An Ethnographic Study:Transcending the Gender Binary

Alex Everakes

GLOSSARYMany different cultures and subcultures tend to have their own unique discourse and common vernacular. Within the LGBTQ and drag communities, there’s a plethora of vocabulary that is

unique to those groups and thus is not often translated into common discourse of the whole society (the city or nation these groups dwell in). To better understand this Ethnographic Study,

we’ve put together a glossary of terms to help readers better understand the communication between subjects and their interlocutor(s).

Twink- Youthful and pretty (implying a more feminine look) gay whose body is usually slim.

Bear- Older hairy gay man who is either large in stature due to muscle or fat, typically a tall man

Ru Paul-esque Drag/Fishy Drag- In reference to Ru Paul who is a famous New York City drag queen who hosts “Ru Paul’s Drag Race”, which brought drag onto the scene and made it more socially acceptable because of its entertainment quality. Drag queens are categorgized as Ru Paul-esque if they’re of the ornate and over-the-top variety when it comes to dressing as a woman. These drag queens will present themselves as female as possible and thus are not doing drag for parody reasons—rather they’re actually trying to emulate women. The men who do this type of drag are usually considered queens and are often in the entertainment industry, and their work is primarily solo

Camp Drag/Unfishy Drag- Camp Drag is drag when men act and somewhat dress like a woman but do not fully capture femininity—they could put in more effort, but they don’t. They usually keep their facial hair and do not put on fake breasts, etc. Those who do camp drag are usually bears and they frequently do drag as a parody for entertainment and not so much for creating an individual drag persona and emulating her well for more serious entertainment purposes. This more often takes form as a group of men in drag rather than a solo one-man show

Fag Hag- Heterosexual girls who hang out with homosexual males

Work it- Term of encouragement and praise, “work it girl”

Hunteen, Boo- endearing pet names

Top- Dominating role in homoseuxal intercourse “He’s a top”

Bottom- Submissive role in homoseuxal intercourse “He’s a bottom”

In Face- When one is in drag in their female persona

Drag Name- One’s drag stage name that captures their persona, and is usually something risqué or humorous/semantically creative

INTRODUCTION

We all take up hobbies to express the side of our self that isn’t always congruent with our

profession or even our public persona. The doctor finds solace in his weekend poker games

because he can take risks that would not be acceptable in his field of medicine. The psychiatrist

spends hours being soothed by mindless television programs that represent a more innocent and

happy part of the mind that is not often present in their everyday dealings with patients. And

sometimes, the average working man demands a more radical change that can be interpreted as a

dual personality, one that encompasses elements of his own personality that cannot appropriately

be expressed in everyday situations. This man isn’t necessarily homosexual or even metro

sexual. This man can be in a heterosexual marriage and have children and still feel this

compulsion. This is the man who finds comfort and satisfaction in dressing up like a woman and

often performing as one. This man can be anyone, and he could still be the manliest man you

know. There are various means of expression that society perceives as normal, healthy outlets for

our creative impulses and personal preferences. Many write, some paint, others serenade the

world through song. However, we all choose the outlet that corresponds with our desires and

proves to be the best way to channel our creative energy.

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems,

dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery. Celebrate it if you feel like it. In

any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: ‘It’s not where you take things from – it’s where you take them to.’”

-Jim Jarmusch (Independent Film Director)

What Is Drag?

This quote has relevance when devouring the art of drag, a trade that many see as pure

entertainment, and others find to be repulsive imitation. For the purposes of this paper, Drag is

defined as an activity and often profession of a man who derives pleasure or satisfaction from

assuming a female persona through means of dress, makeup, and acting. More often than not,

this activity matures into a profession is often the primary identity assumed by he who partakes.

Drag does mean different things to different people, but those who decide to devote their life to

this art usually do so for more than entertainment reasons—more often than not, there is a

personal connection to pursuing this art form, and its practice is a result of an inspiration or

admiration that is directly linked to woman and the embodiment of femininity—but even more

importantly, the way one expresses and communicates that femininity.

In their text, "A Cultural Approach to Male-Female Communication", Daniel Maltz

and Ruth Borker explain that men and woman both have their own common vernaculars

and their own social norms in terms of communicating (Maltz & Borker 162). Culturally, a

fixture of the male gender-expression is showing power through force, and that is exactly

what a drag queen does. By taking on a feminine persona they display a power most men

can't achieve and one that happens to defy most social norms ironically, yet fits the mold of

male gender expression perfectly. This suggests that participating in drag does not hinder

or negate one’s masculinity, as it is not erased by the practice.

