The Performance of Acceptable Femininity or Masculinity

Sor Juana performed deference to authority while her writing revealed a penetrating intellect that exceeded acceptable bounds for her assigned gender. This concept applies performative gender theory to cisgender experience: How much of 'being a man' or 'being a woman' is authentic identity versus learned performance? The framework asks cisgender individuals to notice moments of gender performance—adjusting voice, expression, ambition, or appearance based on gender expectations. Unlike transgender or non-binary people for whom performance may be survival, cisgender people often experience performance as unconscious conformity to invisible scripts. By studying Sor Juana's strategic performance and occasional slippage into authentic voice, we can recognize that all gender is constructed. For cisgender people, this awareness creates an opportunity: What aspects of your gender expression are genuinely yours? Which are inherited expectations? What would remain if social approval were guaranteed? Sor Juana's work suggests that examining performance can liberate rather than constrain identity.