Preforming Gender

One of the best days of the year to see people acting out gender roles came to us at the perfect time yesterday. Valentines Day turned my house into a portrait of different people acting out gender in a variety of ways. The one that I focused my secret documentation on was the one who has had a long time boyfriend. She woke up in the morning to having flowers waiting at the door. At this sight she became immediately up-beat and giggly. This was quickly followed by a trip to the kitchen to get a vase to present her flowers. 

While this whole scene was filled with a hegemonic gender preformance, It was what would seem to be a more common task that really struck me as funny. Before being able to go out to dinner for the night came the preparation time. She took a shower, of which I have no information of how her actions may have been gendered, and then set to primping; a process that as a guy I have very little knowledge of. The straightener was broken out, and I have never seen such compulsive brushing. The intense process was only broken to ask our opinions of the proceedings, which occurred more than a few times along the way. This was followed by a variety of other touch ups, the common theme being a search for perfection in her own opinion, and maybe equally important, in ours. 

One thing I found particularly interesting was the constant concentration used. She was carrying out a conversation to us, but judging by the way she was looking in the mirror I was amazed that she could hear what we were saying. Maybe even more intriguing is that fact that I would think she's no longer nervous about going out on a date, as it was far from the first time. Despite this, the body language that she was exerting seemed to be one of nervousness and anxiety. This mood did appear to be gone once the prepping was over, and when her date showed up at the door, box of chocolates in hand, there were no traces of the prior anxiousness.