Sociologists are interested in studying how our institutions — in addition to our ideologies and interactions — reflect social norms in ways that tend to reproduce the status quo. A great example happened recently in South Carolina. In this case, the institution is the Department of Motor Vehicles, the norm is that boys and men don’t wear makeup, and the case is Chase Culpepper, a male-bodied trans teen who wanted to wear makeup in her driver’s license photo.
The officials at the DMV told her that she wasn’t allowed to wear makeup in the photo because it would be a “disguise.” As reported by NPR:
The department… cited a 2009 rule that prohibited applicants from “purposely altering his or her appearance so that the photo would misrepresent his or her identity.”
They told Culpepper to take off her makeup or go home without a license. She did what they said.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvgL7ICS_g0[/youtube]
It’s hard to defend the idea that somehow makeup distorts a man’s identity, but not a woman’s. It has exactly the same illusory power on a female face as a male one; that’s exactly why women wear it. The DMV’s policy did nothing, then, to help it do its job, it only served to press citizens of South Carolina to conform to the gender binary, at least as far as their primary form of identification went.
With the help of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, Culpepper sued and the DMV settled. As part of the settlement,
[they] agreed to change its policy to allow people seeking drivers’ licenses to be photographed as they regularly present themselves, even if their appearance does not match the officials’ expectations of how the applicant should look. The department also promised to send Culpepper a written apology and train its employees in how to treat transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals in professional settings.
This is what institutional change looks like, at least potentially. Thanks to Culpepper and her advocates, the South Carolina DMV is a little bit less gender binary than it was before.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 15
Japaniard — April 29, 2015
Is "a male-bodied trans teen" really the best way to refer to her?
Also, what does it mean to say that women wear makeup exactly because "it has exactly the same illusory power on a female face as a male one"? Juxtaposed with the before-and-after image, it seems to imply that makeup has no illusory power on people's faces because it didn't change Chase Culpepper's face significantly (hence reinforcing why the makeup ban is a silly rule). However, taken on its own the sentence reads as saying that the reason women wear makeup is precisely due to its illusory power, which would seem to undercut the message being put forth by the picture?
physioproffe — April 29, 2015
The expression on her face after taking her makeup off looks all like "can you believe what fucken idiots these DMV fuckers are?"
Anne — April 30, 2015
What does "male-bodied" even mean?
Trans woman would have been more than enough to describe Culpepper.
Anne — April 30, 2015
A little bit less gender binary, but yet this article perpetuates it by using the term "male-bodied". I'm really disappointed. :(
Rachel — May 1, 2015
I think the term "male-bodied" is useful here in its context. As a student in my first gender studies class, it was difficult at first to differentiate between terms which are misused today so frequently in the mainstream media and popular cultural, like the use of the word "transgender" to describe a variety of combinations of current biological sex vs. biological sex at birth, in the process of transitioning, gender identity, sexuality, etc. Many of these phrases aren't even agreed upon in the LGBT communities, so it's a bit silly to say there is a definitive right/wrong way to be concise when talking about these subjects. The use of the phrase "male-bodied" was appropriate because Culpepper's treatment by the DMV employees was due to the fact that her license says that she is male. Otherwise there wouldn't have been anything for them to argue. I think the intent is the most important aspect, and the authors intent was respectful.
John George — May 6, 2015
"Male-bodied trans teen" is not only clear, for the vast majority of the population it is accurately descriptive in a way that LGBT lexicon often is not. If you only want to "preach to the choir," then go ahead and restrict use to only "approved" lexicon; if you want to reach those outside of your small inner circle, use clear and accurate language that is actually understood by everyone.
Weekend reading | Of Means and Ends — May 9, 2015
[…] A trans teen fights back and wins the right to wear makeup in her DMV photo. […]
Make Up | Welcome to beautytipsforgirls.in — May 15, 2015
[…] Trans Teen Takes on the DMV, Wins Right to Wear Makeup … http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/In this case, the institution is the Department of Motor Vehicles, the norm is that boys and men don't wear makeup, and the case is Chase Culpepper, a male-bodied trans teen who wanted to wear makeup in her driver's … […]