StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

David Bowie and Performativity - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
Name Instructor Class 26 March 2013 Gender as Performance: Butler’s Performative Acts in Bowie’s “Queen Bitch” Gender is not biologically based because it is better described as something that is repeatedly performed. In “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution,” Judith Butler argues that gender is performed or enacted, and not naturally occurring…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER91.3% of users find it useful
David Bowie and Performativity
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "David Bowie and Performativity"

Download file to see previous pages

This argument will serve as a lens in analysing David Bowie’s song, “Queen Bitch.” The song revolves around a hustler prostitute seducing a gay man’s boyfriend. Using stereotyped language and images and an upbeat tone and guitar melody, Bowie challenges the narratives of authentic identity by undermining sexual gender roles and asserting his own lack of performance in contrast to the aggressive nature of the Queen Bitch, although he realises that his gay performative acts include sexual liberation from an unfaithful relationship that is doomed because of heterosexual desires.

Butler believes that gender is not biologically-based, but created in the past, and Bowie uses stereotyped language to support that feminine gender is subjected to socially-produced heteronormativity, which society designed for male desires. Butler asserts that gender is “tenuously constituted in time” (901). The tenuous part can be ascribed to gender norms and roles that are passed on from one generation to another, particularly in patriarchal societies that men design and control. Bowie specifically questions the gender norm of the female bitch.

In describing her clothing, he demeans the clothing that women wear to attract the male gender: “She's so swishy in her satin and tat/In her frock coat/and bipperty-bopperty hat” (lines 13-15). The satin and tat are an odd mix because satin can be related to sophistication, while tat is a form of laced clothing. The combination suggests a cheap imitation of the ideal virginal woman. “Bipperty-bopperty” seems to be onomatopoeic, like something is being conjured out of magic. The effect is that the hat is as “fake” or as “contrived” as the woman.

To stress the poor choice of clothing of the prostitute, Bowie says; “Oh God, I could do better than that” (16). He curses and calls the name of God, as if saying that even if God made her a woman, he is a better woman, even if he is a man. Society defines manhood and womanhood, so gender is “tenuously constituted in time,” a time that Bowie finds hard to oppose (Butler 901). Furthermore, heteronormativity is present in the song because the man, who can be inferred as the boyfriend of the singer, is not loyal to the latter, and instead, acts like a stereotyped womaniser.

Bowie notes that though the woman is a “bitch,” the man is a male version of a bitch: “And he's trying hard/to pull sister Flo” (4-5). The man is not exactly resisting the charms of the woman, whom Bowie calls sister Flo, probably because she goes with the flow, the flow of men with money or looks or both. Bowie shows that society produces slutty women and men within the context of heteronormativity, where male desires shape social norms. Present gender roles and interactions are products of heteronormative desires.

Aside from the tenacity of the past in influencing gender norms, Butler argues that gender is performed. She maintains that gender is “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts” (901). The stylised repetition of actions pertains to bodily movements that are socially approved for men and women. Bowie notes the social production of queens: “She's an old-time ambassador/Of sweet talking, night walking games/And she's known in the darkest clubs/For pushing ahead of the dames”

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“David Bowie and Performativity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1”, n.d.)
Retrieved de https://studentshare.org/english/1471520-david-bowie-and-performativity
(David Bowie and Performativity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words - 1)
https://studentshare.org/english/1471520-david-bowie-and-performativity.
“David Bowie and Performativity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words - 1”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/english/1471520-david-bowie-and-performativity.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF David Bowie and Performativity

What does Judith Butler mean by the social construction and performativity of both sex and gender

The theories that she promoted were founded on the idea of social construction and performativity as they were ascribed to both gender and sex.... … What does Judith Butler mean by the social construction and performativity of both sex and gender?... The following paper critically examines the concepts of social construction and performativity in order to understand what Butler means as she discusses gender and sex in these terms.... The concept of performativity provides for an understanding that roles of gender and sex are the product of acts that are repeated and ritualized in order to define what is meant by those terms....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Gender Performativity

Judith Butler's concept of “Gender performativity” primarily deals with the development process of gender-identity of a human being through the society-defined codes of sex-oriented performance.... (44) Butler's Gender performativity is rigid in the sense that it does not allow one to choose any particular gender to act upon.... Her concept of performativity is a process of constructing gender through repeated actions that a society assigns to a human being of particular sex....
5 Pages (1250 words) Research Paper

Public Service Management

Significant amount of controversy exists regarding functionality and relevance of the term new public management (NPM) in context to public services management (Nijkamp, Van der Burch and Vidigni, 2002).... Miller (2000) pointed out that functionality of NPM should not be… to ways in which public sector bodies reorganize their activities such as, accounting approaches, reporting and management, in order to resemble private level business activities....
11 Pages (2750 words) Essay

Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture

This assignment "Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture" discusses elements of gender, culture as well as communication to daily occurrences in life.... The author tries to bring out the relationship between these phenomena in human life.... hellip; While the MVP program targets both male and female members of society, the WRC program mainly focuses on changing male attitudes towards violence against women....
5 Pages (1250 words) Assignment

Correlation between Body and Person's Self Identity

This essaytries to find the correlation between body and person's self identity.... It discusses the connection the outward appearance of a person and his identity and effect of body image on the way how a person is portrayed in the society.... hellip; Body image is the dynamic perception of the body and is often shaped by perceptions that keep on changing and end up determining the identity of any person in the society, and how the society views him....
12 Pages (3000 words) Essay

Gender and Other Intersecting Identities in Fitness Centres

) argues that one's gender affects his/her performativity in the fitness centre.... This research proposal "Gender and Other Intersecting Identities in Fitness Centres" discusses how gender is constructed, represented, and performed in fitness centres.... The amount of physical activity involved in performing routine daily chores has been significantly reduced....
9 Pages (2250 words) Research Proposal

The Major Redevelopment of the Shopping District to the Suburb of Claremont, Western Australia

… The paper " The Major Redevelopment of the Shopping District to the Suburb of Claremont, Western Australia" is a worthy example of a term paper on architecture.... The essay focuses on the importance of heritage in relation to the suburb of Claremont, Western Australia.... In particular the major redevelopment of the shopping district (Claremont village & Claremont quarter)....
12 Pages (3000 words) Term Paper

Is the Body Irrelevant to Sex/Gender Theory

… The paper "Is the Body Irrelevant to Sex/Gender Theory?... is an engrossing example of coursework on gender and sexual studies.... The human body is considered by many theorists as an important site to theorize their academic and scholarship.... This is because it is used as a metaphor for both culture and society....
14 Pages (3500 words) Coursework
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us