Oh-so-sweet society

After reading Evelyn Alsultany, Lauren Martin, and Eli Clare, I noticed a commonality among all of the readers: society’s impact on body image, gender, and sexuality. Throughout Alsultany’s “Los Intersticios,” she talks about her identity—the way others view her. It’s as if the richness of her as an individual is swept away when someone wants to put her into one category. She was a different person in different scenarios. Something she writes that was gripping to me is, “I seek to decolonize these essentialized frameworks, so that I can move through public space without strategizing a performance, selecting a mask for each scenario” (Alsultany, p. 295). She claims separate identities depending on who she is around. I struggle with the idea of “colorblindness” while reading this article.
I used to think that being color blind was a good thing. How idealistic to see the world in one color. As I have grown more as a person, it is the color and the experience that I appreciate. Alsultany’s color/culture and background is what makes her a significant individual. She says that her identity is split between Cuban, Arab, and American, yet it is this combination that makes her who she is. However, she is forced to identify with one more than another from others, while identifying with all of them through her own lenses. The reason this mix of identity complicates her life is because each culture she identifies with wants to put a specific label on her. If people could be more open minded and accept and be interested in the multitude of qualities that form a person, the world could be a much better place. I think the phrase “color” awareness and acceptance is much more effective than colorblindness. (Color being used as a blanket term for background)
Eli Clare’s article, “Gawking, Gaping, Staring,” goes hand in hand with the common theme of societal views. The article covers how he, Eli, (once known as Elizabeth) is viewed by his peers. Who is he to identify with? Some call him a butch, and others a feminine homosexual. He writes, “Whom do we shape our masculinities, our femininities, after?” (Clare, 227). These features are shaped by the qualities we see among others in our culture or society. He knows where he identifies but someone has to mold him and label him in some way. It is as if society gets temperamental when they have no group to put you into.
After reading these articles, I think about all the ways society puts us into groups in order to label us or pin us down: race, culture, gender, socioeconomic class, and the list could go on and on. My question is why do we have to be so specifically categorized? We are all people and share the commonality of humanity, but also are different in infinite aspects. When will a person have the ability to walk down the street freely and not be whispered about, “Is that a boy or a girl?” in Clare’s case, or have their cultural identity questioned like Alsultany.

A link I have included is about Eli Clare more as an individual that I found interesting.

Works Cited
Alsultany, E. (n.d.). Los Intersticios: Recasting Moving Selves. 295.
Clare, E. (n.d.). Gawking, Gaping, Staring. 227.