Deconstructing Binary Oppositions, Part 1: Hybridity

Goals:

1. Understanding how binary oppositions can be disrupted

2. Introducing/understanding hybridity and "Mestiza consciousness"

3. Concept: code-switching

La Conciencia de la Mestiza / Towards a New Consciousness

Hybridity: a combination of two or more (specifically, identities)

Being a mestiza (p. 80): "As a mestiza I have no country, my homeland cast me out; yet all countries are mine because I am every woman's sister or potential lover. (As a lesbian I have no race, my own people disclaim me; but I am all races because there is the queer of me in all races.)

• The fact that there are some phrases that those who don't speak Spanish won't understand serves to disconnect the reader and give an example of how she feels (left out because she isn't a part of a group)

The Mestiza Consciousness:

• And it's link to binary opposition?
• (P. 80): "The work of mestiza consciousness is to break down in the subject-object duality that keeps her a prisoner and to show in the flesh and through the images in her work how duality is transcended."

Code-switching: acting differently in one way (via speech, dress, actions, etc...) in one particular setting than in another (in a sense becoming another person based on the setting)

Puta/Virgen (aka the Virgin/whore dichotomy): Supposed to be unblemished and pure and unknowing in the way of sex, but also supposed to be able to please your man in every possible way

Binaries and binary oppositions that are used (reference):

• Male/Female
• White/Non-white
• Self/Other (Us/Them)
• Straight/Not straight ("gay")
• Puta/Virgen
• Subject/Object

Straight/Not Straight:

• Based on the assumption that you belong to one of two genders and that you have to like one of the two genders
• To occupy the liminal space--bisexuality, which is overlooked in a majority setting (also androgyny and asexuality)
• Any person that doesn't fit into the Male/Female binary doesn't fit into the Straight/Not straight binary either
• If we assume that there is fluidity or a spectrum in sexuality/gender/sex, then we can break down the binary because a binary cannot exist in a spectrum setting
• When you break the binary: Society will start to accept other forms of gender expression and identity than Male/Female and Straight/Gay binaries (basically saying that there would be no specific "social norm" in regards to sex, gender, and sexuality (and gender stereotypes)
• More masculine, heterosexual females and more heterosexual, feminine men
• There would be no specific gender assignment because everyone would be able to create their own identity based on the gender/sex/sexuality spectrum
• What structures maintain Straight/Not straight binary:
• Gendered bathrooms
• Religious institutions (ie traditional, heterosexual marriage)
• DADT (Don't Ask, Don't Tell) vs. If You Don't Like It, Go Home
• Traditionalists
• Media
• Jobs and hiring

Male/Female binary:

• Defined through gender roles and biological differences
• What would it mean to be deconstructed:
• Males and females would be equal, and people in the liminal space (androgynous, intersex)