Outrageous Acts

Gender and Contemporary Society

Outrageous Acts
Critical Thinking about Gender Norms

Description: According to O'Toole and Schiffman, "Gender is the constellation of personal attributes assigned to men and women in any culture." Furthermore, Judith Butler has argued that gender is not something passive, something we simply "are" or "have," but that, rather, we "do" gender: it is "an act," something "both intentional and performative." This assignment asks you think about the way in which we "perform" normative gender from moment to moment and day to day and to analyze the ways in which those around us respond when we deviate from their expectations of our performance.

There are three parts or moments to this assignment:

a proposal that you should draft before undertaking the outrageous act that defines the gender norm you plan to subvert and details how you plan to subvert that norm;
the outrageous act itself in which you subvert a gender norm in some kind of public, or family, or campus space;
a description and analysis of the response to your act that you write up afterwards in which you describe what happened and reflect on what you have learned about gender in the process of "acting out."

The written portions of the assignment must make use of at least one class reading or video in support of your definition of gender norms and your analysis of the response to your outrageous act. You have two class periods off the week of Thanksgiving (Monday and Wednesday, November 25 and 27) to construct, carry out, and write up your assignment. You may decide to use the Thanksgiving holiday as a context for your performance if you like, or you may "perform" in a more public space. The written portion of the assignment is due Monday, December 2.

Note that you should not under any circumstances plan to perform an act that is illegal or that will put you in any danger.

Purpose: Performing gender in a way that subverts unspoken norms of gendered behavior will help you to make visible that which is often invisible and to think and write critically about gender norms. This assignment also gives you an opportunity to set up and reflect on field work.

Method: Think about gender norms as we have discussed them in class and studied them in class readings and videos. Begin noticing the ways in which we all conform to these norms and "perform" gender all the time. Make a list of norms that you notice and ways in which you might disrupt them, thereby performing an outrageous act. The best such acts are very subtle; my favorite example is the mother who served dinner, sat down at the table, and didn't get up again until the end of the meal. Since her family was used to her jumping up and down dozens of times to get more food, refill their drinks, etc., they were stunned by her failure to fulfill their expectations of "Mom." The whole system broke down when she performed that outrageous act.

After you have done your "performance," try to jot down some thoughts soon afterwards, and then complete the analysis portion of the assignment when you've had some time to think about it. At that point, you may also revise and edit the proposal as well.

Evaluation: The proposal portion of the assignment should be 250-400 words (1-2 pages, double-spaced) and will be evaluated on its clear delineation of a gender norm and the appropriateness of your proposed act in subverting that norm. The description and analysis, which you will write up after you perform the act, should be 400-750 words (2-3 pages, double-spaced) and will describe what happened and reflect on what you have learned about gender construction and gender performance as a result. Both portions will also be graded on their fulfilment of the terms of the assignment, the originality of the proposed act, organization, argumentation, style, and mechanics. The entire assignment is worth 10% of your grade.