What Is A Drag Queen Doing?

A man who dresses “in drag” is likely just embodying that which speaks to him or

inspires him creatively, that embodiment being woman. In many ways, drag is the imitation that

is indeed the sincerest form of flattery. Men who go so far as to challenge or risk their masculine

image are moved to this point by extreme admiration, connection, or identification with the

female gender and its expression. They celebrate what many feminists would interpret as

thievery through theatrical performance or comedic displays that for them harness authenticity

and draw special attention to a quality that is original to them, but perhaps derived from the

nature of women. They aren’t “stealing” the “originality of femaleness,” rather they are drawing

inspiration from women that speaks to their soul and manifests as an authentic quality within

them that they wish to display, upon which satisfaction is merited from performance. Sometimes,

the satisfaction merited isn’t even fully understood by the drag artist. What is felt, regardless of

concrete understanding as to why, is a sense of comfort and pride in assuming and

communicating an identity that is different from your own. Sometimes this becomes a large part

of the man’s identity as a whole, and serves as a reason to keep participating in drag—because

they feel they’ve found part of themselves that had previously been unknown or hidden.

Why Support Or Disapprove Of Drag?

Those who find this form of expression repulsive are often led to that conclusion by

sentiments that often but not always include homophobia, feminism, and an insistence that men

should lead a masculine life. Conversely, the men who find refuge and receive creative

satisfaction from practicing drag are not necessarily the antithesis of their critics—men who

participate in drag don’t have to be homosexual and often aren’t, and some are undeniably

masculine regardless of their drag practices. As they say with men who wear pink: men who

participate in drag must be comfortable with their sexuality and masculinity enough to do so. In

that sense, you wont find many drag queens that don’t have a strong sense of masculinity.

Additionally, most drag queens partake in drag for reasons other than parody. Many drag queens

in fact highly value all that is feminine and seek to capture femininity to uphold and display its

timeless charm and mystique. This sort of practice is one of flattery, not mockery. This is to say

that many drag queens highly value women and their rights and seek to emulate them for reasons

of admiration.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS1. Is drag a threat to the way one communicates/expresses their masculinity?2. Does drag negate one’s expression/communication of their masculinity?3. Is there a purpose or reason behind drag other than to entertain through means of

expressing the identity of the opposite gender?4. Can a drag queen communicate his/her identity to society and be accepted?

THESISA man who chooses to participate in drag is seemingly threatening his masculinity

and male gender identity, however, ethnographic research has shown that drag is not necessarily

a threat to gender identity, and it can actually enhance one’s understanding and certainty about

their identity in general. One who participates in drag often transcends the gender binary and

develops a duality that’s marked by a superior understanding of oneself, as well as a superior

conception of the realities of both males and females. A study on the nature of the gender binary

revealed that, “these people, the gender outlaws, to use Bornstein’s (1994) now popular

expression, form a group that has insights and experiences not generally available to most

people. They live or have lived on both sides of the gender fence, and are able, sometimes,

to move back and forth” (Johnson & Repta). This goes to say that this knowledge that is

obtained from living a life of gender-fluidity does indeed breed an exclusive brand of self-

awareness and knowledge that is unique to what has been coined “gender-outlaws.”

PREVIEW-MAIN POINTS

1. Drag does not negate or threaten one’s gender identity and gender expression

2. Drag and its practices provide participants with a firm and inclusive knowledge of the

opposite sex and/or gender (& the confines of the binary)

3. This knowledge that is obtained educates men beyond themselves—whatever they knew

about manhood was kept in tact and only enhanced by the learning process of

understanding what womanhood entails (the practices of drag)

4. This dual knowledge not only enhances the man’s masculinity and knowledge of it, but it

also solidifies an awareness of both genders that is atypical of anyone who doesn’t

partake in drag—meaning that drag births this experience/knowledge and makes for

enhanced expression and communication of one’s identity, as we found with our subject

Kevin

METHODS

Ethnographic fieldwork for this project began in late September of 2014 and concluded in

the first half of November, 2014. The field sites we observed varied from drag bars and clubs,

where observation was the sole means of obtaining our field notes, to one-on-one outings with a

drag queen we chose to study in depth, which took place in public locations such as restaurants

and parks, where we picked the mind of Bebe Sweetbriar, one of San Francisco’s most popular

drag queens. We met with Kevin a total of 6 times in our three month observation interval The

ethnographic technique that we applied for the majority of our research was that of unstructured

interviews with our subject of observation, Kevin, the man behind the persona of Bebe

