Gender construction begins at a very young age. Watch this clip and identify the discourses about gender that are already so dominant for these young children.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWc1e3Nbc2g
There is no doubt our socialization into gender begins at a young age. What is important to note from a social constructionist perspective, though, is that our gender subject positions are constantly being reinforced by dominant discourses, which is part of why it is so difficult for people to have those subject positions challenged directly. Even as adults, many of us are obsessed with trying to apply our discourses about gender (in particular the binaries about gender, behavior, and sexuality) onto the world around us. We are often “confused” when people do not fit into our discourses about gender. The image above of “Pat” from SNL, epitomizes this in that the entire skit is based on the idea that people can’t “figure out” what Pat “is”. Take the following link as an example.
http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/23658986.aspx?MsdVisit=1
This is from a popular blog called, “The Knot.” Notice here, someone has posted a question about how to identify the gender of a person with whom they work. It certainly seems from their post (and the comments below) that there is no hostility or anger directed toward the “genderless” person, but there is no doubt that it is more than mere curiosity motivating their inquiry. There are serious concerns about how to interact WITH, and how to refer TO this person. The responses to the post are VERY informative as well, in that not a single person suggests (not surprisingly because our discourses about gender are hegemonic) the possibility that this person may not fit into the category of “man” or “woman.” Instead, we see one dominant discourse about gender after the other. What would this post (and comments) mean to someone who is transgender or intersex? How might the dominant discourses acted out on this blog reinforce social power? Might the transgender or intersex person reading this feel shamed, different, or ostracized because they are hearing over and over again that people think if you don’t fit into these dominant categories then you are not normal—you are some sort of “freak?”
Unfortunately, the process of questioning gender is not always as “tame” as it is on the Knot. As a result of our gendered subject positions being so dominant a part of our identities, so important a part of our performing masculinity or femininity from the youngest of ages, serious challenges to those positions are often met with open hostility. This hostility can be heard in the screams of “fag” & “dyke” on our schoolyard playgrounds, in our hip-hop records, or on any number of Reality TV shows. But this hostility all too often manifests itself in violence. Below is an article about a transgender woman who was brutally murdered when the man she was dating discovered she was not biologically female. In the article, the defense attorney is quoted saying, “That while Andrade did kill Zapata, it was not premeditated. Instead, Andrade acted in a moment of rage upon discovering that Zapata was transgender.” What about Zapata being transgender was so terrible that it motivated such rage and murder? Could it be that our dominant discourses about gender, those that we internalize and use to create our subject positions, facilitate a culture in which violence like this is possible?
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/16/transgender.slaying.trial/index.html
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