The Refusal of Prescribed Identity Scripts

Sor Juana refused the available scripts for women of her era—she would not be merely a wife, a nun resigned to silence, or an intellectual subordinate to male authority. Instead, she wrote her own script, creating a complex identity that integrated religious vocation, intellectual ambition, and artistic expression in unprecedented ways. For people examining cisgender identity, this concept means refusing the automatic scripts society provides. Rather than performing cisgender identity as predetermined—accepting its associated roles, behaviors, and expectations as natural—one actively constructs a personal version of cisgender identity. This might mean rejecting gender norms attached to one's assigned gender while remaining cisgender. It means recognizing that femininity, masculinity, and non-binary expressions exist within cisgender identity. The refusal of prescribed scripts requires active creativity: designing how you inhabit your gender rather than merely inhabiting how gender has designed you. This aligns with Sor Juana's insistence on authorship—not just as a reader of existing narratives but as a writer of new ones.