Making Them Feel Like a Natural Woman: Constructing Gender Performances on The Maury Povich Show :: Free Essays Online

Making Them Feel Like a Natural Woman: Constructing Gender Performances on The Maury Povich Show Goth teems drenched in black become teeny-bopper darlings in pink dresses and platform sneakers. Male couch potatoes in flannel shirts become debonair gentlemen in tuxedos. Scantily clad women popping out of halter tops and leather mini-skirts become responsible women in business suits and subtle make-up. The make-over is a popular talk show tool used by everyone from Oprah to Jenny Jones. These transformations embody Lancaster's argument in "Guto's Performance" by demonstrating how we are all participating in one big drag show, presenting our gender through our dress, our play. We construct our genders, moment by moment, through our performance, fluidly moving from one to the next. On "Oprah," an over-worked single mom in sweat pants who devotes all her time to working outside the home and raising her children (in a combination of constructed masculine and feminine gender roles) sits slumped in her chair. Soon, lipstick and sequins transform her into a confident, sensual woman, stru tting across the stage ready to take the arm of the handsome, well-dressed man chosen to take her out for an evening on the town (she now takes on a different, more feminine, gender role). But there is underlying tension in Lancaster's argument and make-overs on talk shows. Instead of made-over guests choosing their type of dress and performance, they are usually shuffled into these roles by a team of television producers, make-up artists, stylists, family and friends, and audience members. Often, talk show make-overs reinforce our rigidly constructed ideas of what is "masculine" and "feminine" by highlighting the taboo of stepping out of these roles and re-constructing a person's performance to fit the correct social mold. A recent episode of "The Maury Povitch Show" featured make-overs of women who worked in "manly" professions. There was a tow-truck driver, a car mechanic, a bike messenger, an electrical repairperson, a firefighter, a "pooper-scooper," a zoo-keeper, and a lumberjack. Each of the guests made there entrance dressed in their working clothes, some with appropriate props, strutting to the tune of "She Works Hard for the Money." After each guest had the opportunity to talk about her job, she was whisked away by stylists with makes-up brushes and blow-dryers only to be returned in fancy ball gowns to work the runway for the approving audience, pausing for a brief moment to pose beside their "before" photo.