Sweetbriar. Field notes were taken from lengthy unstructured interviews and discussions had

between Kevin, Alex, and I. Alex and I chose to immerse ourselves in the drag culture on our

trips to see Bebe perform, where we would socialize with other drag queens or club goers there

to witness drag performance. The bulk of our findings, however, came from our one-on-one

sessions with Kevin when he was not in his drag persona. Through getting to know Kevin

intimately, we were able to analyze and answer some of our research questions and thus better

understand the nature of drag as it pertains to the whole of a man’s identity.

BACKGROUND ON KEVIN / BEBE SWEETBRIAR

Kevin is a fifty something year old man who identifies as homosexual and has made a

career of his drag hobby. Kevin came out of the closet a bit late in life, after already having

married a woman and fathering two of her children. At one point in time after a few years of

raising the kids, Kevin and his wife got a divorce as a result of his homosexual orientation that

he eventually declared to his wife and kids. After the divorce, Kevin found himself enlisting to

perform in a church organized play where there was a demand for a female character, but not an

adequate supply. Having never dressed up or assumed the persona of a woman, Kevin

volunteered to fill this role and give it his all regardless of the unspoken yet evident rules of the

gender binary. Kevin channeled Whitney Houston as his inspiration to embody femininity and

ended up delivering such a wonderful and convincing performance that drew positive attention

from fellow congregation members. Kevin describes this as his introduction to the world of drag,

but not for the reasons one would think. Kevin had fun expressing himself as Bebe, but it was the

attention and reactivity of his audience that enticed Kevin to pursue drag. It was Kevin’s

unknown ability to communicate the essence of a woman and the unsuspected captivation of his

audience that gave birth to his now-drag persona, Bebe Sweetbriar.  

ANALYSIS

A man who chooses to participate in drag is seemingly threatening his masculinity

and male gender identity, however, ethnographic research has shown that drag is not

necessarily a threat to gender identity, and it can actually enhance one’s understanding and

certainty about their identity in general. One who participates in drag often transcends the

gender binary and develops a duality that’s marked by a superior understanding of oneself,

as well as a superior conception of the realities of both males and females. Developing a

mastery of embodying the opposite gender is a challenge that brings forth a unique

learning experience and skill set that aids in expanding one’s knowledge of mankind,

because it demands that you understand the characteristics of both genders and how those

meanings function in society. The richness of this character building experience is reflected

in our subject Kevin, a middle-aged man who has devoted his life to a career in drag.

Contrary to popular belief, Kevin is confident and at home in his male persona, whose sense

of masculinity is just as pure and in tact as a man who does not partake in drag.

Setting: Alex, Mandy, and Kevin go to lunch at a restaurant and proceed to discuss

the nature of drag.

I ask Kevin about gender pronoun preferences, knowing that it is of great

importance to transgender people and often drag performers. Kevin says that he doesn’t

personally care about the whole gender-pronoun thing—he says that the younger set of

drag queens are more conscious about the pronouns used to address them and are more

serious regarding their gender identity. When I asked him if he identified more as a man or

more as a woman, Kevin said that his career doesn’t separate his gender, he has elements

of man and woman in both his male and female personas.

Here is the glimpse of the dual persona that’s been mentioned that is also easily

recognized in studies on social science: “In social science research where theories of gender

originated, dangerous and static associations between women and femininity and men and

masculinity are often assumed, eroding much of the diversity that exists within and among

these categories” (Johnson & Repta).  This is a good indicator that there is a lot of unique

and untapped material laying between a gender-fluid person’s conception of men and

women, and this is the material that makes for a superior knowledge one can only attain by

traveling back and forth through the binary.

A man who is unconcerned with the way he is perceived, as Kevin’s communicatory

ambivalence regarding gender pronouns reveals, is indeed embodying one of the biggest

tiers of masculinity: true confidence. It is clear throughout the rest of our ethnographic

research that Kevin possesses this manly brand of confidence so essential to a strong sense

of masculinity.

I inquire as to how his duality in gender operates within his social life, and he

seemed to be very matter-of-fact and at ease about the obstacles his duality brings about.

