Embodied Masculinity in Women: A Study on Performativity and Resistance to Gender Norms

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-503-4_74How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Gender Performativity; Masculine Women; Symbolic Violence; Male Gaze; Body Politics

Abstract

This article examines the embodied experiences of masculine women in Semarang, Central Java, through the lens of Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity. In a society where hegemonic femininity is upheld as the only legitimate mode of womanhood, women who display masculine expressions are frequently subjected to stigma, exclusion, and symbolic as well as sexual violence. The central problem addressed is how these women, by refusing normative gender scripts, disrupt and challenge patriarchal orders that naturalize binary categories. The purpose of this study is to explore how masculine women negotiate their identities and how their performativity functions as both resistance and body politics. The research is significant because it highlights the persistence of heteronormative domination while also recognizing the agency of non-conforming subjects in redefining gender boundaries. Employing a qualitative methodology, the study combines participant observation and in-depth interviews with four informants across generations. Findings reveal that discrimination operates on multiple levels: within families through corrective mechanisms, in workplaces through harassment and marginalization, and in public spaces through objectification and ridicule. This study contributes to the state of the art by linking Butler’s performativity with Bourdieu’s symbolic violence and Mulvey’s male gaze, demonstrating that masculine women embody a form of gender subversion that destabilizes rigid gender norms and opens possibilities for more inclusive understandings of identity.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Vania Pramudita Hanjani
AU  - Patricia Kiara Handoyo
AU  - Leony Arlita
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/19
TI  - Embodied Masculinity in Women: A Study on Performativity and Resistance to Gender Norms
BT  - Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Culture and Sustainable Development (ICOCAS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 649
EP  - 657
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-503-4_74
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-503-4_74
ID  - Hanjani2025
ER  -