ABSTRACT
Nothing annoyed me more as a child than being told: ‘Girls can’t do that.’ Usually this made me more determined to do whatever ‘that’ was. This did not make me especially rebellious, but in small ways I resisted gender norms. I climbed trees, I played soccer instead of netball. And I am not the only one who has tried to cross the lines between the pink and blue worlds. Every year students tell me stories of little boys they know who like to play dress-up with make-up and skirts, or girls who love trucks and will not go near pink. And then there are the grown-ups. British comedian Eddy Izzard, for example, refers to himself as an ‘executive transvestite’. Unlike drag queens, who imitate more conventional feminine styles, Izzard usually wears trouser suits, but with materials, colours and/or or styling that are usually thought ‘feminine’. He dons lipstick and eye shadow. His doing of gender is rather ambiguous. These everyday actions are some of the ways in which gender is resisted.
