In this critical reflection I discuss Sam Smith’s music video ‘How Do You Sleep’ using themes around gender expression and performativity (Sam Smith, 2019a; Big Think, 2011; Butler, 1988). Their performance of gender is not better or worse than any other, but I chose this video because something about the gender expression caught me off guard. There was something there that I could not pin down, somehow it was different, it was transgressing something I considered normative. In order to identify what was so arresting about this video I spent hours watching the music video, reactions of other people to the video itself and Sam’s behind the scenes (BTS) breakdown of the choreography (Sam Smith, 2019a; Sam Smith, 2019b; Sam Alec Stephen, 2021). I realised that each person reacting had a double take at the same point in the music video and proceeded to comment about the dancing, and in particular the femininity of the movements. The reactions ranged from incredulity, to gasps, to overflowing joy all because of something as simple as the wiggling of hips.
“I’ve never seen him wiggle
his hips like that before…
even in concert”
(Rebecca Vocal Athlete, 2019).
The complexity of gender and ideas of femininity outside of the ‘female’ body is hampered by discussions of a binary expression of gender, reminiscent of a cartesian dualism (Paechter, 2006). As Judith Lorber notes in Paradoxes of Gender, “For human beings there is no essential femaleness or maleness, femininity or masculinity, womanhood or manhood.” (p.25, Lorber, 1994). However, if we look at the history of the socially ascribed ‘female’ body and how women have transgressed gender essentialist ideas of what a woman ‘is’ we can see the evolution of normative expressions of femininity inside the ‘female’ body and how it slowly became less deviant. These expressions have grown to incorporate what was once socially seen as more masculine. For example, the idea of women wearing trousers is unquestioned by the majority of western society today and is no longer seen as inherently masculine, but rather a practical or fashion choice. The power of clothing as a medium of constructing, regulating and defying gender norms has been at play since the establishment of obtaining power through the control of gender (Tyson, 2002; Crane, 1999; Roberts, 1977). For example, Roberts (1977) highlighted the ideas woven into Victorian women’s dress and their impact on social narratives saying, “feminine characteristics that are projected by women’s dress- frivolity, delicacy, inactivity and submissiveness were embodied in the heroines of literature.” (P. 555, Roberts, 1977). Women have continued to consistently transgress the boundaries of normative gender expression in areas beyond dress including sport, dance, and music (see: BBC Women in sport, 2021; Christine and the Queens, 2020; Cardi B, 2020). Is it possible that the manifestation of femininity outside the female body is simply a slower, but equally consistent, transgression as we continue to reveal the fragility of simplistic concepts pertaining to a fixed way of ‘being’ in society?
If we extend these mediums of gender performativity, gender expression and gender identity to music videos the same rules of communicating meaning and symbolism through gender performativity are present (Butler, 1988; A.C. Loji, 2021; Freeman, 2019). The expression of femininity in ‘How Do You Sleep’ is not integral or central to the story instead it is simply Sam’s performance of gender, their intuitive movement and gender expression. The intentionality of movement is directly related to their expression of gender as someone who identifies as non-binary (Sam Smith, 2019b). A.C. Loji (2021) identifies this saying they, “make particular creative choices that allow them to expand expressions of identity and solidarity within both the queer community and society at large”. I think what is striking is that this performance of gender feels familiar because it is performed just like any traditionally normative gender expression, and it feels transgressive because Sam allows their femininity to exist without pointing to it with a wink and a nudge.
The expression of femininity we see in ‘How Do You Sleep’ is indicative of changes to cultural expressions of femininity outside of the female body we often are allowed, through control of the ‘music video gaze’, to see in mainstream media (Freeman, 2019). For example, if we compare Olly Alexander’s dancing in ‘If You’re Over Me’ (2018) to Sam Smiths’ we see an important difference between contemporary dance, which does not seem to hold the same transgressive quality to wider society, and an exclusively ‘feminine’ performance when outside of the female body. This could be down to effeminophobia and ideas around some gender performances “disturbing the presumed link between biology and expected gender behaviours.” (Annes & Redlin, 2012, p.278; Richardson, 2016).
The reasons for the regulation of gender expression and identity can be more complex than differences between dance styles and effeminophobia, “gendered people are situated based on race, class, and sexuality, and how this specific location affects and is affected by social interactions and other sources of information.” (Annes & Redlin, 2012). An intersectional approach when examining who society ‘allows’ to embody ‘non-normative’ behaviour is essential. For example, what does the difference in music video views and social commentary tell us about the social response to Sam Smith’s music video verses Lil Nas X’s recent music video MONTERO (Sam Smith, 2019a; Lil Nas X, 2021)? Anderson goes on to elaborate on this in their study on gender expression and discrimination highlighting the importance of considering how, “[r]ace and gender identity also informed participants’ interpretations, underscoring the need for greater attention to how gender norm expectations are racialized and cisnormative.” (Anderson, 2020).
