For a long time, feminist theory has talked about the presence/absence thing, and how it operates in society, or is the basis for a hierarchy of power. Y’know, a metaphysics based on having or possessing ‘it’ or not having or possessing ‘it’ (and by ‘it’, I am being coy. It’s the phallus, doncha know) . By extension, the absence/presence thang plays into all sorts of other subjects of concern to those interested in gender: history, labour, public life, literature…
Related to the absence/presence thang is the idea of the depth model of gender - that one gender has substance and the other surface - or, to put it more simply, men do things in the world; they work with stuff, build things, manipulate things, construct, devise, plan, make - and women are passive; they look good, invest a lot of time in ‘immaterial’ things, in surface and image (hence ‘Superflat’). They’re the stereotypes, at least, and the ones that feminism has been at work dismantling. But stereotypes hold a lot of sway…
I used to be fascinated in these notions, and the binary gender split and their attendant values in a superficial, theoretical way, but now I have to say that it’s taking on an immediacy that it didn’t have before, principally because I can see how it’s shaping a person. That’s Tiggy. Der.
Walk into any discount department store: Big W, K-Mart, Target or Walmart. What does the pink toy ghetto tell our girls? Sashay down the aisles and take it all in, and really think about it: there’s a dizzying surfeit of pink, purple and silver. Everything is tagged ‘princess’, ‘fairy’ or ‘ballerina’ - and the uber-products are the ones with all three words. It’s a universe of surface, a symbolic order that is predicated on dressing up, performing, looking a certain way. And that’s the hothouse for a lifelong obsession with appearance.
I’ve been told at playgroup that dress-ups are for girls. That the blocks and lego are for boys. And Tiggy does love to dress up. But that shouldn’t be at the expense of a host of other activities.
What can be done when a whole culture functions this way? Where’s the exit? Or should I just sigh and get on with it?
