Bornstein designed a theater concentration before Theater, Speech and Dance had become its own department, and she is still close to Theater, Speech and Dance Professor John Emigh. Theater was where my heart was. The way I view gender is a way to express yourself. So is a role in a play. Though gender was the subject of Bornstein's performance last night, she says her focus has expanded beyond a single issue.
Gender is just a doorway, and so is sexuality, race and age.
Bornstein likens gender to systems of oppression such as racism and sexism. Those who refuse to question the ways in which our gender identity is socially constructed, she says, are contributing to that system. Well-gendered people have a privilege that others don't. A fat woman, for example, is not a well-gendered woman, because she doesn't conform to notions of femininity. A person should be able to play any role he or she chooses, Bornstein argues.