A critique on Western dimorphic gender culture, using a literary analysis of Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg.
Sex, Love and Gender: Societal Expectations of Self and Body
The separation of self and body can lead to the failure of establishing an identity manifesting into role confusion, leaving the individual unsure of their place in society. Often described as being imprisoned in the wrong body, many individuals report a disconnection between self and body occurring very early in childhood. These individuals, whose gender identity and expression differ from their birth or assigned sex, are often known as transgender. This phenomenon is known as “gender dysphoria” in various psychological literature, occurs when an individual develops a sense of dissonance between biological sex and gender identity, often occurring during adolescence. The adolescent stage involves discovering and developing a unique sense of self. However, Eurocentric ideas on gender and sexuality result in external and internal oppression of non-gender confirming youth. Western culture derives the idea that the absolute division of male and female based on the sex-differentiated hormones released prenatally not only determines reproductive systems but as well two different mental natures. Stone Butch Blues, written by Leslie Feinberg, addresses the experience of gender identity and how the “disease” of gender dysphoria infects the dominant culture. Eurocentric ideologies on gender reinforce sexual dimorphism in trans youth and cause a sense of dissonance with one’s physical appearance and their idealized self.
For the majority of trans youth, the ultimatum was already set; the choice between a “lifestyle” or one’s family and if you walk out you are dead to them. Everyone during adolescent struggle through two specific phases: discovering one’s sexual self and the coping of growing pains. Transgender youth must be placed in this context as well; since they are no different from any another teenager. Adolescence is already a time of confusion, the obsession of peer approval and enduring the unspoken schemas of sex and love. Factors, such as; cultural homophobia, societal and parental neglect and the religious right, often generate more conflict for these adolescents. For example, adolescents living in a home which subscribes to the rigid notions of gender schemas and roles may experience get emotional pressure from knowing who they are is it at odds with whom they parents believe they should be. “In addition to knowing their parents’ prejudices, adolescents might also hear indirect messages that only being heterosexual is normal. Against a fragile sense of identity, the rhetoric they hear about what makes a ‘real man’ or a ‘real woman’ may only produce confusion, guilt, and shame about whom they are becoming” (Arriola 445). Hearing their parents spout disdain and espouse common prejudices about gays and lesbians generates fear of losing a parents’ love and security of their homes.
Leslie Fienberg’s fictional novel Stone Butch Blues dramatizes the pain and loneliness that accompanies an individual’s experience of coming out in a non-accepting world. The harassment and physical assault Jesse suffered for her identity demonstrate the suffering of these communities. While in high school, Jess experiences a group of girls questioning what she was, “Is it an animal, mineral, or vegetable? I didn’t fit any of their categories… I was drowning in my own loneliness.” (Feinberg 36). High school is the most hostile environment for homosexual or transgendered individuals. “American high schools serve as society’s institutional forums for gender socialization. ‘Normal’ boys will play sports, drink beer, and pursue girls, while ‘normal’ girls will pay more attention to their looks in order to attract boys’ attention” (Arriola 448). Similar to Jesse’s experiences in high school, many other trans individuals experience taunting and verbal harassment.
Gender presentation intimately intertwines posture, gait, gestures, and interaction with others in culture. Society is committed to the belief that individuals should be kept into “gender envelopes” (Arriola 469). Western culture’s dimorphic vision of sex and gender has proven destructive to transgender and transsexual individuals. Many transgender and transsexual individuals at a young age report a sense of disconnection. In Stone Butch Blues, the first time Jess cross-dresses she was only eleven years old. As she stands before the mirror, Jess displays an unconscious yearning of gendered self-expression. “Jess’s moment of archetypal self-recognition is interrupted by her parents, who say nothing, but abandon in a mental ward a few a days later” (Moses 82). Before 1973, the American Psychiatric Association considered any forms of perceived homosexuality as a mental disorder and was later rebranded as GID or Gender Identity Disorder. GID is condition containing to components: (1) Strong cross-gendered identification or the desire to be viewed as the other sex and (2) a persistent discomfort about one’s assigned sex or a sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex. Many “transphobic parents and doctors can point to any perceived discomfort with gender stereotyped clothing, interest in the “wrong” fantasy idols or gender-inappropriate forms” (Arriola 463) and anything not perceived as heteronormative is considered a mental illness. Jess is then subject to undergo treatment “which involves mandatory dress-wearing, weekly visits to a psychiatrist, and enrollment in charm school” (Moses 83). Reparative therapy is an attack on young children who depart from stereotypical gender schemas, such as “masculine aggression for boys, feminine lack of confidence for girls” according to Arriola (465).