He says he has different friend groups because of his double identity, though most of his

friends know and love him as both Kevin and Bebe. However, he does go on to say that it is

difficult because there are some people who just want Bebe and don’t want anything to do

with Kevin. Likewise, there are people who only want Kevin and nothing to do with Bebe.

Then, he explains, there are more ambiguous cases where friends or lovers prefer Bebe (for

example) and simply lack interest in Kevin and don’t quite care about his life as a man. This,

Kevin explains, is a large reason why he has been single the past decade. He explains that

he wants someone

who can embrace both identities, because they are both wholly him and important to his

persona.

A masculine man is one who can be alone and who has a tendency to fight the urge

to settle for comfort and convenience when it comes to having a significant other. Kevin

displays the patience and discipline to withhold from meaningless affairs, which are

indicative of a masculine persona as we’ve mentioned. However, Kevin’s extreme

awareness about the dangers of his personality when it comes to romantic partners is his

motivation to maintain discipline, but this kind of self awareness is common woman’s trait

that often leads to dissonance and as we’ve mentioned, a need for a fix (i.e. a significant

other, even if they aren’t “the one”). The fact that Kevin is able to couple both of these traits

and utilize their beneficial components shows a mastery of both genders, as he can select

that which is successful in both genders and live, in a sense, most effectively.

We begin to discuss his female persona as Bebe and what that entails. He talks about

how he has to “turn on” for an audience, and how it requires much more effort and is

obviously less casual than everyday dealings with friends and family. He explains that

during his life as Bebe, he is constantly required to perform his female identity. He

mentions that sometimes his friends will invite him out to meet other people and that they

will ask him specifically to come as Bebe, which Kevin knows to mean “it’s showtime.” He

explains how this can be exhausting at times, but that he loves to put on a good show

regardless of the audience.

Throughout this dialogue, Kevin displays characteristics of male and female habits

of communication that suggest he does possess the duality of gender that we’ve discussed.

Throughout the string of questions asked during this session, Kevin makes attempts to

further the conversation by implementing gestures such as minimal head nods and

utterances of encouragement such as “Yeah yeah” or “mhmm.” These are elements of

female communication as theorized in Maltz & Borker’s Cultural Approach to Male-Female

Communication, where they detail the habits of women in conversation. Maltz and Borker

says that women do more to faciliate the flow of conversation through means of minimal

responses such as head nods and small utterances such as “mhmm.” As observed from the

interactions with Kevin, this is something he does frequently, which indexes a strong sense

of femininity present in Kevin. Furthermore, Kevin displays a greater tendency in

conversation to use inclusive pronuns such as “you” and “we” when acknowledging the

existence of other speakers, which is a communicative habit that’s essntially exclusive to

females. However, as our thesis suggests, a mastery of both genders is the result of a career

in drag, which was further revealed through Kevin’s male habits of conversation that were

too present in our interviews.

In this same interview, Kevin displays elements of male communication that are

indicative of true masculinity and index a male persona. Maltz and Borker explain that men

are more prone to interrupt speech not to further facilitate the conversation, but to steal

the thunder and bring attention back to them.  I realized Kevin displaying these tendencies

when I inquired about how his friends interpret and accept his identity, and as I was laying

out a few of my own theories, he was quick to interrupt me a few times to make his

sentiments known and correct whatever it was that I was saying that didn’t fit with his

conception of himself. Additionally, he displayed more male communicative tactics

such as making direct declarations of opinion, which men are more prone to make than

women conversationally. Follow that with Kevin’s tendency to control the topic of

conversation, one of the primary indicators of a male communicator, and it is clear that

Kevin has a knowledge and embodiment of both genders as seen through his

communication habits.

Kevin’s descriptions of life as a queen further solidify our knowledge of his gender

duality, as he clearly possesses a knowledge of both genders. He feels elements of man and

woman within him and they’re essential to who he is. His lack of a preference in gender

pronoun reflects both his casual approach to gender and its fluidity as well as his

embodiment of both genders. Kevin didn’t know until he had the opportunity to express

himself as a woman that he identified so much with them, and from that point on he grew

into what professionals would call gender non-conforming or gender-fluid. Upon finding

his female self, masculine Kevin wished to bring her to fruition while still maintaining his

own male identity. For Kevin, like many caught in the throes of the gender binary, wanted

to be able to express both ends of his personality through different gender expressions.

