Femininity

Gender is a concept that is have been used to defined the self identity and the roles given to each sex. In this sense, gender reinforce the division between man and woman by giving different duties to each sex within the society. In effect, this distinction creates stereotypes and oppression for everyone because it becomes natural to think that girls and boys should act in a certain way, creating expectations since we were just kids. Judith butler a feminist theorist expresses that there is no gender, but it is the acts of it that creates this concept. Therefore, we perform gender roles that are imposed in our culture since the moment we born. This acts are produce and reproduce all over the time and they become part of our society, and the identity of women and men. Once you are identify with the notion of what it means to be a woman or a man, you are actively performing it. However, the abolition of stereotypes can be determined by the acceptation of the performativity, deconstructing the existence of gender and the social context that make possible the oppression. 

Still in the modern world that we live we continue reproducing this models of femininity and masculinity, and with that we reinforce the power of the patriarchal system and the oppression towards women. However, this patterns affect as well the men, repressing his sensibility and vulnerability, and in turn increasing his rage and making them tougher towards society.

Many female and male artist touch the notion of femininity and masculinity linking them with the concept of self identity. Jessica Yatrofsky, a photographer and filmmaker who represents the concept of beauty and identity. Confounding traditional representations of women in mass media and undermining institutionalized notions of masculinity and femininity. Her subjects are a refreshing reminding that gender is an illusion and they are nothing nothing to do with the identity of a person.

Willingham, Jessica. “Jessica Yatrofksy’s ‘I Heart Girl’ Photo Series Gives Us A Raw Look At Femininity”, Last update March 23 2015. https://www.bustle.com/articles/70913-jessica-yatrofksys-i-heart-girl-photo-series-gives-us-a-raw-look-at-femininity-nsfw

Her work is a representation that the gender is performed, and masculinity and femininity does not exist. It is the acts of it that construct this notions. We can observe as viewers that her photographs are not being objectified because they do not represent what the society expect as women. Yatrofsky is expressing the natural beauty of women without any pattern or stereotype. Likewise, the deconstruction of the gender and the acts that formed this concept are the key to separate the identity and the sex from the gender. Therefore, the stereotypes could be abolished by accepting them and creating our own identity without any social construction that distinct women to men. In this way, the distinction between sex and gender could be break by actively perform the subversive roles, thus a man using makeup or a woman wearing a suit.

In conclusion, the concept of gender has to be deconstructed by the society by accepting his performativity and the awareness of the acts that we have had impregnated since we were kids. we have to be detached of the cultural construction towards the gender roles and the expectations of the society to become a woman or a man. We have to break this phenomenon and accept that sex and identity does not defined how we should act and behave in a society. It is not an easy path but is the first step to end with the social stereotypes.