Joan Riviere’s ‘Womanliness as a Masquerade’, written in 1929 through psychoanalysis, wanted to show that all people were born bisexual.
The main goal of this essay was to discuss how women who wished to become masculine or desired masculinity might put on a mask of womanliness as a sort of protection to avoid the wrath and violence of men and to alleviate anxiety.
It is seen in this article, the subject (an American intellectual woman) has a good relationship with her husband and enjoys frequent sexual pleasure with him; she is very successful in her profession (whether as a housewife or in her professional life); she has a high degree of reality adaptability.
One of the essential questions that the author is addressing is: What is the essential nature of fully-developed femininity? What is das Ewig-Weibliche? A question that lurks everywhere in the debate but is never adequately addressed. According to Joan Riviere, both womanliness and Masquerade are used as a device to avoid or escape anxiety, and they should not be regarded as means for sexual satisfaction.
The other questions are, is it possible to use submissiveness as a defensive mechanism? And if men can do the same thing? As we can see in the article it is mentioned as follows: it then appeared, had been very common in her childhood and youth, which had been spent in the Southern states of America; if a negro came to attack her, she planned to defend herself by making him kiss her and make love to her.
The most critical information in this article is when Riviere writes her subject's retrospection of being a young child in the weaning process that irritated both her and her mother. She even fantasised about biting off her mother's nipples, disembowelment of her mother, and biting off her father's penis. In adulthood, she has a subconscious rage with both of her parents, particularly her mother; as a result, she maintains a friendly relationship with other women as long as she feels superior.
If womanliness is masked throughout the early stages of libido development, a young girl's reaction to her parents during the oral biting-sadistic period may disclose the (womanly) women's reactions to both men and women. The substance of the womanly woman's fantasy in connection to the father is identical to that of the typical Oedipal fantasy, with the exception that it is based on sadism. Because she 'murdered' her mother, she is also barred from enjoying what the mother had and has to extort what she does receive from her father.
The key ideas we need to understand in this article are that one, femininity or womanliness is not just for human beings who are assigned female at birth (biologically); masquerade is equally for men and women.
Fraudulent femininity hides a desire for masculinity that must be disguised for fear of rejection by males. A woman first identifies as a man, adopting a masculine identity, and then re-identifies as a woman, embracing a feminine identity. Riviere's argument, however, has a deeper meaning. She claims that the woman in the masquerade imitates an actual womanliness, but 'real' womanliness is itself a masquerade. To put it another way, they are the same thing. So, if being a woman means wearing a mask, then 'feminity' is that mask.
The principal assumption here is that women who want to seem masculine might put on a womanly disguise to avoid worry and retaliation from males. Joan argues that women have core masculinity, implying that masculinity is inherent in women. The women in the masquerade mimic real womanliness. But is she aware that she is mimicking? If she is aware that she is mimicking, she believes there is an actual womanliness to mimic. The author claims that true womanliness is mimicking in and of itself, so she is imitating something she believes is natural but is not.
From this paper, we understand that masquerade and womanliness are used as a device for avoiding anxiety; if we take this line of reasoning seriously, we understand that it is ok to be a masculine woman or a feminine man.
But if people fail to take this line of reasoning seriously, then the implications are that people will see it as a primary mode of sexual enjoyment. If a woman is portrayed as forcing her femininity to be accepted by males, then gender itself exists for that purpose. Men and women have genetic differences that should not be overlooked. Genetic differences and development have an impact on people's preferences.
The main point of view of Womanliness as Masquerade by Joan Riviere is about women who "desire for masculinity" and may then put on "a mask of womanliness" as a protection, to avoid worry and the "retribution feared from males." Riviere's argument is based on the instance of a successful intellectual woman who needs comfort from men following her public appearances, most notably in the form of sexual attention. She flirts and coquettes with guys obliquely to elicit sexual approaches from them. The author tells us that in early childhood development, some experiences influence whether s/he is homosexual or heterosexual. Riviere, like Deutsch and Jones, believes that fully formed femininity begins with the oral-sucking stage, which is the source of primary satisfaction, particularly receiving a kid from the father (via nipple, milk, penis, semen). Acceptance of castration is influenced by the object's overestimation during the oral-sucking phase, but it is mostly decided by the abandonment of sadistic castration desires during the later orbiting phase. As a result, complete heterosexuality and genitality are congruent here. The degree of sadism and anxiety involved in castration, then, is what distinguishes a female homosexual.
The main inference in this article is that both the 'normal' woman and the homosexual woman yearn for their father's penis and resist frustration (or castration). However, one of the distinctions between them is the degree of sadism and the ability to deal with it. This paper also wants to erase the difference between honest womanliness and masquerade.
According to what I understand, to "identify as a man" means to identify with the social construct of manliness, and Riviere's theory is that women fundamentally identify with this social construct. Given the period in which this essay was published, it may be appropriate. But right now, in this generation, people are slowly but open to accepting people who, like mentioned in this article, are masculine women or feminine men. It is ok to be the person you are and what you identify yourself to be. One does not need to mask themselves and pretend to be someone who they don't identify as, but instead, accept who you are. The journey ahead might not be smooth, you might face many criticisms and hardships, but the joy of being who you are will let you get past it and meet people who will accept you the way you are.
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