|
Where
Are You Comin' From, Where Are You Goin' To:
Gender Like the Black/White dichotomy, the representation of males and females as bipolar opposites reaffirms and maintains the dominant hierarchy, in which men have power over women and Whites have power over Blacks. Gender, like race, is problematic. Both males and females may not "fit" in the territories in which they are placed based on gender. Maxims such as "the woman's place is in the home" illustrate how women in particular are placed in contained, fixed territories, territories that may be disempowering and undesirable. There are gendered territories just as there are racialized territories, fraternities and sororities, for example. Individuals accepted as members of the same-sex societies become part of a gendered communal Face, placed in gendered territories. At C.S.U.N., fraternities and sororities have their exclusive events and functions, gathering places, and histories. The Union is a popular gathering place for the members of Black fraternities and sororities at C.S.U.N. Sorority sister Zowdi placed the Black women and men who spent time at the Union into separate, temporal, gendered territories. She placed herself apart from Black males:
Emerald noted that at the Union, females tend to manipulate their Face in order to be placed in territory acceptable to males. "The girls dress like ho's [whores] to fit in," she asserted, explaining how she was ignored by Black male C.S.U.N. students until she started wearing short dresses and revealing outfits. "As soon as I changed, they accepted me," added Emerald, who decided to stop spending time at the Union. She resented having to dress in a particular way in order to "fit" into a territory assigned both by males and by consenting females. Women may place other women as outsiders, too, if they do not conform to the gendered territory defined by men. Zowdi, for instance, noted how women criticize other women for not wearing the appropriate outfit, hairstyle, etc. The "rules" of a gendered territory may change, however, as Emerald also discovered. She claimed that the fraternity brothers directing an annual fashion show called her and other female volunteer models "tramps and ho's" based on the way they dressed and walked. According to Emerald, one fraternity brother said, "I'd rather have none of you run down my runway show than look like a tramp." He defined the territory (the runway) as occupied by women, and determined who was an insider and who was an outsider, using terms such as "tramps" and "ho's" to place women as outsiders. The terms "tramp" and "ho" refer not only to women who are are assumed to be sexually promiscuous and "out of control," but to women whose bodies are controlled and sold by men to men. Emerald quit volunteering for the fashion show after she heard the derogatory comments about the models. She refused to let the male organizers place her in the insider/outsider territories they had designated, territories that forced her into the dichotomy of good woman/bad woman: acceptable model (good insider) versus tramp and whore (bad outsider). She walked away from the fashion show altogether, placing herself in an entirely different, separate territory. However, in 1996 she plans to participate in the fashion show, and did not offer an explanation why. In the context of the Union, as mentioned earlier, Black female C.S.U.N. students may wear provocative outfits in order to appeal to males. Instead of being called derogatory names (e.g., tramps, ho's), they may feel noticed, recognized, and acknowledged as community members. By placing themselves in male-defined territory, however, women reproduce the male/female dichotomy in which women are subordinated to men, and in which women's bodies are territories themselves, properties managed by men. This is not to say that women who choose to wear short skirts are merely the pawns of men, but rather to point out how women consent to the dominant order when they place themselves in territories determined by and in which they are contained by men. Chris placed a female friend in separate territories after she resisted his placement of women. He spent a lot of time with her until one day when, jokingly, he poked her in the stomach and said, "ahh, you're getting kind of fat."
His friend did not want to have her body -- or any other woman's -- defined by men as if it were controlled territory itself. Chris interpreted his statement as a joke, but she took it as a transgression, a containment in the social territory of overweight, undesirable women. According to his friend, women who are contained in such a way may endanger their health and even their lives in order to change their Face (in this case, body size), placing themselves in territory deemed acceptable to men. Chris reacted to her response, however, by placing himself in territory separate from his friend. She had placed herself in a gendered territory but a territory she had defined, a community of resistance, and Chris felt threatened because he could no longer "be natural." The hegemonic order may feel "natural" to both men and Whites, like "business as usual," because both groups are advantaged in the dominant hierarchy. Both groups may not realize how they place others in fixed, essentialized territories while enjoying relative mobility across territories they choose. The subjectivities of gender and race are especially intertwined in representations of interracial couples. The previous section on "Race" illustrates how Black students may keep romantic partners "outside the race" on the "d.l." [down-low], if they want to avoid being placed as assimilationist. Immediately following his interview, Keith disclosed that he had recently broken off a relationship with a White woman, whom he had met as a student at his former university. He seemed eager to talk about her, and during our brief conversation we walked toward the entrance of the Union. As we walked closer to the entrance, I noticed Keith's attention turn to several of his fraternity brothers, who were standing at the Union entrance. As if on cue, both Keith and I said our goodbyes to each other, and I set off in a different direction, neither of us wanting to be placed as an interracial couple. When I walked away, I realized how I had helped him remain placed as an insider (by his fraternity brothers), and that I had defined both racial and gendered territories by walking away. On a later occasion, when Keith and I met, unexpectedly, at an area shopping mall, he showed me a flyer he had designed for an upcoming fraternity party, and he invited me to attend. I was surprised and flattered by the invitation but decided not to attend, once again wanting to avoid placement as a romantic partner, or as one of the White outsiders referred to by Emerald in her discussion of Black parties (in the "Race" section). By missing the party, I again placed myself in separate racialized, gendered territories, and may have affirmed and maintained the dichotomies (Black/White, male/female) that already place Keith and me as bipolar opposites. Another aspect of Face is Dress, which can be easily manipulated.
The following section illustrates how Dress can be changed in order to
be placed as a community member, or in order to contest placement as a
community member.
Next> Dress
Placing and Black Students' Discursive Construction of Community Copyright (c) 1996, Corinna J. Moebius |