Imagine this picture without the pearls and flower headband. Now, analyzing the position of the baby and the angle it was shot, you'll find that there is simply no way of distinguishing the "gender" of this infant by its genetalia. Parents are putting on the "costume" in order for their child to present its female gender and will continue to do so until the child can do so for itself.
This post is similar to my previous one of the little girl with her mother and makeup -both are depicting "performing gender" as Butler explains it; they are both adorning themselves in order to present a certain image, that for an infant, clearly means nothing because they don't have an acknowledgment of being or a conscious. But since we live in a black and white society where everything must be categorize, we make sure to elaborately display the "gender" of children. Would it be less "cute" or less "precious" if the baby wasn't adorn? Not me, and I'd hope not to others either -so why does "gender" matter?
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