MerryChristmas!, Cixious & Butler

Cixious & Butler's descriptions of social constructions were rather interesting to read about. Cixious' quote regarding femininity was enlightening because it is a construction of our culture that is relatively true. Cixious states, "But at the same time, man has been given the grotesque and unenviable fate of being reduced to a single idol and clay balls. And terrified of homosexuality, as Freud and his followers remark. Why does man fear being a woman? Why this refusal (Ablehnug) of femininity?" (159). Why is being feminine viewed as being such a negative characteristic? Men really do fear being feminine or representing feminist ideas because it is a sign of being inferior in our culture. We actually discussed this notion of what it is to be a feminist in my Communication Theory class the other day. I would not consider myself a feminist by any means, but after answering a short survey I realized that I had the same characteristics of the feminist. The word feminine or feminist just has a negative connotation to it, but why is that? Who decides how these social constructs play out in our society? Dr. Cavenaugh talks a lot about what it means to be androgynous and how he describes himself as this, or even a little bit on the feminine side. By this, he challenges social constructs in today's society. He also says that he allows his young son to get dressed up in girl's clothing when he wants to simply because he doesn't want the notion of masculinity to be placed on his son. I found this very intriguing because Cixious also talks about what it is to be bisexual. While is it accepting of women to be bisexual, it is not accepting of men. However, a long time ago in ancient Greece, men were also bisexual and it was a common, normal occurance. Does this mean that the urge still exists but the social constructs are holding them back? Perhaps in the future this may change back to the way it was. This idea is an uncomfortable one, but I get the sense that with more acceptance of homosexuality in the US that this may be possible in the future. The fact that this idea is uncomfortable also relies heavily on the influences of social constructs and goes to show how much it unconsciously has an impact on us.