tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7147816582520831534.post5178272969958215424..comments2010-11-02T02:07:23.237-07:00Comments on Senior Seminar: The Body of the Other: Society's Performative Expectations: Woolf, Butler, and Gender IdentityAgata Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16276419816240130630noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7147816582520831534.post-66613014187111600892010-09-14T19:44:27.811-07:002010-09-14T19:44:27.811-07:00This is very thorough analysis. I also believe th...This is very thorough analysis. I also believe that Woolf was taking a stand against the social norms that dictate what it is to be a man or a woman. Orlando was able to "play the fence" with gender, constantly going back and forth between either sex. This ability to be perceived as either male or female tests the biological precedent that determines whether a person is male or female. Woolf's transformation of Orlando from male to female in a matter of one line shows her belief that biology is insignificant in determining one's gender.Dominique Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18056636969385296136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7147816582520831534.post-3793915913917405402010-09-14T09:29:53.448-07:002010-09-14T09:29:53.448-07:00"Having lived life in the body of both a man ..."Having lived life in the body of both a man and a woman, Orlando possesses a broad understanding of the disparate roles of the sexes." As I read this, Orlando's core being transferred from the physical body of a man to the physical body of a female, but was unchanged. Yes, according to the text, this is so. Woolf says outright that "the change of sex...did nothing whatever to alter [her] identity" (102). However, if her identity did not change, that is, her natural core (remember, she was born a boy (page 1)), how could she truly understand the world from a woman's perspective? She becomes a woman, so spake the narrator--yet she stays a man. I'd say you're spot on in saying that her behavior should match her bodily signifiers, but on a more core level, her behavior should match her core identity. Which, of course, is the trick, as Butler goes on to ruminate, and we discussed in class. If she could only locate her core, she'd be all set. That is, if we have a core (see Dr. Brouwer's Phil. 497)...Luke Blakesleehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09644563549350437377noreply@blogger.com