Who wants to look simple when you can look stunning

The expression game, the experimental and controversial

This article does not reflect the opinions of the FeminUN student group, but of their respective authors.

Since we can remember, we’ve always listened to people saying: pink is for the girls and blue is for the boys, skirts are for the girls and pants are for the boys. We were given a uniform in school that supported this ideology, and we grew listening to old people saying: “dress up like a lady, you look like a butch”, “that’s not for men, don’t be a faggot”. But where do these stereotypes come from? Well, let’s go back to the XIX century, where, thanks to the second industrial revolution, the way of getting clothes started to change. At that time, all babies were meant to wear dresses, it didn’t matter if they were a boy or a girl, that way it was easier to change the baby’s diaper. In addition, the predominant color was white, and the hairstyles were the same. This gives us babies with no visible gender. It all started to change in the XX century, where colored clothes for babies were introduced and, contrary to what many may have thought, at the beginning pink were for the boys and blue for the girls.

But now, if dresses were always meant to be for women, how did they start to use pants?

It all started with “Gender Roles”, which are a social construction that dictates the behavior of women and men. It also tells us what’s the “proper” way to navigate in life, choose our objectives, etc. Roles have changed over time (Vexedot, 2018). Nowadays it is more common to see women using pants, being leaders in their jobs, and people being more comfortable with the participation of roles that don’t follow the rule of what is traditionally masculine and feminine, though they are still present at this moment in time. Femininity is still ridiculed, and people see it as inferior to masculinity. These examples are perceived in movies, series, and especially in social media.

Gender roles may be classified as a stereotype. It creates a difference in opportunity, respect, and power (Planned parenthood, n.d.). However, in the present society new ways of expression have appeared that intend to break these stereotypes.

Following the new ways of expression, a new concept appeared: “Drag Queen”, which comes from the abbreviation of the phrase “dress like a girl” or “dress roughly as girls”. In other perspective, the word “drag” refers to the feminine underwear generally with lace and embroidery (Villanueva, 2017). The practice of Drag Queen has become an entertaining context for LGBTQI+ community. It is a scenic phenomenon that has transformed the social and artistic reality of theater. The main places where drags can be found are locals, bars and ghettos where variants such as music-hall and the cabaret are presented. Some of these shows highlight the stand-up style and the animation. At the end, this practice becomes the economical and professional development of the participants. Drag Queens also have representation in a series of artistic expression associated to typical Latin-American holidays, such as “Chuntaes” in México or “La parranda de San Pedro” in Venezuela where this practice plays a main role (López, 2016). The process of constructing a character is extremely important because:

The image becomes an element that supplies data of the interiority, a way of reflecting the spirit to the viewer. This same principle applies in the drag show, because somehow that transformation becomes the materialization of an aesthetic desire, but that arrives as a character through the visual of a drag queen and is projected in its entirety (physical and energetically) to the viewer (López, 2016).

On the other hand, we have the case of the Tomboy which, according to the Cambridge dictionary, is defined as a girl who acts and dresses like a boy. This expression began to be used in 1550 to define, in the first instance, boys with rough and masculine characteristics, however, in 1590 it began to be used with girls who prefer a masculine gender expression (Moscas de colores, 2022). This is a clear example of a male gender identity expression in women and, of course, for being something relatively new, it was not well seen at first. For this reason, derogatory terms such as "butch", "butch women", "tomboy", "Dyke", among others, appeared. This is another case where fashion influences the expression of gender identity and is useful to all people who prefer a masculine identity regardless of their sex and/or gender. However, we still find that discrimination exists due to the entrenched gender roles in our society today.

Similarly, gender roles are closely related to the creation of ingrained stereotypes, which greatly affect both men and women throughout childhood and adolescence. Zaro (n.d.) refers that this is the stage in which self-knowledge and the consolidation of personal identity take place and, likewise, in which they are more susceptible to physical and emotional aggression. This is due to the fact that throughout the years of each person's integral growth, various behaviors such as dominance, masculinity and superiority in men and submissive, complacent and feminine attitudes in women are internalized. Because of this, each gender is required to look and play a certain role related to these characteristics, which leads to structural violence directed at people who do not comply with the imposed norm and also influences inequality against them. In addition, the incorporation of gender roles in daily life greatly affects the education given to young people, since this has a great influence on the way they act, rationalize, interpret and relate to others (Lopez, 2019).

Authors: Mariana Isabel Cuadrado Saurith, Mariana Fonseca Arrieta, Stephania Zabaleta Burgos, Carlos Enrique Altamar Borja & Camila Esmeral Penagos.

Translated by Carlos Enrique Altamar Borja & Ella Esther Pastor Barreto.

References

Cambridge Dictionary. (s.f) Tomboy. Cambridge Dictionary. Recuperado el 8 de abril, 2022, en https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/diccionario/ingles/tomboy

Jordán, I. V. (2017). “YO SOY UNA DRAG QUEEN, NO SOY CUALQUIER LOCO”. REPRESENTACIONES DEL DRAGQUEENISMO EN LIMA, PERÚ. Península, 12(2), 95-118.

López, E. (2016). Teatralidades Drag Queen: creación y comprensión de una práctica escénica-espectacular. Anais ABRACE, 17(1).

Moscas de colores (s.f.) Tomboy. Moscas de colores. Recuperado el 8 de abril, 2022, de https://www.moscasdecolores.com/es/serie-lesbian-slang/tomboy/

Lopez Dudagoitia, J. (2019, mayo). ROLES DE GÉNERO EN PERSONAS CON DIVERSIDAD FUNCIONAL PSÍQUICA. Facultad de Educación de Bilbao. https://addi.ehu.es/bitstream/handle/10810/41378/TFG_JuleneLopezDudagoitia.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Plannedparenthood. (n.d.). Identidad y roles de género Y Estereotipos de género I Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood. Retrieved April 12, 2022, from https://www.plannedparenthood.org/es/temas-de-salud/identidad-de-genero/sexo-e-identidad-de-genero/que-son-los-estereotipos-de-rol-de-genero

Vexedot. (2018, November 14). Cómo funcionan los roles de género. Art & mañas. Retrieved April 12, 2022, from https://artymanas.com/como-funcionan-los-roles-de-genero/

Zaro, M. J. (s.f). LA IDENTIDAD DE GÉNERO. Revista de psicoterapia, Vol X-N°40, 9–10. https://revistadepsicoterapia.com/index.php/rdp/article/download/791/702