well, i try to correct patiently and wait for the day when a critical mass of ppl disengage gender from the narrow confines of primary and secondary sexual characteristics. *dream on*
I do think you can perform masculinity, but doing it, in a sense, is the absense of all decoration and female indicators. There is so many female indicators and so few male ones, so to perform masculinity seems to be to remove all your female indicators. To be neutral in a sense. I've found that gender neutral and masculine are the basically same thing.
Yea ginaspider, i agree! :-) Traditional depictions of masculinity does fear being emasculated, but i see the fact that there are *so many* ways for this to happen (through speech, interests, dress, physical mannerisms, biology etc) as proof that masculinity is too narrow a concept to be effectively "neutral". It is an ideal, often unattainable. It is the invisible centre that no-one can quite reach. This is one of the reasons why the mainstream media can get it's head around MTFs much better than it can FTMs. It's much easier to fall from grace than it is to reach the centre of the myth. *Everyone* is aware of this - bio fellas too. So they perform... they head off to the pub, or to the footy, they punch each other and talk about "pulling monos at 140kms through the bush... sick mate". They are trapped into doing these things i think. I don't see that this runs counter to anything you have said, btw. Just a different way of looking at it. Ta for friending me.. heading off to add you back now :-)
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Does this make sense?
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I don't see that this runs counter to anything you have said, btw. Just a different way of looking at it.
Ta for friending me.. heading off to add you back now :-)
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