When discussing ideas around femininity and its manifestation outside of a body termed female it becomes easier to acknowledge the fluidity within the meaning and symbology we generate as human beings to communicate the experience and understanding of ourselves and others. Concepts of gender identity, performativity and expression are distinct but join together to layer a complex assemblage of singularities (Deleuze, 2004). This space in between, the interplay of gender in its expression, performativity and identity, is what speaks to a more fluid understanding of the feminine, and the masculine, and its relationship to ‘becoming’ rather than a singular state of being. ‘How Do You Sleep’ shows a markedly different style of gender expression by applying, “queer approaches that dismantle and subvert the heterosexual matrix” (Dhaenens, 2015). Over the last few years we have seen this gender line continue to be pushed as femininity outside of the female body slowly becomes less taboo and more normative as a style of gender expression within society.
References:
Anderson, S.M. (2020) Gender Matters: The Perceived Role of Gender Expression in Discrimination Against Cisgender and Transgender LGBQ Individuals, Psychology of Women Quarterly, 44(3), pp. 323-341.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0361684320929354
Annes, A. & Redlin, M. (2012) The Careful Balance of Gender and Sexuality: Rural Gay Men, the Heterosexual Matrix, and “Effeminophobia”, Journal of Homosexuality, 59(2), pp. 256-288.
BBC Sport (2021) Women’s sport could generate £1bn revenue by 2030. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/56808855 [Accessed 8 May 2021].
Big Think (2011). Judith Butler: Your Behaviour Creates Your Gender Youtube . 6 June. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo7o2LYATDc&t=99s
Butler, J. (1988) ‘Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory’, Theatre Journal, 40(4), pp. 519-531.
Cardi B (2020). Cardi B- WAP feat. Megan Thee Stallion [Official Music Video] Youtube . 7 Aug. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsm4poTWjMs
Christine and the Queens (2020). Christine and the Queens- La vita nuova (feat. Caroline Polachek) [Official Video] Youtube . 4 Aug. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu2IGYw7YT8
Crane, D. (1999) Clothing Behaviour as Non-Verbal Resistance: Marginal Women and Alternative Dress in the Nineteenth Century. Fashion Theory The Journal of Dress, Body and Culture, 3(2), pp. 241-268.
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Deleuze, G. (2004) The Logic of Sense. London: Continuum
Dhaenens, F. (2015) Reading Gay Music Videos: An Inquiry into the Representation of Sexual Diversity in Contemporary Popular Music Videos. Popular Music and Society, 39(5), pp. 532-546.
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Epstien, D. and Johnson, R. (1998) Schooling Sexualities. Buckingham: Open University Press
Freeman, C. (2019) Filming female desire: queering the gaze of pop music videos. Cultural Studies, 34(6), pp. 1007-1032.
Available from:
Lil Nas X (2021). Lil Nas X- MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) (Official Video) Youtube . 26 March. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6swmTBVI83k
Loji, A.C. (2021) Let’s Dance: Diversified depictions of ueerness in ensemble dance music videos. Queer Studies in Media & Popular Culture, 6(1), pp. 35-54.
Available from:
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Lorber, J. (1994) Paradoxes of Gender. London: Yale University Press.
Paechter, C. (2006) Reconceptualizing the gendered body: learning and constructing masculinities and femininities in school. Gender and Education, 18(2), pp. 121-135.
Rebecca Vocal Athlete (2019). Vocal Coach Reacts to Sam Smith- How Do You Sleep? Youtube . 24 July. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqLONGV8Ah8
Richardson, N. (2018) ‘Whether you are gay or straight, I don’t like to see effeminate dancing’: effeminophobia in performance-level ballroom dance, Journal of Gender Studies, 27(2), pp. 207-219.
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Roberts, H.E. (1977) The Exquisite Slave: The Role of Clothes in the Making of the Victorian Women. Signs Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 2(3), pp. 554-569.
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https://www.jstor.org/stable/3173265?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
Sam Alec Stephen (2021). Femininity Outside of the Female Body. Youtube . 30 March. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETeouW-OpAY
Sam Smith (2019a). Sam Smith- How Do You Sleep? (Official Video). Youtube . 19 July. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmYypVozQb4
Sam Smith (2019b). Sam Smith- How Do You Sleep? (Behind The Scenes). Youtube . 2 Aug. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stGzYl-fTxg
Tyson, A.M. (2002) The Dress of Women: A Critical Introduction to the Symbolism and Sociology of Clothing. Contemporary Sociology, 31(6), pp. 717-718.
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Years & Years (2018). Years & Years- If You’re Over Me. Youtube . 15 May. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niviooakBLs
2nd Year Undergrad
Thought and or reflections 