When we were discussing Transamerica in class the book Gender Outlaw by Kate Bornstein got brought up. I had read it about a year ago in another class and I remember it being a really interesting book that was actually a fun read. It is about Kate, who went from male to female, but more then that it is about her argument that gender isn’t rigidly defined. Its fluid. There is a spectrum of genders not just a man or a women, but there can be things in between. I decided to re-read the book after it got brought up in class (seriously I am that big of a dork that I actually did this). One of my favorites quotes from the whole book is this:

One Answer to the question “Who is a transsexual?” might well be “Anyone who admits it.” A more political answer might be, “Anyone whose performance of gender call into question the construct of gender itself.” (Pg. 121)

It kind of sums up her entire point. Gender is a performance. Gender traits are made up by society and assigned as either male or female. Gender is socially constructed not biological or anything else. You can perform whatever gender, or in between gender you want.

I think this point was well illustrated during the FABULOUS presentation on “America’s Next Top Model” and the discussion surrounding Miss Jay. Miss Jay is one of the main judges on the show. He is biologically a man. Sometimes he dresses in drag, sometimes in man’s clothing, and sometimes in a sort of in between realm; some men’s items, some women’s, etc. Yet he is the runway walk coach. A runway walk is supposed to be an exaggeration of a women’s walk. Miss Jay has one of the best runway walks ever. Some of the female contestants have some of the worst runway walks ever. It is Miss Jay’s job to teach them how to do the women’s walk. The fact that A.) this is something that can be taugh B.) there are traits that determine a “man’s walk” and a “woman’s walk” and C.) that a man can teach women how to walk as such just emphasizes the point that gender and gender traits are socially constructed.