The readings this week all addressed the inherent relationship between the construction of nations, and the gender binary that exists within them. Diana Taylor asserts that the performance of gender and the performance of “nation-ness” are “mutually reinforcing.” (95). Tadiar talks about the global economy as a gendered construction, favoring the “masculine ranks of global management” and oppressing feminine characters (241). And Pettman gives reason to both Tadiar and Taylor’s evaluations of nations, identifying motherhood as the force that molds nations into masculine entities. As we talk about reconstructing the gender binary in this country and around the world, how can we expect to make any true change when it seems the gender binary is such an intrinsic aspect of the “state”? The very system that facilitates life on earth (states and the government) is based on a hierarchy between genders, then how can we presume to limit (if not eliminate) the dichotomy between men and women? Humans have formed a culture around identifying women as mothers, child-bearers and the source of the next generation. How do we steer away from a stereotype that is biologically-based? Basically, if generations of people have come to depend on a governmental structure in which men are favored and women underappreciated, what can we do to really change this without complete anarchy?