Exchanging Hats

Bishop portrays humans as naturally inquisitive creatures throughout “Exchanging Hats.” Although the speaker and her peers look down on their relatives' jokes, they also share a desire to experience the other gender. Just seeing the hats “of the other sex / inspires us to experiment” (Lines 7-8). Bishop implies that humans are so curious that even something as simple as a hat can draw their attention.

Curiosity is so integral to human nature that people build it into bonding exercises and play. Bishop shows the instinct through the uncles' failed attempt to make their relatives laugh and the aunts swapping caps during a vacation.

Furthermore, human curiosity will triumph over the very societal rules humanity created. Hats do not occur in the wild. People make them. Hats only have gender because their makers wanted them to signify gender. Through the hats, Bishop shows gender roles as societally made and maintained. She also demonstrates that society strictly enforces the idea of the difference between men and women down to the smallest detail, such as a hat.

Despite these factors, people still possess a powerful desire to know. People want to try on the other gender because society frames women and men as different.