2.5 Gender Expression
Gender socialization includes the expectation that norms of self-presentation should be aligned with our assigned gender. Society expects women to be pretty, long-haired, and so forth, whereas men are expected to be strong, masculine, and the like. Whether they are cisgender or transgender, some people are most comfortable when their gender expression aligns with normative expectations of their gender. Others are more comfortable with nonconforming or transgressive gender expressions. Many are comfortable somewhere in between. How do you express your gender identity?
Gender expression is the way our gender identity is expressed outwardly through clothing, personal grooming, self-adornment, physical posture and gestures, and other elements of self-presentation. Recalling theories of identity development, we can think of gender expression as beginning when people internalize their identity and are aware enough to present it externally to society.
Some people often have strong reactions to transgressive gender expression. Gender policing is the act of imposing or enforcing normative gender expressions on someone who is perceived to be not adequately performing those gender norms via their appearance or behavior based on their sex assigned at birth.
Interestingly, parents open to gender-nonconforming behavior still discouraged femininity to protect their children from social disapproval. As this example illustrates, the fear of social disapproval stems from a culture that defines masculinity in opposition to femininity. Let’s look at these expectations independently and at gender expressions that fall somewhere between those binaries.
Masculinities
Masculinity involves the performance of gender shaped by society’s expectations for men. Parents of young boys express concern over their children’s participation in “feminine” activities such as wearing pink, dressing up in feminine attire, or wearing nail polish (Kane 2006). In Emily Kane’s (she/her) research, parents assumed “feminine” behaviors were inappropriate for boys outside of learning to cook and clean. They often expressed distress to boys who exhibited these traits. Indeed, much of what it means to be masculine is about affirming that a boy or man is not feminine.
In her 1987 foundational text Gender & Power, Raewyn Connell (she/her), a sociologist and transgender woman, introduces the idea that there are multiple masculinities. Forms of masculinity that are generally valued and perceived as socially acceptable in the dominant culture can be highly constraining to men, according to Connell. Hegemonic masculinity is the masculine ideal commonly viewed as superior to any other kind of masculinity and any form of femininity (Connell 1987; Connell & Messerschmidt 2005). Hegemony is the influence or authority held by members of a dominant group over others. Characteristics and behaviors associated with this ideal standard of masculinity may change over time (Connell 1987, 1995