Graduation Year

2026

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Art

Reader 1

Aly Ogasian

Reader 2

Ken Gonzales-Day

Reader 3

Kim-Trang Tran

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2026 Elinor K Attisani

Abstract

Making Faces critiques the naturalization of gender norms and asserts that all gender expression is learned and imitative. With respect to my work, “naturalization” refers to the attribution of patterns of behavior to an unbreakable essence at the core of a person; the distinct qualities that place masculinity and femininity in opposition are often attributed to natural characteristics of the male and female sexes. Judith Butler famously contradicts this myth of gender expression as the externalization of an underlying core identity in their book, Gender Trouble, where they argue that the repeated imitation of a nonexistent ideal is constitutive of both one’s gender and the socially dominant ideal itself. Butler describes this imitation as performance and likens gender expression to drag. Gender as performative rather than essential is the theoretical foundation of my thesis, where I ask viewers to scrutinize the highly naturalized social constructs that dictate our behaviors. I share this critique with the goal of inspiring people of all identities– queer and non-queer– to engage with our universal humanity and to form a greater sense of respect for the right to self-define.

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