Kevin explains that “Bebe” is a part of him that he feels he should be allowed to

expose, and that the name allows him to create and follow his own expectations instead of

“Kevin,” which has expectations he didn’t create but rather were generated at birth with

the name and male gender in mind. This is a common analogy for people of the trans

community, who feel that they were labeled at birth as something they were not, and that

they had to go through life wearing expectations that were put on them at birth and have

little to nothing to do with the person they’ve become.

In his book, Wisdom Sits in Places, Keith Basso discusses place-names and focuses on

the Apache tendency to name things for what had happened there, which then gives that

geographical location a lot of meaning (Basso). For those who struggle with gender-identity

or any form of identity crises, a name is fundamental element of proclaiming identity (as

Basso gathered in his research), and those struggling to make that known will want a name

that can aid in the explanation, meaning a name that is telling of them and who they are,

and most importantly, what’s happened to them. This was an ideology that Kevin believed

in—that a name should mean something and say something about the person as they are

and what has happened to them, quite similarly to the Apache naming practice. I found this

to be a profound realization on Kevin’s part, as he still maintains his old male identity in

conjunction with his new feminine one. Contrary to the popular assumption that drag

queens wish to be women and live their lives mimicking them, Kevin actually upholds his

male identity in his everyday life and seems to divide his time equally between living as a

man and as a woman. In this way, he retains a sense of normality in society’s eyes—that

meaning he may have a hobby that is somewhat taboo, but he still is a man which will

always be a label of dominance that defends his actions.

We move to Dolores Park to get some sun. Kevin sprawls himself out on the hill’s

incline and instantly assumes a comfortable position. He’s quite relaxed, and it is clear to

me that he’s at ease with himself: I don’t catch him looking in mirrors, checking texts,

looking at others, questioning his appearance—all of the things I do as a woman and almost

expected him to do, he did not. He is a confident man and you wouldn’t guess he was any

different from anyone else.

His legs are splayed open, a stance recognized as almost exclusively male (unless it

is a heterosexual woman splaying her legs looking for male attention). It appears to us that

when Kevin is at home in his male persona, he physically exhibits it, whereas when he is in

drag, he assumes more lady-like mannerisms such as crossing his legs and folding his

hands in his lap. Kevin’s physical display matches that of the gender he’s expressing, yet his

sentiments as both a man and a woman are present in both gender expressions. In this

manner, he has the duality of gender that is often ridiculed by the public, coupled with

minor societal acceptance of his accurate portrayal, as it’s easier to a non-accepting society

to at the very least see “cross-dressing” or drag queens in proper aesthetic terms than to

see a mockery of gender in what drag queens refer to as “camp drag.”

In other words, the general public would be more uncomfortable if they saw a drag

queen who was so obviously male and just mocking femininity than they would be to see a

drag queen in a very convincing female get-up. At least with an accurate portrayal,

onlookers can resort to assuming that the drag queen is actually just a woman and can put

their judgments aside. With camp drag, it’s likely that judgments will be made clear

because inaccurate portrayal can be interpreted as disrespect for the female side of the

binary, which would spark opposition from the observer that he’d likely have the need to

express.

The onlookers who would be displeased with a camp drag display would likely be

someone with anti-LGBTQ sentiments or someone who has high sensitivity to the nature of

the gender binary—namely, transgender people. When I ask about how the world of drag

intersects with the world of transgender, Kevin says that if there is any intersecting it

would be the conflict that trans people have with drag queens—they often find drag

insulting and insensitive, because the struggles with gender-identity that are so distressing

to them seem to be exploited in drag performance. So along with heterosexual

homophobes, transgender people are also popularly in opposition to the art of drag.

Bebe is a prime example of an accurate display of femininity and definitely falls

under the category of “fishy drag,” which represents queens who go to great lengths to look

like a natural born woman and end up with convincing results. One may assume that

people who partake in “camp drag” have a stronger sense of both genders, because they

essentially look like both a man and a woman, seemingly capturing the two in their gender

expression. However, camp drag is actually a sign of confusion and suggests one who has a

hard time separating or understanding which gender they identify with, or it signifies a

transgender person in physical transformation. This person is one in search of a gender

they feel at home with, whereas Kevin feels at home in both genders and thus wishes to

have elements of both woven through his persona. It is for this reason that we’ve concluded

that Kevin has a strong sense of both genders primarily because he is extremely

comfortable with both.

