{"id":72270,"date":"2018-02-23T15:22:02","date_gmt":"2018-02-23T20:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/?p=72270"},"modified":"2018-02-23T15:30:53","modified_gmt":"2018-02-23T20:30:53","slug":"digital-drag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2018\/02\/23\/digital-drag\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital Drag?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Screenshot used with permission<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As I was scrolling through Facebook a few weeks ago, I noticed a new trend: Several friends posted pictures (via an app) of what they would look like as \u201cthe opposite sex.\u201d Some of them were quite funny\u2014my female-identified friends sported mustaches, while my male-identified friends revealed long flowing locks. But my sociologist-brain was curious: What makes this app so appealing? How does it decide what the \u201copposite sex\u201d looks like? Assuming it grabs the users’ gender from their profiles, what would it do with users who listed their genders as non-binary, trans, or genderqueer? Would it assign them male or female? Would it crash? And, on a basic level, why are my friends partaking in this \u201cgame?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Gender is deeply meaningful for our social world and for our identities\u2014knowing someone\u2019s gender gives us \u201ccues\u201d about how to categorize and connect with that person. Further, gender is an important way our social world is <\/span>organized<\/span><\/a>\u2014<\/span>for better or worse<\/span><\/a>. Those who use the app engage with a part of their own identities and the world around them that is extremely significant and meaningful.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gender is also performative. We <\/span>\u201cdo\u201d gender<\/span><\/a> through the way we dress, talk, and take up space. In the same way, we read gender on people\u2019s bodies and in how they interact with us. The app \u201cchanges people\u2019s gender\u201d by changing their gender <\/span>performance<\/span><\/i>; it alters their hair, face shape, eyes, and eyebrows. The app is thus a outlet to \u201cplay\u201d with gender performance. In other words, it\u2019s a way of doing <\/span>digital drag. <\/span><\/i>Drag is a term that is often used to refer to male-bodied people dressing in a feminine way (\u201cdrag queens\u201d) or female-bodied people dressing in a masculine way (\u201cdrag kings\u201d), but all people who do drag do not necessarily fit in this definition. Drag is ultimately about assuming and performing a gender. Drag is increasingly coming into the mainstream, as the popular reality TV series <\/span>RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race<\/span><\/a> has been running for almost a decade now. As more people are exposed to the idea of playing with gender, we might see more of them trying it out in semi-public spaces like Facebook. <\/span><\/p>\n

While playing with gender may be more common, it\u2019s not all fun and games. The Facebook app in particular assumes a gender binary with clear distinctions between men and women, and this leaves many people out. While data on individuals outside of the gender binary is limited, a <\/span>2016 report<\/span><\/a> from The Williams Institute estimated that 0.6% of the U.S. adult population \u2014 1.4 million people \u2014 identify as transgender. Further, a Minnesota <\/span>study<\/span><\/a> of high schoolers found about 3% of the student population identify as transgender or gender nonconforming, and researchers in California <\/span>estimate<\/span><\/a> that 6% of adolescents are highly gender nonconforming and 20% are androgynous (equally masculine and feminine) in their gender performances. <\/span><\/p>\n

The problem is that the stakes for challenging the gender binary are still quite high. Research shows people who do not fit neatly into the gender binary can face serious negative consequences, like <\/span>discrimination and violence<\/span><\/a> (including at least <\/span>28 killings of transgender individuals in 2017<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>4 already in 2018<\/span><\/a>). \u00a0And transgender individuals who are perceived as gender nonconforming by others tend to face <\/span>more discrimination and negative health outcomes<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s all play with gender. Gender is messy and weird and mucking it up can be super fun. Let\u2019s make a digital drag app that lets us play with gender in whatever way we please. But if we stick within the binary of male\/female or man\/woman, there are real consequences for those who live outside of the gender binary.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recommended Readings: <\/b><\/p>\n