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diminutive term but effeminate men are often put down by the use of words such
as ‘wimp’ and ‘sissy’. Effeminate men are still considered problematic in public.
They are criticised or even discriminated against by some people who believe that
men cannot wear makeup or paint their nails because these traits are apparently
exclusively feminine. Our representation deals with androgyny and in particular
allowing men access to femininity.
David Bowie: A Rebellion
David Bowie opened the conversation about androgyny and gender ambiguity in
mainstream media with his performative personas such Ziggy Stardust and The
Thin White Duke. These personas were not born out of need for constant alteration
but as a process of performativity wherein Bowie recreated and mimicked gestural
traits that he borrowed from performers like Elvis Presley, Katharine Hepburn and
Frank Sinatra In her book, Gender Trouble (1990). Judith Butler described this
aspect of gender play as drag- an ongoing process through which gender is
performed, imitated and reperformed as ‘drag’. Bowie’s “borrowed” gestural trait
known as the lipstick smear is one of, if not the most iconic of them all. Ultimately,