Performing Identity

I really enjoyed reading the chapter from the theories of performance again. I believe we read it in Cathy Moon's class last semester. Chapter 7 was about performing identity and how no self is completely stable and known to the self and everyone else. I'm not sure I agree with that 100% but I did find it interesting to contemplate and I do believe the self is constantly shifting in relation to what is going on around it. The chapter went on to say that we perform social roles to answer who we are in history. The author questioned if people even have a real identity under our masks we put on in our interactions with other masked figures. Or are we all just performing for each other? Another point I found especially interesting was the one questioning the foundation for gender. Can gender be performed? "Our sex is biological and fixed but our gender is socially constructed and malleable" (Bell, 2008, p. 175). I'm not sure that I agree that gender is performed necessarily but I do think that gender is sometimes crammed down kids throats when they are younger. Not every little girl wants to wear all pink when they are little and not every little boy wants to play with trucks.
With the art piece I made in our class I explored performing
identity in a few different ways. I wanted to explore it more in depth had we had a bit more time but I may continue it on my own. I started with the idea of a paper doll. I began making clothes for the doll. My doll didn't have an identity or a gender. It was just a person. I made some clothes that could be masculine, it could be feminine, it could be either and I made some hair that could also be either. If I had had more time I would have also made some 'careers' or 'identities' to go with them. For example, I would have made one
a student, a taxi driver, a hair dresser, a policeman, a homeless
person, etc. I would have given them identities that I see often in  

Chicago. All the clothes and hair I made are interchangeable and
come on and off the plain doll. The doll can become whoever I or
anyone else wants it to be at any point or time. It makes me think of this show I saw a few times called, Dollhouse, a scientist found a way to "wipe" a person or their characteristics that made them who they were and 'imprint' them with a new personality. So they essentially had a new identity and didn't even have to think about
it. It made me think about how much easier it would be if I didn't have to pretend every time I was around certain people. If that

technology actually existed, we wouldn't have to put on different 'masks' or perform different 

                                              identities. We would actually believe we had those characteristic because we had had our own personalities wiped from our memory. It sounds

crazy but if we were performing identity for the majority of the time, it sounds like that would make it much less stressful. But I would like to think that at least part of my identity is fixed or stable somewhere inside me. I can't say that I am 100% certain, but I would like to hope. I would have to say that over the nearly 25 years that I have lived, there are many characteristic that have remained unchanged. So I would have to say my hypothesis is likely true; some of my identity remains somewhat secure, unwavering. Though there are many more years in my life to challenge that. I guess I'm still not exactly sure. I am constantly challenging myself. And I'm not sure that characteristics of my personality changing would necessarily mean my identity is unstable or just changing because those around me are having an influence on it.