As it is clear from the term, gender is a distinct concept from that of sex. Former is a nurtured thing, while the lateral is a biological concept. Moving one step further, I see gender as a social or a cultural construct that can include behaviour, norms, activities, and attributes that the society consider appropriate for men and women. Although there is an acceptance of a fluid identity in the West, the conservative societies, like that of Pakistan, doesn’t accept it. Rather, it is being seen as a strange thing in our culture. Thus, the idea of a free gender expression doesn’t fit into the two boxes being segregated on the basis of sex.
The fluid identity or a flexible gender doesn’t stick you on the one side of a coin. A gender fluid person in my opinion is more into changing his identity based on his or her personal choice. He could be a male at one day, and can feel like a female on the other. She can also choose to be neither of them, thus, making gender a more personalized concept. Again, feeling male or female is not necessarily need alignment with a particular sex.
When it comes to what the society think about you or expects you to behave in a certain way, it do impact people. There could be three ways to deal with this situation: Firstly, you can totally ignore what others say about you when you break their norms. Secondly, you can mould your personality and behaviour according to their will, something that can be attributed as a submissive behaviour. Thirdly, you can resist and try to convince others that a gender and sex are totally different things and one is not born as a women or men, but grown up so.
If I see and compare my past, and the present situation and analyse whether the society impacted me or not, there comes two answers. In the current scenario, I am more into adopting the point 1 and 3 to deal with any situation related to my gender expression. However, the social stigma impacted a lot during my past. For instance, I was forced not to weep whenever I felt pain and was asked to express myself as an Alpha Male, being emotionless and misogynist. Instead of moulding my mind the way people want, my exposure and understanding of the gender make me more deviant from the societal expectations over time. I do show emotions whenever I feel bad. I do become aggressive whenever there is something wrong happening around me. I do behave emotionless whenever I feel there is a need of that. Thus, I see my personality uplifted from being a submissive to become more expressive with the passage of time, making me more into accepting and believing into the concept of a fluid gender identity.
As a straight male, I do face criticism when I express my personal thoughts and opinions on certain matters. The first and foremost objection I face is why I am raising my voice for the other genders or why I consider it a normal thing for everyone to have a personal right to decide about in which category of a gender they fit in. I am criticized when I support feminist movements like that of Aurat March. People oppose me when I consider emotional expression being a normal thing for male and that it is something quite natural and is not bound to a female or a male. I still make efforts to discuss the importance of breaking societal norms and the acceptance of a vulnerability, irresponsible of the fact that you are a male.
I consider these things a natural and always reinforce this idea that one must behave naturally besides the fact that how others perceive it, based on their gender stereotypes. However, it is true that I do enjoy privileges being a male as I don’t have to be answerable for my actions and I don’t feel insecure walking around the road when it is 4:00 am in the night. But, those who face these issues on the basis of the gender must be respected and their rights need to be protected in every case.
There came various moments when my understanding of a gender becomes more clear and reinforced. For instance, I met a transgender doctor in a xyz hospital back in 2021. It was the first time I realized that gender has nothing to do with your abilities. Whatever identity the society gives, it doesn’t count until you accept yourself as so. It was quit a fascinating and encouraging movement for me because I didn’t meet a transgender doctor before. Instead, whenever the idea or a word of transgender came in my mind prior to this incident, my brain picturize those transgender we usually encounter on the roads.
It motivated me to think of a society where gender equality can exist, and you are not judged based on your gender expression, or for holding a certain opinion. Instead, your abilities and passion matters. Another such encounter I witnessed was during 2012-2014 when I was diagnosed with a Bone Tuberculosis. One of the doctors in Nishtar Hospital Multan asked for a surgery to cut my left foot. But, a doctor, instead of dictating, consoled a worried soul and suggested 11-month treatment with medicines instead of unnecessary operation. Continuous visits and encounters with her at her private hospital changed my perception of a gender role after looking at such a brave and an empowered woman. Moreover, being grown up studying in a co-education, my opinion regarding gender is quite liberal and is backed by a lot of incidents that make me think of everyone being equal, irrespective of their gender.
