The Performative Act
After writing my last blog post, I was left thinking about why women tend to embody feminine energy more often, while men tend to embody masculine energy more often. Is it that the sex we're born with intrinsically makes us embody one energy or the other more clearly? This is the question I want to explore.
I believe that we are all taught how to behave by our caregivers, communities, and societies. As a result, an expectation of who we are supposed to be is created, and we inevitably begin acting in ways that seek validation from others, especially from our parents.
Based on the sex we’re born with, we start embodying a specific gender: male or female. We begin to act like "girls" or "boys," based on the expectations of what girls and boys are supposed to be and do. For example, we begin to believe that only girls can wear dresses and makeup, while only boys can play football. These models of what we are supposed to be limit our ability to explore our true selves. However, as children, we don’t really question any of this.
There comes a point in life for some people when they begin to question the gender roles they've been taught to enact. I think this realization can occur in different ways. For example, it may come when a person realizes they’re LGBTQ+ or when they realize that the life they thought they wanted isn’t actually what they want (for instance, a woman realizing that she doesn’t want to be a housewife).
My hypothesis is that the gender expectations we are taught early in life force us to tap more into either our masculine or feminine energy. This creates an imbalance in the awareness of both energies in our lives, leaving us in a weak spot where we don't truly know who we are.
This idea can be applied to many aspects of our lives. In this blog post, I focused specifically on gender, but consider how you behave based on what you’ve been taught about who you are supposed to be, according to your socio-economic status, nationality, religion, or any other set of values.
Our lives in society, where the gaze of others is upon us, risk becoming a performative act of what we’re supposed to be, with the goal of being accepted by our tribe. If you want to break free from these expectations and discover the essence of your true self, I hope you find the courage in your heart to say no to the fear that holds you back.