This is a hard notion for someone who’s comfortable with his/her gender-identity

and sexual orientation to understand, because there’s never been a question regarding

where he/she fits in society. Kevin provided Alex and I with an analogy that helped us

understand where he was coming from, and how surprisingly normal his duality is. On the

subject of living life in both genders, Kevin responds in a theoretical sense of what it would

be like if he didn’t live this way: “ It’s like going to a salad bar and just having lettuce and

one dressing to choose from instead of a bunch of different tomatoes and cucumbers and

such. Who wants that? I don’t!” Rather simply put, but profound nonetheless. It’s as simple

as wanting to have a choice, which Kevin has negotiated between himself and his female

self, Bebe. This strong sense of self and personal conviction is possible for the average

person, but enhanced and marked by Kevin’s (or someone in the same positions) dual

knowledge of gender.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS-ANSWERED

1. Is drag a threat to the way one communicates/expresses their masculinity?No, as we saw with Kevin, drag actually enhances the knowledge and communicative skills associated with masculinity

2. Does drag negate one’s expression/communication of their masculinity?No, Kevin proved to us through our ethnographic study that masculinity is still intact in those who practice drag and can, as we’ve said, be enhanced throut its practice

3. Is there a purpose or reason behind drag other than to entertain through means of expressing the identity of the opposite gender?

Yes, drag is often just a means to an end of expressing an opposite gender-identity. As we discussed with people with gender-identity disorder, their source of comfort comes from embodying and expressing themselves like the opposite gender, (we’ll stick with women for the sake of example) and sometimes that means getting a medical transition to truly become the opposite gender or practicing drag to gather that sensation in a less extreme means of transition. Entertainment and the desire to entertain through means of drag is a preference of the individual but not a given in the situation of drag practice

4. Can a drag queen communicate his/her identity to society and be accepted?Yes—as seen with Kevin, it is possible to flow between genders and practice drag and still be accepted by society. However, the fact that these studies were conducted in San Francisco using San Francisco residents does lend more acceptance to the situation, as we are perhaps the most progressive and understanding state when it comes to matters of LGBTQ society.

MAIN POINTS EVALUATE

1. Drag does not negate or threaten one’s gender identity and gender expression

No—drag in fact enhances one’s gender-identity and gender-expression because its’ practice enhances the embodiment of the opposite gender but simultaneously hones and perfects the identification with the gender placed on one at birth.

2. Drag and its practices provide participants with a firm and inclusive knowledge of the

opposite sex and/or gender (& the confines of the binary)

Through ethnographic research, we’ve concluded that this is true based on the communicative habits and portrayals we observed in Kevin.

3. This knowledge that is obtained educates men beyond themselves—whatever they knew

about manhood was kept in tact and only enhanced by the learning process of

understanding what womanhood entails (the practices of drag)

This is another truth we concluded through our study of Kevin as we observed his manhood was wholly intact and strong as seen through mannerisms and confidence

4. This dual knowledge not only enhances the man’s masculinity and knowledge of it, but it

also solidifies an awareness of both genders that is atypical of anyone who doesn’t

partake in drag—meaning that drag births this experience/knowledge and makes for

enhanced expression and communication of one’s identity, as we found with our subject

Kevin

In tracing Kevin’s growth as a gender-fluid person, we’ve found that the practice of drag has enhanced his expression of both genders, but most importantly

CONCLUSION

We thus concluded that Kevin has transcended the binary and displays a mastery of

gender consciousness and expression. It is important to consider the benefits of attempting

to answer these questions, as we live in a gendered world and uncovering what makes that

the case is imperative to understanding gender as a whole. Studies in this realm should

continue as they are sparse, then again the profound limitation here is that it is hard to

quantify to what degree someone embodies a gender. It is interesting to conduct a study

such as this because it illuminates the connection between communication and culture and

the contrast between gendered forms of communication. This type of ethnographic study

also sheds lights on communicative norms that are formed in subcultures that can

potentially be of great help when trying to dissect and define how a certain culture

functions in society. Moreover, enhancing our knowledge of different subcultures will serve

as a basis for comparison to all other cultures and will in turn aid in our interpretations of

the world and its diverse inhabitants. That being said, let us as its inhabitants make it our

job to uncover the diversity that rests among our self-imposed boundaries and binaries, so

we can sooner understand the nature of our species in terms of identity, its construction,

and how it is communicated.