Although all the ideas of a third and fourth wave feminism are fascinating, the person who’s worked aligned with my thinking is Dr. Judith Butler. She was a prominent scholar and had his worked published in a book named, “Gender Trouble”. The core ideas of his research were the continuation of a work started when the scholars started observing the different dimensions of a gender. She took the concept of a master-slave relationship from the Philosophical ideas of Hegel and ended up constructing the opinion that when two entities, male and female, interact, the one with power tries to exert its influence over the other. It was kind of a concept similar to that of otherization of women. When the former fails to do so, he tries to suppress the lateral by constructing the roles, values, and the norms within the society.
The purpose to talk the background is that her ideas are highly dominated and are based on this principal which she related as changing society from the small level or it could be narrated as she promoted Micro-politics, in contrast to those women who, as like Marxism, wanted to change the entire structure of the society. Then, she portrayed that if a person or a group is to be studied, there must be an analysis based on the personal observations, something which can be said as she denied the idea of a scientific objectivity. She further said differences exist but it is it not just to generalize the idea that only two genders exist.
Moreover, her ideas changed the concept of a gender as a fix and a biological category to a socially constructed phenomenon, with its dynamic nature. Rejecting the binary view of a gender, being sticked on male and female, she explicitly supported the idea of a constructed nature of gender. In this domain, she broadens the possibility of recognizing and accepting the “spectrum of gender identities” and gender expression that don’t usually fit into our “traditional binaries”. Dr. Judith Butler’s ideas have a significant impact on gender studies as it challenged the ideas of a “historical dichotomy” of a female and a male. By reinforcing the idea of a gender being a performative thing instead of being a fix attribute, she challenged the norms of a society and paved the way for a validation of the wide array of gender expression. Promoting more inclusive nature of gender, rejecting the view of a natural division, she played a crucial role as her work set the stage for the academic research in the field of gender studies and diversified its subject matter with the lateral incorporation of other communities, making her work diversified and a point of criticism at the same time.
Her Ideas helped me to scrutinize my past experiences. Especially, her idea of a gender spectrum has been stuck into my mind and shaped my thinking regarding the past experiences. For instance, I do objected with the traditional view of the society, but it is she who’s book helped me to mainstream my scattered ideas as I was unaware of the gender spectrum and the idea that how it works. Importantly, it gives me courage to rethink of my behaviour from a rebellion kid. Rather, I reconsidered that it was constructive and had had a meaningful performance. Her insights helped me to debate even with the educated fraction of the society, particularly those who usually misinterpret the gender slogans and the movement based on raising voices against the fixed gender roles.
Such a debate happened last week when a professor was criticizing Aurat March in the classroom. However, at the end, he was pretty convinced the why women are demanding micro level changes like “My Body, My Choice” or “Search your socks by yourself” as the butler ideas of a micro-level changes were made popular by the lateral scholars, and their influence could be seen today, in a struggle for the formation of inclusive society.
The work of butler is a ground-breaking yet it comes with some criticism. Although she addressed the challenges of a gender and came up with some unique insight, her work is more of a theoretical in nature. It didn’t come with the real time solutions of the issues that the people with fluid identity face in a society. For instance, there is no acceptance of Gays, Lesbians, and Bisexuals in most of the societies and those who behave strange in contrast to the accepted realities of the society are left with no choice but to face a severe reaction from the religious or conservative fractions. Moreover, it doesn’t explain and suggests a solution for transgender people who usually face segregation in health, education, and even in the normal life.
Above all, it doesn’t cover the intrinsic aspect of a gender as most of the individual believe that their gender identity, instead of being a performative, is a core theme of their self-conception. However, a single theory can’t covers all dimensions and by all means her work is an excellent reflection of what a huge chunk of a society, particularly in western world, think of themselves and is suppose to let other accept what they construct of their genders. One can understand and look into their past and can rethink of what he or she feels about their self and how her or his ideas are aligned with their observations.
