Identity Girls
There are people among us whose lives were once upended, careers ruined, and new, more lucrative careers spawned all at once by the viral internet phenomenon. One of those people is Dr. Heather Heying, once a biology professor at a college made famous for encouraging obnoxious student behavior. She (with her husband Bret Weinstein) was pushed out of that job, after which she became a popular podcaster, newsletter writer, and author.
Heying’s academic background includes the study of anthropology and a doctorate in evolutionary biology. She recently applied her anthropological skills. First, she attended a live show of RuPaul’s Drag Race on one evening, and went to a showing of the popular new Barbie movie on another. Both were in her local community in Portland, Oregon.
Her report on the two events makes for a good read about the current state of identity and society. While Heying views the shows through her scholarly lens, she sums up a common theme between the two: “Everything has become spectacle,” she says. Not only that, it all appears to boil down to a spectacle of sex and identity. “Look at me,” she hears the performers demanding through their acts. Says Heying:
In both the drag and Barbie confections, the focus is on surface appearances and illusions—the clothes, the makeup, the hair. In Barbieland, many other things become fashion accessory as well—the house, the job, the man. And in both, womanhood itself is a costume, something to be taken on and off at will. One of the Barbies in the film is played by a transwoman, and so the farce is complete. “I got the role because I fit the role,” explains Hari Nef. “To be honest, I don’t look much different in the movie than the Barbies that I had when I was a kid.”
Barbie is an impossible fantasy, her phenotype obtainable only through a combination of obsessive focus on how you look, and plastic surgery. At least with drag, you don’t need the surgery.
The report is self-recommending—not as an academic report so much as a dual-event review with broader social commentary.
This blog has no intention to demand anyone refrain from living their lives according to their passions—at least not if such lifestyles do not restrict the lives of others. This would be what we might call the libertarian attitude, or perhaps simple respect for individuality and freedom. Nonetheless, if there is an observation, it would appear to be that “Look at me!” in our zeitgeist goes beyond simple acceptance of others for the often charming human oddities and quirks we all bear within us as individuals. It demands that others accept, approve, and admire the performative urges of others as well. It says not only that we should not pass negative or critical judgment, but rather that we must affirm and praise others’ lifestyle choices and preferences. Is this just a logical side-effect of the attention economy? Or is it something more?
I have this naive hope that we’ll reach a point where we get collectively exhausted by the political divisiveness, identity politics, and this demand for attention and acceptance and things go back to normal. Of course, I get to define normal. Ok with all of you? I demand that you accept my opinion.
I saw Barbie and I didn’t notice or realize anyone in the cast was trans until I read this today. So I think one can reasonably say that whoever the trans actor was they pulled it off.
Though I did fall asleep for about 20 minutes of the film in the middle. Maybe I missed it. My sleeping should not be viewed as a negative review. I fall asleep all the time now.
The movie was cool. Pretty to look at. Substantively hard to relate to. I’m too arrogant a woman and my inner core of awesome is too strong to relate well to all the angst.