Character Identification Across Gender Lines
In my previous entry I shared how both Wolfling and I expressed a desire to "grow up to be Michelle Yeoh."
Athenian_abroad's response included the following:
My first reaction: "You don't have to be a girl to want to be Michelle Yeoh (or a Michelle Yeoh character)!"
Which brings up a question. How common -- or uncommon -- is it to "identify" with characters, etc., across gender lines? How does that relate to intuitions about whether gender is an essential or incidental quality? How does it relate to the fluidity or solidity of one's own gender identity?
I thought this was a great question. It's also one I'm having a hard time grappling with effectively, because this isn't an area which I think about all that much.
Personally, while I certainly enjoy the exploits of heroic male characters, I tend to only identify with -- or want to explicitly emulate -- female characters. I think Chow Yun-Fat can bring to the screen many of the same qualities as Yeoh: physically beautiful, a sense of wisdom, a regal air, a believable warrior. (I'm thinking of him in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Anna and the King.) But I don't ever want to be him or his characters. I want to bed them, not be them.
When I play RPG's, I never even consider playing a male character unless I'm a GM running male NPC's. As a writer, my primary characters have all been female, even though my most significant creative work has a large number of male supporting characters. When I explore archetypes, I avoid the small number of them which I perceive as being explicitly male. For example: I am always the Queen, never the King.
I've written and deleted at least four different paragraphs here, trying to sort out the way and the degree to which I experience myself as feminine and masculine. . . and I just can't find the words. Maybe all I can say right now is this: I identify as utterly female on a basic biological level, but enjoy having (traditionally) masculine qualities. Indeed, the Queen of Swords symbol is an expression of a mature woman with strong masculine attributes.
Perhaps it's a bit paradoxical. I embrace my masculine attributes while being absolutely comfortable with my physical femaleness. Or maybe I just don't think in those terms very often because I've never had trouble with my gender experience or identity on an internal or social level. I've played with a lot of different aspects of identity, but gender has never been one of them. I've never felt that being physically female has limited my ability to express who I am, whether that expression is considered masculine or feminine. At the same time, on some level I evidently perceive some kind of essential difference between Male and Female that goes beyond biology because I can't/don't identify with male individuals.
Disclaimer: these are all my subjective experiences as an individual. I have no interest in judging the experiences of others, which I know can be radically different from mine.
Please chime in. I'd be very interested in the expreriences and insights of others. I know that some of you have a very strong interest in gender issues, and there are those here whose own gender experiences are very different from mine.
Athenian_abroad's response included the following:
My first reaction: "You don't have to be a girl to want to be Michelle Yeoh (or a Michelle Yeoh character)!"
Which brings up a question. How common -- or uncommon -- is it to "identify" with characters, etc., across gender lines? How does that relate to intuitions about whether gender is an essential or incidental quality? How does it relate to the fluidity or solidity of one's own gender identity?
I thought this was a great question. It's also one I'm having a hard time grappling with effectively, because this isn't an area which I think about all that much.
Personally, while I certainly enjoy the exploits of heroic male characters, I tend to only identify with -- or want to explicitly emulate -- female characters. I think Chow Yun-Fat can bring to the screen many of the same qualities as Yeoh: physically beautiful, a sense of wisdom, a regal air, a believable warrior. (I'm thinking of him in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Anna and the King.) But I don't ever want to be him or his characters. I want to bed them, not be them.
When I play RPG's, I never even consider playing a male character unless I'm a GM running male NPC's. As a writer, my primary characters have all been female, even though my most significant creative work has a large number of male supporting characters. When I explore archetypes, I avoid the small number of them which I perceive as being explicitly male. For example: I am always the Queen, never the King.
I've written and deleted at least four different paragraphs here, trying to sort out the way and the degree to which I experience myself as feminine and masculine. . . and I just can't find the words. Maybe all I can say right now is this: I identify as utterly female on a basic biological level, but enjoy having (traditionally) masculine qualities. Indeed, the Queen of Swords symbol is an expression of a mature woman with strong masculine attributes.
Perhaps it's a bit paradoxical. I embrace my masculine attributes while being absolutely comfortable with my physical femaleness. Or maybe I just don't think in those terms very often because I've never had trouble with my gender experience or identity on an internal or social level. I've played with a lot of different aspects of identity, but gender has never been one of them. I've never felt that being physically female has limited my ability to express who I am, whether that expression is considered masculine or feminine. At the same time, on some level I evidently perceive some kind of essential difference between Male and Female that goes beyond biology because I can't/don't identify with male individuals.
Disclaimer: these are all my subjective experiences as an individual. I have no interest in judging the experiences of others, which I know can be radically different from mine.
Please chime in. I'd be very interested in the expreriences and insights of others. I know that some of you have a very strong interest in gender issues, and there are those here whose own gender experiences are very different from mine.