Pretense.

“The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth – it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true.” –Ecclesiastes.

Simulacrum is defined as an image or representation, however, when using this concept to conceptualize reality and socially constructed ideologies, the simple definition becomes rather complicated.

Simulacrum, conceptualized by Jean Baudrillard, is the concept of imitating an imitation where the original is lost. It is the idealized version of something that, perhaps, never was to begin with. The recycling of imitations of an original that never was suggests that existence precedes essence. In other words, if imitating over and over again something in which no original basis can be found, then hyperreality and exaggeration ensues. The result is a distorted version of a reality or notion. Mimicking or exemplifying an idea or behavior that never was allows nothing except for distortion to take place.

Anthropologist Eric Higgs suggests that, “the boundary between artificiality and reality will become so thin that the artificial will become the centre of moral value.” If there is no real or authentic original basis for an imitation that is continuously being copied, then artificiality is what is left, and in turn, takes on the form of reality. Baudrillard proposes that due to the hyperreality state, all that is left is the simulacra. Hyperrealism suggests a reality where the difference between what is real (that which has an origin) and what is a representation of the real can no longer be distinguished.

The imagined and the “real” are both simulacra because the reproduction or imitation has no origin. This can be seen in the socially constructed notion of gender and gender roles. Since both the imagined and the original, “real” version, are distortions, the perception of the model or norm is simply an idealized model. Gender roles, what is considered the norm and what is flamboyant (either too masculine or feminine) is then an exaggeration in every sense. This follows the stage of phases involving the simulacra: the transgression of a reflection of a basic reality, masking and perverting the basic reality, then masking the absence of the basic reality until it bears no relation to any reality whatsoever. It becomes its own pure simulacrum.

Judith Butler’s “Imitation and Gender Insubordination,” discusses the issue of gender and gender roles, along with heterosexuality and homosexuality. She argues that, “gender is kind of imitation for which there is no original” (722). Therefore, masculine or feminine gender roles performed are not an innate or intrinsic quality of an individual, rather characteristics that are very much learned.  If there is no original, then the gender roles constructed by societal constraints of approving or disapproving masculinity, femininity, or even effeminate traits, are simulacra.

This can be stated very easily, however, one must take into consideration that self-identity first begins with the recognition of particular bodily traits and attributes. Female and male characteristics are what distinguish individuals at a very early age. The way one behaves, whether accordingly or not, stems from the basis of sex and then gender. Stripping away the notion that there is a fundamental basis of gender and sexual orientation not only contributes to confusion to the individual, but also to the formation of self-identity. If there was never an original, then society is simply pushing copies of normative behavior and self-identity can never fully be realized. Or can it? Isn’t performance of gender roles part of self-identity. Or perhaps deconstructing the social norms can lead to re-evaluation and progressing the concept of self-identity, and, in turn, reality. Though, to take it to the extreme, Baudrillard argues that there is no such thing as reality today because the concept of simulacra involves a negation of the concept of reality.

Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulations. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988. 28 July 2011. <http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/Baudrillard_Simulacra_and_Simulations.html>.

Butler, Judith. Gender Studies, Gay/Lesbian Studies, Queer Theory. Chapter 7: Imitation and Gender Insubordination, 1993.