Performance and Performativity
05 / 01 / 2014
Race, class, and gender are important social forces that shape our identities. They are looked at as only inevitable structures that preexist and produce us (the performers). In fact, this is inaccurate statement because race, class, and gender are NOT inevitable structures, but performances that are always changing and in formation to create new forms of them. Yes, they are “performative” -- performativity refers to the ways in which we are produced by the weighty structures that preexist us (Bettie 192) -- but they are also performances. In short, one who belongs to a certain race, class, or gender does not always perform his “authentic” identity, but sometimes other identities that are better ascribed to other race, class, or gender.
Performing “other” identities may not occur because of the attractiveness of those identities, but because of the pressure that the minorities sometimes face in certain communities. In other words, it doesn’t mean that those who perform “other” identity instead of their “authentic” one are always admired to those identities. Sometimes, they just want to get rid of the majority pressure by performing its identity and acting like them. Lorena, one of the Mexican-American girls in the book Women without Class, had better portrayed this situation by saying “I always dress up for the mall. Otherwise they think I’m shoplifting.” (Bettie 3) This indicates that dressing up is a way that the majority (rich white people) performs their identity. In order for Lorena to act like majority, she needs to dress up wherever she goes, even to malls. Otherwise people think she is shoplifting because she is “brown”. It is all about being brown as she said. This was not the case with the white girl that said, “ridiculously dressed up some girls get just to go to the mall.” (Bettie 3) because she does not feel that majority pressure since she is already white. In clothes, Lorena had to act like whites not because she is attracted to their identity, but because she wants to cover hers and avoid any potential stereotyping behaviors that may come from “others”.
Although there was racial, ethnic, class, and gender polarization in the Waretown High cliques like, Smokers, Cholas, Skaters, Las Chicas, Hicks, and Preps, there were class, race, ethnic, and gender differences within those categories themselves. One can be a “smoker” today and a “hick” tomorrow. It depends on how someone identifies himself no matter what his “true” race, class, or gender is. Starr, the only white girl in the Mexican majority school, mentioned that all of her friends were Mexican. She acted like Mexican and they thought she was a “Chola”. She said, “I wore my hair up high in front you know. And I had an accent” (Bettie 129) But she left this group and joined the “smokers” after she went in a fight with one of her ex-friends. In terms of classes, the book also provided some other examples about marginalizing people within the one clique itself. Being a “prep” does not always mean you are a “real” middle-class, but you may experience the feeling of being a “working-class” inside that middle-class clique. Also, a middle-class one can end up being a working-class in the future, and vice versa. Economy is NOT the only factor that shapes our class identity, but there are also other important factors such as race, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality that contribute in shaping it. They are all interacted to produce our identity. That’s why we saw different race, ethnic, and gender inside each of those cliques. It is simply a racial, ethnic, and gender mixture that always creates a new form of class identity.
We are performing race, class, and gender no matter what our “authentic” ones are. Bettie had concluded in her book that studying girls without referring to their race, class, gender, and sexuality would be incomplete because those factors matter when it comes to the identity. It is important to study those factors as structures preexist us, but not ignoring how those factors are considered performances also. They are always changing and in formation, NOT in constant fixity.
Works Cited
Bettie, Julie. Women without Class: Girls, Race, and Identity. Berkeley and Los Angles: University of California Press, 2003. Print.
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05 / 01 / 2014
Race, class, and gender are important social forces that shape our identities. They are looked at as only inevitable structures that preexist and produce us (the performers). In fact, this is inaccurate statement because race, class, and gender are NOT inevitable structures, but performances that are always changing and in formation to create new forms of them. Yes, they are “performative” -- performativity refers to the ways in which we are produced by the weighty structures that preexist us (Bettie 192) -- but they are also performances. In short, one who belongs to a certain race, class, or gender does not always perform his “authentic” identity, but sometimes other identities that are better ascribed to other race, class, or gender.
Performing “other” identities may not occur because of the attractiveness of those identities, but because of the pressure that the minorities sometimes face in certain communities. In other words, it doesn’t mean that those who perform “other” identity instead of their “authentic” one are always admired to those identities. Sometimes, they just want to get rid of the majority pressure by performing its identity and acting like them. Lorena, one of the Mexican-American girls in the book Women without Class, had better portrayed this situation by saying “I always dress up for the mall. Otherwise they think I’m shoplifting.” (Bettie 3) This indicates that dressing up is a way that the majority (rich white people) performs their identity. In order for Lorena to act like majority, she needs to dress up wherever she goes, even to malls. Otherwise people think she is shoplifting because she is “brown”. It is all about being brown as she said. This was not the case with the white girl that said, “ridiculously dressed up some girls get just to go to the mall.” (Bettie 3) because she does not feel that majority pressure since she is already white. In clothes, Lorena had to act like whites not because she is attracted to their identity, but because she wants to cover hers and avoid any potential stereotyping behaviors that may come from “others”.
Although there was racial, ethnic, class, and gender polarization in the Waretown High cliques like, Smokers, Cholas, Skaters, Las Chicas, Hicks, and Preps, there were class, race, ethnic, and gender differences within those categories themselves. One can be a “smoker” today and a “hick” tomorrow. It depends on how someone identifies himself no matter what his “true” race, class, or gender is. Starr, the only white girl in the Mexican majority school, mentioned that all of her friends were Mexican. She acted like Mexican and they thought she was a “Chola”. She said, “I wore my hair up high in front you know. And I had an accent” (Bettie 129) But she left this group and joined the “smokers” after she went in a fight with one of her ex-friends. In terms of classes, the book also provided some other examples about marginalizing people within the one clique itself. Being a “prep” does not always mean you are a “real” middle-class, but you may experience the feeling of being a “working-class” inside that middle-class clique. Also, a middle-class one can end up being a working-class in the future, and vice versa. Economy is NOT the only factor that shapes our class identity, but there are also other important factors such as race, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality that contribute in shaping it. They are all interacted to produce our identity. That’s why we saw different race, ethnic, and gender inside each of those cliques. It is simply a racial, ethnic, and gender mixture that always creates a new form of class identity.
We are performing race, class, and gender no matter what our “authentic” ones are. Bettie had concluded in her book that studying girls without referring to their race, class, gender, and sexuality would be incomplete because those factors matter when it comes to the identity. It is important to study those factors as structures preexist us, but not ignoring how those factors are considered performances also. They are always changing and in formation, NOT in constant fixity.
Works Cited
Bettie, Julie. Women without Class: Girls, Race, and Identity. Berkeley and Los Angles: University of California Press, 2003. Print.
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