Gender Masquerades #7: Bones

A friend pointed out to me recently that there is no reverse gendered form of the word "tomboy." Try to think of one. The problem is that any word describing a male as having feminine aspects has very negative connotations. Because being feminine is negative in our culture. Being masculine, on the other hand, is positive. You may get women who seem disapproving if a girl is a tomboy too late in life. But at a young age, there is nothing wrong with it, and a lot of people see it as a positive attribute.

So, on to my critique of gender in "Bones." Temperance Brennan is, in my opinion, one of the most interesting female character ever on television. She reminds me in some way of Margaret Hoolihan from Mash after Frank left the show and she became a real character. She is a scientist, brilliant, and she is a successful writer, too. In fact, Brennan can do pretty much anything she wants to do. She outthinks bad guys, can run really fast. She isn't quite physically at the level of Jennifer Garner's character in Alias, or Buffy, but she doesn't stretch the imagination to its limit, either. She isn't emotional (except for this recent season while she has been pregnant). She seems almost clinically detached, even from her father and her brother. She is not the typical female character in any way.

Her one constant relationship is with Angela, and there is never a hint of jealousy between them. Brennan is smarty, tough, witty, funny, sexually assured, physically attractive, tolerant, logical, well-read, sometimes geeky, cool under pressure, and has an iron stomach when it comes to looking at dead bodies. My one complaint about her is that sometimes she seems too beautiful. There is an unconsciousness about this which I find disingenous. She would have to spend lots of time doing makeup and going shopping to look the way she does, not to mention the time on her hair. But this is all passed over as if it never happens or as if it is perfectly natural for someone with her other character traits. It doesn't quite fit for me, but on the other hand, I wouldn't want her to be unattractive, either, and fall back into the stereotype of smart woman=ugly.

In many ways, Brennan is a man. She has all the positive male attributes and many of the negative ones (with her detachment and lack of emotionality). Except for the fact that the producers have done such a careful job of making her physically look like a woman, I'd say this was a gender masquerade. But I think there is something actually more subtle going on here. As if the writers and producers are drawing attention to the gender masquerade that is going on in the real world, they refuse to show her become anything less than feminine physically, though she is masculine in all other ways. And, the point seems to be, what is wrong with that?

There seems to be an equal weight given to Angela's form of femininity, which is quite obviously more female coded, with her ability to do art and to talk to Brennan about social situations and love. But Angela is also a computer geek and I frequently have to shake my head at the "magic" she works with computer programming. Brennan is the star of the show and Angela is the sidekick. Angela gets married and has a baby first, but I'm not convinced that there is any difference in evaluation between the two. Brennan follows Angela's lead, and proves that even a masculine woman can still be married and have children. I could argue whether or not they are still trying to prove that Brennan is "really" a woman with this digression, but I think there is an argument on the other side that Brennan is every bit as much a woman as Angela is, though her brand of womanhood is completely different. (I still laugh at the "dancing phalanges" episode earlier on in the show.)

I toyed with the idea for a while that the show was playing with gender reversal in the romance between Bones and Booth. I'm not sure that it holds up under scrutiny. This is partly true because of the above point about "tom-boy." It's hard to make Booth strong and not masculine. He becomes a weaker character when you give him more feminine traits, at least the way that our society thinks of things as "weak" and "strong." Yes, Booth is more emotional. He's religious and sometimes seems irrational compared to Bones. But I'm not convinced he is any less masculine for these traits. If anything, he is more masculine, and the show is actually deconstructing masculinity by placing his traits up against Brennan's.

Religiousity and irrationality--are they feminine? Not the way Booth uses them. He's emotional, but rarely teary. He gets angry more often than Bones does, certainly, but anger is a very masculine coded emotion. And I laugh every time I see his belt buckle. It might as well say "PENIS" on it. Yup, he has one. Yup, he's definitely a man's man. One of the only moments of vulnerability we see in Booth is when he proposes to Hannah and gets rejected, and when he admits his feelings for Bones and is rejected. Still very masculine moments, in my opinion. Also, occasionally, when Booth's son is brought up, but it doesn't happen very often after the first season. Parker is gone from the picture, as if to assure us that Booth is still very much a man.

So what is going on here? I think this is mostly a show in which we have one really interesting female character defying gender conventions but without any expectations that all female characters have to defy such conventions in order to be valued. Bones is unique, yes. Weird at times. Unconventional certainly. Does she have to have a happy ending with a male character and become a mother? Well, I'm not sure the show is saying that. It's true they are allowing who to do that, but I'm not convinced there is a sense that Bones had to end up here to have value as a human being. This is her life, but it isn't the only life. She was happy and productive before. She met a unique person who made her want something else with him. Yeah, so Angela has that, too. Do all women have to be married to be happy? Maybe the show is saying that, but if so, then I think there is the equal emphasis on all men having to be married to be happy. A heterosexual bias, certainly, but not necessarily a gendered one.