Through reading Lee’s essay, “The Joy of the Castrated Boy,” I picked up on the point made about the differences in people’s reactions of a man claiming true femininity and of one simply pretending to be feminine. The difference between the act and the reality stood out to me not only because of its simplicity, but also because it makes perfect sense. It is not as shocking for people to see a man pretending to act in a feminine manner, because in the back of their minds, they know that this person is not serious about going against cultural norms of men being masculine and females being feminine. A man clearly going against people’s idea of ‘normal’ is cause for judgment because it is a foreign concept to many. In Sedgwick’s essay, the idea was brought to attention that boys are more bullied than girls often. Boys are brought up to be tough and strong and to view femininity as a sign of weakness. Many boys continue with these beliefs because it is what they have always known and it’s difficult to imagine otherwise. This thought process translates even into adulthood. Many people are uncomfortable with the unknown, and as a result, automatically assume these people to be bad. Both essays talked about mental analysis and psychoanalysis of people to determine more about what makes a boy think femininely, but this is all based on opinion. I see the issue as, not an issue, but a way of life for some people. There is no genetic ‘glitch’ that would make one person think differently, but it is simply how some people are meant to be.
-Bella Narvaez
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