According to critical gender theory, there is no correlation between biological sex and a person’s gender presentation; instead the way which men and women present themselves is a learned performance and biology has no influence on gender. In Feinberg’s novel, he inverts the notions of natural gender dimorphism in one of the more harrowing scenes in the book. At Butch Ro’s funeral, the butches were only allowed to attend if they wore dresses. Even though “wearing dresses was an excruciating humiliation for them” (Fienberg 116) their love for Ro motivated them. “The reverse drag ritual at Ro’s funeral doubles this doubling and challenges the naturalness of gender binaries. When butches dressed as butches pass as men, the restricted categories of “men” and “women” are challenged. When butches dressed as women cannot pass as women, the binary categories break down altogether” (Moses 84). Euro-American culture asserts that there is a link between an individual’s primary sex characteristics, i.e. genitalia, and the individual’s gender presentation. Feinberg deconstructs this notion of ‘natural maleness’ in a sex scene with Jess and a homophobic woman. Moses notes that a “phallus here is not simply representative of masculine power; it is an object with a long history and, more recently, a signifier of class” (89). Since Jess is using a dildo, which represent the imitation of a penis, her being able to not only sexually satisfy Annie but perform better than other men discredit the connection between a penis and manliness. Annie describes the sexual encounter saying, “You don’t fuck like other guys,” she says, “It’s like you got a brain in your dick instead of a dick for a brain” (193).
Both transsexuals and critical gender theorists challenge the notion that individuals must conform to their gender attributes. However, many gender theorists attempt “to analyze a ‘macro’ social phenomenon, exploring how broad patterns of cultural thought affect social institutions and individuals” (Kogan 1232). Which explains why critical gender theorist view transsexualism as not an individual condition but rather a social and political problem. It is important to note the differences between transsexual and transgender. While both subvert traditional gender roles, transsexual individuals physically alter their bodies to align more with their gender. Kogan further critiques “the assertion that the self-perceptions of transsexual autobiographies are the products of false consciousness” stating that the accusation “loses much of its impact in light of evidence indicating that many transsexuals first experience gender dysphoria at an extremely young age” (1233). This is evident in the novel Stone Butch Blues while the butches discuss of a friend who went from Ginny to Jimmy.“Jan put her beer bottle down on the table. ‘Yeah, but I’m not like Jimmy. Jimmy told me he knew he was a guy even when he was little. I’m not a guy’” (Fienberg 144).Furthermore, Feinberg’s novel features characters who have undergo FTM (Female to Male) transition for reasons associated to discomfort to their body, such as Jimmy. Feinberg stresses, unlike Jimmy, Jess’s need to transition comes from economic motivations and are not rooted in her feelings. Similar to the reasoning proposed by many critical gender theorists. The suggestion of critical gender theorists to outright ban sex reassignment surgery and hormone therapy is insensitive and discounts the experiences of transsexuals and thus ignores their needs. Kogan believes that “social reform in support of any oppressed minority must begin by paying close attention to the personal perceptions of members of that community…stories told by individuals in the community must be taken seriously” (Kogan 1233).
Eurocentric ideologies on gender reinforces sexual dimorphism in trans youth and causes sense of dissonance with one’s physical appearance and their idealized self. Consequently, the separation of self and body can lead to the failure of establishing an identity manifesting into role confusion; leaving the individual unsure of their place in society. Stone Butch Blues, written by Leslie Fienberg, delves into the various issues societal expectations on gender has on those who do not comply with Western ideals. American culture of dimorphic vision of sex and gender is destructive to transgender and transsexual individuals. The Department of Health and Human Services is now challenging the current definition of sex and gender. The agency’s proposed definition will define sex as only male and female, solely determined by the genitals one is born with and unchangeable. Only the sex listed on one’s birth certificate originally issued is proof of gender and can only be rebutted by genetic evidence. “The new definition would essentially eradicate federal recognition of the estimated 1.4 million Americans who have opted to recognize themselves — surgically or otherwise — as a gender other than the one they were born into” (Green et al.). America rather deny the civil rights of 1.4 million Americans than do away with our rigid gender schemas.
Works Citied
Elvia R. Arriola. “The Penalties for Puppy Love: Institutionalized Violence Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Youth.” Journal of Gender, Race, and Justice, vol. 1, 1998, pp. 429–555.
Feinberg, Leslie. Stone Butch Blues: A Novel. Ithaca, N.Y: Firebrand Books, 1993. Print.
Green, Erica L., et al. “Trump Administration Eyes Defining Transgender Out of Existence.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 Oct. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/10/21/us/politics/transgender-trump-administration-sex-definition.html.
Moses, Cat. “QUEERING CLASS: LESLIE FEINBERG’S STONE BUTCH BLUES.”Studies in the Novel, vol. 31, no. 1, 1999, pp. 74–97.
Terry S. Kogan. “INTERSECTIONS OF RACE, ETHNICITY, CLASS, GENDER & SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Transsexuals and Critical Gender Theory: The Possibility of a Restroom Labeled ‘Other’” Hastings Law Journal, vol. 48, 1997, pp. 1223–1387.
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