Gender in "Paris is Burning"

Judith Butler's Gender is Burning analyzes various aspects of gender identity regarding the relationship between heterosexuality (the norm or "symbol" gender) and any "other" using the film Paris is Burning. She points out, as we noted in class, that there are consequences to being identified: "... the loss of some other set of identifications, the forcible approximation of a norm one never chooses, a norm that chooses us, but which we occupy, reverse, resignify to the extent that the norm fails to determine us completely" (Kocur, and Leung 170). The gender norm in question being male, white, and most importantly heterosexual,; and the "others" suffering from identification are also mostly male, but are mainly African-American or Latino, and are drag performers. The variety amongst them is negligible in the binary in question, as the norm of heterosexuality is rather specific: The drag performers in question may be straight, queer, transexual, etc. But because of their "failure" to conform to such a small area of specificity of gender behavior that is accepted as the norm, they are ostracized from the general public and at risk of homophobic violence, as was the fate of Venus Xtravaganza in Paris is Burning.

Paris is Burning observes drag balls in Harlem, New York. These balls are pageant-like contests with many categories in which the performers will dress as the gender-role fitting each category. These drag performances encompass far more than the stereotypical idea of a man dressed as a woman, but travel across dimensions such as social class, race, and sex. There is a category for military garb, "... which enacts the performative and gestural conformity to a masculinity which parallels the performative or reiterative production of femininity in other categories" (Kocur, and Leung 172). We see here that the concept of drag is not simply a fetishistic experience of crossing sexes, but an attempt to embody one of these specific, abstract ideals that constitute acceptable gender-roles. This is an attempt at "approximating realness" of the ideal norm in question, and ultimately to "pass as" that particular norm to the oppressing society. The truth, though, is that these ideals they are striving to embody do not truly exist. Heterosexuality, Butler notes, is itself just as performative as drag; "... is itself a constant and repeated effort to imitate its own idealizations" (Kocur, and Leung 169). In the film, Venus reveals her desire to become a whole woman, which, to her, means finding a man, and keeping a house in the suburbs. The perfect example of an idealized role of a woman that feminists have been trying to displace is the role that Venus wants most to embody.


Kocur, Zoya, and Simon Leung. Theory in Contemporary Art since 1985. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005. 166-80.