Janet Muck Redefining Realness

When thinking of real as in a person or object, it would be existing or touchable; however, when in context of things untouchable but seen or experienced, society also has its own views of how to define the realness of a situation, or another untouchable thing. In Janet Mock’s book Redefining Realness, she explores what it means to be a real woman, a real man, and real being in society. Referring to the books title, “redefining realness”, she means that realness is a gray area because to be real, one doesn’t have to have all the parts to be a specific sexuality/gender or to follow the gender norms/roles; rather, to feel as a woman or man and to be true to yourself and the rest of the world. To define realness in both gender and sexuality,

These ideas are concluded from identities they have consumed, and in turn share similar beliefs in the definition of real. Some of these ideas are seen throughout Mock’s book, where she explains what she originally concluded to be real, what those around her conclude to be real, and what she now considered to be real in terms of gender, sexuality, and identity. For instance, her family shot down her girly expression when she was older because this self-expression didn’t fit with social norms of her pervious gender as a boy. Also, she didn’t have the determined sexuality to express these girlish presences. Because she was a boy physically, her father, expected her to behave and to have the same experience as did her younger brother Chad, when they were learning how to ride a bike: furthermore, it also provided her father a way to fend off the feminine side of Janet that he had seen before (Mock 30-32). With her father’s views of what it means to be a real man, is to portray the essence of a male, to act like a male, to partake in activities that are for real males, and to be held to the expectations of being identified as male. However, there is no specific checklist that one must follow to be