Batman and Gender

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Gender, I think? Gender is something that isn’t easily explained. Masculinity and Femininity are terms used loosely to describe how a person acts and expresses him or herself. The thing that is confusing about gender is that culture as seemed to put a stranglehold on the term, and it has become something that is now constructed, according to Judith Butler. Butler also states that no one is any gender from the start (Butler). A male can be the manliest person and play football, but somewhere inside of him there has to be some kind of girly trait. Each and every one of use performs gender and shows it through our everyday thoughts and actions. In Judith Butlers Essay About gender, she asserts that gender is in fact performed. In the article “Batman, Deviance & Camp” written by Andy Mendhurst, he expresses his opinion that Batman may have homosexual connotations. By looking through the lens of Judith Butler, Andy Mendhurst demonstrates the concept of performing gender of batman when he quotes Wertham. “Sometimes Batman ends up in bed injured and young robin is shown sitting next to him…Sometimes they are shown on a couch, Bruce reclining and Dick sitting next to him, jacket off, collar open, and his hand on his friends arm”(Mendhurst 334). Through this quote both Batman and Robin perform their gender by showing their feminine and masculine sides, which could or could not potentially translate into homosexual sexuality. Butler’s notion of gender can complicate this however. Batman and Robin have always been a dynamic duo. Crime by crime and fight by fight they are back-to-back ready to take on whatever comes their way. From the Joker to Mr. Freeze they got it covered. They care about each other and are always ready to lend each other a hand when they need it. In this article Mendhurst suggests that Robin and batman might be a little bit closer than what people
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