Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Fractured Identities
I am very interested in exploring the concept of Fractured Identities within the Cyborg Manifesto. When Haraway states: "There is nothing about being 'female' that naturally binds women. There is not even such a state as 'being' female, itself a highly complex category contested in sexual scientific discourses and other social practices. Gender, race, or class consciousness is an achievement forced on us by the terrible historical experience of the contradictory social realities of patriarchy, colonialism, and capitalism," I immediately thought of Judith Bulter's concept of Gender Performativity. However, to be "female," and to be a"feminist," is by far not "performed," in the same manner or societally perceived in the same way for women of all races. I am very intrigued by Haraway's comments on fractured female identities and how being "female," does not necessarily unify women as a group. Because, as Bulter states, gender can be seen as a series of performances enforced through societal expectations, existing within the realm of performativity, feminism and the act of rebelling against society, has been equated as being the same for all types of women. While the voice of feminism overall is suggested to represent all types of women, the concerns and voices of black feminists and/or women of non-white backgrounds often go unnoticed. How can we further connect the concept of gender performativity as different within specific races within the female gender? and how can this further perpetuate Haraway's notion that being "female," does not naturally unify women as a collective whole?
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