Don't Let Them Define You

    The book George, by Alex Gino explores the struggle of gender and identity within the main character, George. One of the themes that I found prevalent in this book that I believe relates to the entirety of the course is the idea of defining things. Throughout many of the works we have read throughout this course there has been an underlying notion of society trying to define certain people. Such as Starr, for example, who was defined by both her white friends at school and by her black community as different things for different reasons. Or in Lysistrata where the women were defined by their sexuality and pleasure that they could provide to their husbands. Throughout society in the real world and in many of the books we have read, definitions and labels are always being imposed on people. And as we can see through the practice of banning books, society does not like when people try to expound upon or reject these labels. They have a need to be straightforward and certain and people do not accept anything outside of that.

In this book, I noticed the many ways in which gender is defined throughout society and how black and white those definitions that we impose on people are with no wiggle room nor grey area. For example, when the kids are auditioning Ms. Udell gives blue index cards for boy and pink for girls (Gino 65). I have always thought this concept of color-coding gender as extremely strange. Even with the growing number of cute gender reveal parties for expecting parents, it still perplexes me. I am a girl and I still would never wear pink, nor do I like that color, and by societal standards and the implications of color-coding gender, maybe that somehow makes me less of a girl? I don’t know, I think the concept is ridiculous and especially the way it is thrust onto children particularly. Society is saying girls are supposed to like pink and boys are supposed to like blue, but why? And what does it mean when you don’t follow those norms? It means (like it has throughout the rest of the books we read) that you don’t fit into societies definitions.

Another thing that I noticed throughout the book within the realm of definitions is the idea of femininity and masculinity. These concepts and what they truly mean is something I have struggles with my entire life, and it is a major thing that George struggles with as well. For example, after he reads one of his articles, he debriefs on it saying, “Worse, the article kept reminding the reader that finding your feminine side made you more of a man” (Gino 60). In my opinion, societies ideas on what it means to be masculine and feminine have not changed since the idea of true womanhood in the 19^th Century which is why women and men are still unequal and why society still functions as a patriarchy, and always will unless these strict definitions of femininity and masculinity are transformed.

One thing that I found shocking and interesting about this course is the notion that I have been talking about which is the fact that society has definitions that they want every individual to fill, and if you break outside of those definitions you are no longer accepted. We have seen it throughout many characters in the works we have read, and we have even seen it through the concept of banning books because when a book explores something outside of societal norms and something that breaks away from the conventional ideals of the white cis male dominant majority, it is banned. Quite honestly, this concept as we have seen throughout the semester is the most shocking and the fact that this has been going on for so long and also has no signs of stopping is the most shocking and sad reality that this course has taught me, but it has also taught me that picking up these banned books and reading them is an important step to change within our system.