Judith Halberstam - Female Masculinity (1998)

Female Masculinity (1998)

In Female Masculinity Halberstam questions the traditional association of masculinity with only the male figure. She brings up many instances in which a female character asserts or expresses masculinity that work to complicate our notions of the masculine and the feminine and raise the question of why then masculinity is associated with maleness. She brings the example of the tomboy, a clear case of a youthful girl exerting masculine qualities. However, Halberstam brings up the complication that within a youthful figure the idea of masculinity expressed within a female body is less threatening, and it only becomes threatening when those masculine tendencies are still apparent as the child progresses in age. She brings up an additional example of James Bond, and how the character of M is truly an exertion of feminine masculinity. She goes as far as to say that M is more masculine than James Bond, because her masculinity is internal, and independent. Whereas Bond's character is dependent on a set of external factors. Additionally, it is she who functions as the head superior in control of all of these (male) agents.

Halberstam then focuses on the what she calls "the bathroom problem." Here, the question of the gender binary is brought up. Halberstam argues that the problem of only having two separate bathrooms for different genders, with no place for people who do not clearly fit in to either category to use, is a problem. She asserts that our bathroom system is not adequate for the different genders found in society. The problem of policing that occurs around the bathrooms is also a focal point of Halberstam's examination of the bathroom problem. Not only is this a policing on the legal level, but also on the social level. The social aspect of policing, according to Halberstam, makes it even more difficult for people who do not clearly and visibly fall into one category or another to use public restrooms without encountering some sort of violent or uncomfortable situation.