Gender - My Own Views.

I think, although it is important to have researched pre-existing sociological and psychological theories on gender to increase my background knowledge, it is also very important that I have my own opinion on gender, as I am the person producing my work.
I believe that, biologically, in generic humans, there are two possible sexes that one could be, male and female. A man has a penis and testes and a woman has breasts a uterus and ovaries.However, when it comes to talking about gender, most people are actually referring to society's idea of gender stereotypes and gender roles. Masculinities and femininities are traits that we have come to think of as attributed to either sex, when actually they are referring to traits that could apply to anyone, that society decided applies to either gender.

In reference to transgender people, I believe they are simply people who wish to have sexual organs of the opposite sex or just wish to act in the sociological role of the opposite gender stereotype. I don't think there is anything wrong with this. It should just be seen in the same way as someone who wants to act according to how their own gender stereotype should act. Personalities, identities and traits should be down to the individual, not stereotyped by gender.

BUT, this is the problem; most people, including transgender people, are still subject to sociologically created gender stereotypes. Take drag queens for example, they generally dress up in what is seen as the most 'feminine' outfit and act in what they think is the most 'feminine' way. In fact they are simply behaving in a way that society states women should behave, not the way women necessarily wish to.

Can we, as a society, ever break free of gender stereotypes? Ok, so we have progressed from say 50 years ago, but the foundation of so much of everyday life is based around them. How can a person be beyond these gender stereotypes?

This is a huge part of what my work is truly about. By fragmenting and meshing parts of faces that, when considered, do adhere in some way to these gender stereotypes, I have managed to create a new 'face' that, when ignoring the hair and clothes alongside it, is genderless, or gender ambiguous.