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The Reality Between Femininity And Masculinity Essay

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‘One is not born, but rather becomes a woman’ (de Beauvoir, 1973, p. 301)

This essay examines the ideologies of gender, which are conveyed in society to question the reality between the relationship of femininity and masculinity. This comes from recognition of gender as a social construct, and that there is an apparent difference in the expectation of how women should behave and present themselves. The focus is therefore on the construction of femininity, why is it that only women wear makeup and portray an artificial version of themselves? Consequently, masculinity, in itself, is considered true, natural and authentic. Therefore how is femininity constructed and understood and how does this relate to masculinity? In order to understand this concept, it will explore and evaluate Joan Riviere’s influential 1929 essay, Womanliness as Masquerade, which is an apt explanation of how women who desire male attention to conceal them behind a mask of femininity. This idea of masquerade is portrayed through almost anything such as their appearance to their ways of dress or even their behavior in public. Riviere goes onto examining how women mimic an image of womanliness, but that in its own turns into a masquerade – a performance to conceal one’s real self. Furthermore, this essay examines Judith Butler’s 1990 text Gender Trouble, in which she discusses how existing feminist movements are confined by how they define gender. Butler also argues that this definition is ‘outdated’ and

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