I'm working on my charm

The story I'm working on my charm is a good one to relate class performance to gender performance. Alma, as a child is taught how to handle certain customers i.e how to behave or act in front of them in order to get a tip. It is interesting that when she is experiencing this party as an adult, teachings from her mother come up and she immediately knows how to go about her performance. Yankees for example are classified in a certain way."…nobody bet on Yankee tips, they might leave anything" They are a type of person/customer. This separation of how people are treated and stereotyped is a reflection of how class and gender roles are reinforced in our society today. The fact that we have to learn how to interact with different people in different ways is interesting. We practice our personalities everyday, we are constantly working on our charm.

Power Struggle for powerlessness

"He walks a certain way, talks a certain way, acts a certain way."(Kimmel 105)
In the article Masculinity as Homophobia, Michael S. Kimmel describes homophobia as the fear that other men will unmask us, emasculate us, reveal to us a world that we do not measure up, that we are not real men.

                  Men become depressed because of loss of status and power in the society
                  of men. It is not the loss of money, or material advantages that money could
                  buy, which produces the despair that leads to self destruction. It is the
                  "shame,"the "humiliation," the sense of personal,"failure" A man
                  despairs when he has seized to be a man among other men.

The recognition of fear in ourselves is proof that we are not as manly as we pretend that we are. We are ashamed to be afraid.
The community of men is full of competition, and power struggle. The very aggression that got men to the top of the food chain is what's tearing them apart. Karma is a bitch. "As adolescents we learn that our peers are a kind of gender police, constantly threatening  to unmask us as feminine, as sissies."(Kimmel 104).
I have personally experienced this a couple of times. Since I was a child I liked wine and crossing my legs, none of which were viewed as manly traits. I had to catch myself every time I did either of the two and rectify my mannerisms."Every mannerism, every movement contains a coded gender message."(Kimmel 105)
        I enjoyed the metaphor of the chauffeur, as men, we compete to be at the top, and be the most manly only to realize that we are then encapsulated by the expectations of our beaten competition. We are indeed at the driving seat but we're not in control of the bigger picture. "American men feel powerless because of the way we've constructed the rules of manhood so that only the tiniest fraction of men com to believe that they are the biggest of wheels, the sturdiest of oaks and the most virulent repudiators of femininity, the most daring and aggressive."(Kimmel 108).
Another interesting idea brought up in this essay is the idea of exclusion. It is basically how men attempt to secure their manliness by not speaking up for equality and justice.
Overall Kimmel's repeated reference to fear is interesting, fear is one of the emotions that make adrenaline kick in and we perform better. In this case, fear has made us improve our performance as men.

Their laughter cut me to the bone.

Its very interesting to read through the experiences of a person who "doesn't belong"
In the novel Stone Butch Blues, Feinberg uses the character Jesse Goldberg to depict different events that highlight the challenges of a transgendered individual in todays world.
When we discussed the issue of bathrooms in class it was a bit different for me because it wasn't in first person and I couldn't relate. After reading through his/her experience, I couldn't help but compare it to my growing up as an artist in a third world country. I can't remember the number of times when I would have to deny my interest in art. It simply wasn't taken seriously. The more people ridiculed and bashed the idea of taking art seriously, the more I would have to fit in to some other career interest to make sure people viewed me as normal. There was no bathroom allotted to me, and after all the psychological abuse I had taken, I had to fit into a space that I wasn't comfortable in and even started to ridicule my fellow artists.
"It changes you, what they do to you in here, the shit you take everyday in the street, it changes you" What carrie says after her attack from the police relates to the bathroom incident as well.
When Jesse Goldberg walks into the bathroom and the two women are laughing at her, asking what she is, there is a sense of fear and uncertainty. "Their laughter cut me to the bone." It is something that she had experienced when she was young and now as an adult. Knowing what kind of brutal acts are directed towards people like hir, it must have been very psychologically damaging for the women to laugh and taunt hir in an area where s/he was cornered and didn't feel safe to begin with. But since they don't have to deal with it, they dont put it into consideration. Just like white privilege, I guess we can call this gender privilege. The transgender community is going through unthinkable mental and physical abuse. Its time to be aware and act.

Gender Outlaws (Leslie Feinberg)

'The men shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment; for all that do so are abomination to the Lord thy God'(Deutronomy, 22:5)
History has depicted transgendered individuals in high and esteemed positions in society. "Perhaps the most noteable of all berdache Native woman was Bercheampe, the Crow 'Woman Chief' the most famous war leader in the history of the Missouri nations. She married several wives and her bravery as a hunter and warrior was honored in songs"(Feinberg 209).
In the article 'A movement whose time has come' Feinberg explores the different perceptions that society has had on transgenders. From respectable and honored to shameful and almost intolerable. "This raises the question: Who decided what norm should be? Why are some people punished for their self expression?" (Feinberg 207). Its interesting that Feinberg poses that question because there is a lot that the majority of the society today does not know about the transgender community. In the article she argues that it must have taken a bloody campaign by the emerging ruling class to declare what had been natural to be its opposite. She states the nature of nature is continuation, yet the words that are used to describe their community are "words that cut and sear"(Feinberg 207). They did not choose those terms, they were labels that have backed them into a corner. She states "It is hard to fight an oppression without a name connoting pride, a language that honors us"(Feinberg 207).
As stated before little is known about these 'gender outlaws' Some assume that all masculine women are lesbians and all feminine men are gay. There is always a confusion in how they express their gender and their sexual preference.
I think her understanding of solidarity being found in knowing how and why oppression exists and who profits from it is a great way to look out for the solution to the destination of this movement and many others.

Pari is Burning

The balls are an expression of freedom because they get to be who they really are. They can express without worrying about what the outside society thinks or worrying about being judged. They mention in the film that they are always being watched and observed, so they have to be weary of what they do and how they behave. I think their family is also important to them for the same reason. It is where they are accepted. They can relate better with each other and share experiences that their biological family couldn’t really understand.

Realness is the ability to pass as a normal person in the society. To blend in. It is very much important to them because they get to show their ability to shape shift and adapt. And that’s one of the reasons why they use mainstream culture. It is a challenge because, here is a group of people that has been shunned and put down by society putting on a good enough show or even better than what we see on TV. But at the same time there is a submission to it because they mention how they idolize the mainstream culture. They are almost obsessed by it, they really want to be in the position that their idols are in.

I think hooks’ interpretation of the directors role in the film is quite on point. She is very neutral and innocent. There is definitely a bias at the way she structures the film(when you analyze it) but it is so seamless when you are watching. You don’t get to hear her voice much and you don’t see her at all, therefore you do indeed feel like you are a new character in this new world.

Drag should not be offensive to women. It should not be a form of "ridicule and degradation” All it is is a performance, right?