A Real Girl: The Issue of Essentialism Around Gender and Sexuality

The pressure to perform a normative identity is evident in this story. The display of this identity has been driven proactively in an attempt to avoid the harsh backlash of society’s rejection of non-normative identities, this is what is meant by the pursuit of being a “real girl”. Messages of gender stereotypes, heteronormativity, and power are challenged in this story by artificial intelligence. Yet, there is still an inner yearning by the narrator to be accepted by others, the way she sees herself. The topic of essence is of particular interest to individuals within Western society. The issue of essentialism around gender and sexuality is linked between structure, culture, the self and identity - and the operation of power across all these aspects of social life. In its analysis of gender, essentialism perpetuates heteronormative ideologies which displaces, de-values, and undermines women and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) community. This culture perpetuates reducing each other to simplistic, yet unattainable ideals. It is as if, this is a strategy used to underestimate the marginalized groups and continue to sustain power to the select, and conforming groups of society. Spade and Willse accurately address these normative ideologies in the reading “norms and normalization”. Additionally, Brandzel’s reading, “Queering Citizenship? Same-sex marriage and the State” can be used to understand the relationships used in the short story “A Real Girl” by Lewitt.

Gender is understood as the social and cultural constructs of man and woman. It is the range of characteristics given to biological sex (male and female). Unfortunately, gender is assumed to be a binary. As we know, rather, gender is a spectrum with many variations between man and woman. Within the gender binary, according to essentialist thinking, there are distinct spiritual and psychological characteristics that separate men from women. The social divisions between men and women; masculinity and femininity are thus understood as social attributes rather than natural ones. This is represented in Beauvoir’s quote “one is not born, but becomes a woman” from the Spade and Willse reading. Normativity has its roots in essentialism because its meaning and content is interpreted between and inherited “right” and “wrong”. Furthermore, gender normativity is the behaviours associated with these feelings of right and wrong in relation to gender performativity. The title of this short story is central to the message being conveyed. What does it mean to be a “real girl”? Who is a “real girl”? What does her embodiment look like? There are two main aspects which define a “real girl”.

First, essentialism and biology. The foundation of essentialism combines biological explanations, which focus on reproduction, with spiritual and psychological explanations which focuses on the conceptualization of innate character. Across all realms of social life, individuals adhere to this belief system. We can see this with the narrator, in her pursuit of a biological human body. Reproduction, in the case of the narrator, is not a main concern for her. She is not in the pursuit for children, but rather love and physical, human representation. She is looking to be accepted by a heteronormative society. In this case, our narrator already has DNA, but would like a human body to represent her essence. Secondly, feminine essence or performativity is fundamental to being a “real girl”. Her essence being present in a human body would provide a space for her intimate relationships to grow, which is the driving force in her story. The narrator is on a quest for love in romantic and intimate relationships, and discovering love within herself. The narrator’s second love interest, Irene, is a cisgender woman who is heterosexual and aligns with essentialist ideologies. The narrator describes her as “a shallow, low-level functionary”.

Irene’s essentialist beliefs would lend to the narrator’s impressions of her, and therefore explain labeling her a “low-level functionary”. Essentialism is hierarchical and this is evident in the relationship between Irene and the narrator. Irene says, “you wouldn’t understand you don’t have a mother and you’re not a human. Stop trying to pretend you’re human, okay?”. The ability to reproduce is not an option for the narrator, she has no blood relations or family history, therefore she is lesser-than. Additionally, because the narrator is regarded as only “four pounds of neural computing circuitry in a box” she is not considered “real”. It is highly ironic Irene claims the narrator would not understand the human experience, yet she cannot contemplate how human qualities and characteristics can exist outside of the traditional human body or form. Along with this, Irene’s accusation that the narrator is “pretending” to be human is an attack against the validity of her character claims. This shows the belief that anyone or anything that does not prescribe to the normative identity narrative is disingenuous and attempts to trick the rest of society into believing they are something they are not. In this case, a human woman. As a result, essentialism justifies this social organization of identity, individual perceptions, and gender and sexuality.

Essentialism is a dominant belief system that combines biological explanations to justify the organization of gender and sexuality across all aspects of social life and modern society. This belief system is nothing more than an ideology, but it does affect how we interpret ourselves and the people around us. Additionally, essentialism impacts our performance of gender and sexuality. Heteronormative ideology plays a huge role in the domination of masculinity in a patriarchal and capitalist environment. Existing in a society which operates to the conformation or relation to a world view that promotes heterosexuality as the normal or preferred sexual orientation automatically others the LGBTQ community and heterosexual femininity. Furthuring this oppressive state for non-conforming gender identities or sexualities, bisexuals or transgender people are unable to exist. Gender normativity outlines for us how our sexuality is anchored in this concept. The narrator is a homosexual woman, she is a lesbian. “And I knew that emotionally it was women who drew me, who enticed me, whose attention I desired and whose approval I preferred”. This sexual orientation goes against normativity, which makes her position even harder to accept by society. She is obviously oppressed, and othered throughout her search of love and belonging. “What I really wanted was love”. With another love interest, Marjorie, the narrator shows how normative beliefs rely on rigid explanations for the human experience. “I didn’t have a body. I didn’t know how bodies felt. But I knew how I felt, how the interface sensed our contact”.

There are different pathways or explanations for the sensations of love or sexual pleasure. Clearly, the emotions and sensations of the narrator are strong enough, and they are legitimized in her pursuit of a body and full human experience being accepted by her love interests and society as a whole. Gender and sexuality essentialism is hierarchical, placing man’s biology and related sexuality, firstly above women’s, and secondly over any individual who does not adhere to the gender binary. Normative ideas about gender found in the short story can be related to this quote, “eventually, people will want new bodies grown because they don’t like the way the original has gotten older or put on weight” this is a representation that there are “good” bodies and there are “bad” bodies, particularly for femininity. This is significant because the human essence of the narrator is found in a “bad” mechanical body. If she was able to attain a human body, would that solve her problems? No, because this possibility is addressed. When the narrator asks, “what if I get a body? will I be a person then?”. Marjorie responds by saying, “What would you be? Frankenstein’s monster?. This reinforces the “good” and “bad” body narrative. Even if the narrator was about to receive a human body, there is a good chance she still would not be accepted because she does not adhere to the proper gendered embodiment and social narrative. There is a gendered belief that women are naturally born with a genetic disposition which makes them significantly more nurturing than men. This is portrayed during the short story in the quote, “men never saw me as possibly alive” or, “I am always a machine when I work with them, and while it hurts me terribly there is never any chance the lines will be anything other than clear”. Men in this context are presented according to the gendered stereotype which aligns men as more scientifically and business minded. They are less emotionally available than women and there more incline to see things in their fundamental form. Additionally, these generalized characteristics allow them to remain in positions of power, particularly when their counterparts would be someone like the Artificial Intelligence woman. This is comparable to the Brandzel article.

“Discriminatory treatment of noncitizens is often justified as a means to safeguard the rights and benefits of citizenship as the exclusive property of recognized citizens”. Othering people, like our narrator, who do not conform to the patriarchal, essentialist, and discriminatory narrative provide a solidified and powerful positions for those who are justified as “real” or “right”.