I was raised in a very computer heavy environment, my father taught me to write code at age 6, so I also tend to use computer metaphors for social interactions. From extremely early ages children are expected to exclusively adopt the binary gender system and their minds begin to apply that filter to everyone they see. The subjects of my picture were asked to wear non gender specific clothing to emphasize the potential blurring of gender lines that becomes possible. When such an effect occurs the person viewing it will either force the person they’re looking at into whichever filter is most convenient, or reject it outright as bad data. It quite literally does not compute.
The picture was framed on a mostly neutral background to make certain that the people lined up would be the most noticeable feature. The subjects all remain in a very neutral pose, again adding to the blurring of possible physical gender markers. While some of the subjects are still definitively masculine or feminine, the two marked with a ‘?’ exhibit traits that routinely cause the ‘bad data’ effect, a discarding of conflicting information by the people who observe them which can make people uncomfortable or angry that things are not the way they believe they should be.
1 comment:
I don't know anything about the binary system besides that it uses 0's and 1's, but I love that you used those numbers to describe the people in this picture! And it's definitely true that people tend to get uncomfortable when someone's gender "does not compute." I like how you addressed that, and this is really great.
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