Butler's Writings In The Classroom, By Judith Butler

The extent and degree of information and detail written in this article about each represented author and their contributing works can ultimately be seen as one of the articles main strengths. However, although this article gives a vast amount of information on the women’s opinions and beliefs the article at times seems disassembled and erratic. The flow of the article is somewhat hard to follow, and without an increased measure of concentration, the ability of the reader to comprehend and decipher whom the author is speaking of can be lost. Also, with the extensive amounts of information and detail that each female author contributes to the argument, readers are bombarded with data to interpret and distinguish upon. With the author of the article not decisively choosing the strongest points of argument from each author, the information becomes overwhelming and possibly confusing at times.

Judith Butler (Gender Trouble, 1990) argues that rather than sex determining gender-gender determines sex. Sex is shaped by gender discourses which give us scripts to perform according to whether we are biologically classed as male or female. The continual performance of these scripts on a daily basis is what makes us male or female. The classic example of this is the third sex, yes, the third sex and that is the transgender( born male in a female’s body or

During my third year of high school I became acutely aware of the world-wide issue regarding Women’s rights. I made an attempt to look over many of the cultural norms that I had previously believed as just being "the natural order of things” and quite normal. One of the many paths I took to further expand my awareness of the female psyche involved women's literature. That is why I spent an entire weekend of my life in bed--sobbing, laughing, feeling sometimes completely confused, and often, incredibly irritable and distraught. On that cold and rainy Friday night I had decided to read "The Women's Room” by Marilyn French.

Butler’s overarching idea throughout her essay is that becoming a gender is not done through linguistics but rather action – specific focus to the body. From the beginning of the essay, Butler makes the distinction between gender and sex very clear. Gender is plainly a social construct and the gender you choose to associate with is developed through repeated actions. Sex rather, is anatomic; your internal bodily organs and reproductive systems define it.

One of the controversial topics that Nelson discusses is gender, and refers to Judith Butler’s Gender Troubles. In her book, Butler deconstructs the gender binaries because she believes that they lock our thoughts in a cage. “There is no reason to assume that genders ought also remain as two” (Butler 9). Butler is not trying to completely destroy gender identity, but what she wants is to remove the binary labels of gender, and learn why society has accepted the genders male and female to be normal. Nelson feels that she is someone who personally does not need

Judith Butler, in her essay "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution", claims that there is no gendered self. As opposed to Simone de Beauvoir, who believes that sex is biologically determined and gender is a social construct, Butler believes that sex can only be read through gender, making them both constructs. Butler argues that the male/female binary is unstable and invalid. She states that what is called "gender identity is a performative accomplishment compelled by social sanction and taboo" (Butler 901).

This is where Foucault’s examination of power in Discipline and Punish is seen as “a circulation or distribution of knowledge.”6 The commonality of knowledge is what enforces the “meanings and functions of normalization.”7 Human beings who do not function in the majority of the normative or refuse to conform towards the ubiquitous standard will endure the consequences by being classified as abnormal and being excluded from the norm. Through the works of Judith Butler (who is influenced by Foucault and Derrida), a novice deconstruction towards the gender binary could point towards how, in actuality, gender operates primarily out of performance. For gender to function within the norm, gender must correlate within heteronormativity.8 Thus all aspects of anatomy and sexuality have been originated from structures built by society. Society has placed meaning on the semantics and schema of language that determine gender roles, sexual roles, and how they intersect with one another. It is here where deconstruction is seen as the inverting and reinscription of traditional binary fixations. Additionally, the reality of gender or sexuality is never without a hermeneutical bias precisely because reality is always mediated through the “lens of language.”9 From the ontological example, even though male is not female, female is needed in order

One of the main theorists in Gender Theory is American philosopher Judith Butler, she says:

This article seems to be a part of an interview with the writer Eleanor Smeal, who is an expert on gender topic in the 21st century. As a result, she has written the

Judith Butler questions the belief that behaviors of either sex are natural. She proposes a rather radical theory that gender is performative and that sex is constructed. When gender is being performed, it means that someone would take on a role, acting in such a way that gives society the idea of their gender and constructs part of their identity. To be performative means that we produce a series of effects.Gender is constructed and is not in any way connected ‘naturally’ to sex.

Gender plays a big role in the way we are accepted and respected in life. Gender roles refers to society's idea of how men and women are expected to act and behave. After reading the section “gender roles” I see all women deal with this issue daily. Women aren’t accepting themselves, or are willing to change, because of someone’s opinion. I personally use to think I was insecure, it was until I realized in today’s world females have to carry their self a certain way. Reading through the five essays my view on women isn’t altered but I do have a better understanding.

Spargo goes on to address some of the criticisms of Foucault and how these failing have been addressed as queer theory has developed. The most significant of these criticism as addressed by Spargo was Foucault’s focus on masculine sexualities . Spargo explores the relationship of the production of sexuality to gender through a discussion of Judith Butler. Butler argues that gender is produced and understood via cultural discourse in the same way as sexuality . Gender according to Butler is

According to Judith Butler’s theory, gender is a social concept and not a natural part of being, therefore making it unstable and fluid. Gender identities are produced through what Butler calls “performativity,” the repetitive acts of expression that form and define the notions of masculinity and femininity. These repeated performances are engrained within the heteronormative society and impose these gendered expectations on individuals. In this respect, gender is something inherent in a person, however Butler writes “gender is always a doing, though not a doing by a subject who might be said to pre-exist the deed.” In Olga Tokarczuk’s House of Day, House of Night identity is undoubtedly central to the characters’ stories, specifically the strict social constructs of gender that is snarled with one’s identity. Tokarczuk’s novel presents a mosaic of stories that put into question heteronormative gender roles, while offering an alternative way of existence. Analyzing House of Day, House of Night with Judith Butler’s gender theory demonstrates the characters struggles within the rigid constructions of gender and how some ultimately deal with moving past such restricting expectations.

Therе arе mаny wаys in which tо exаmine the cоncept оf gеnder. Mаny pеоplе simplу detеrmine gеnder as a divisiоn intо mаle аnd femаle but it becоmеs mоre difficult with theоry. In Judith Butler’s Performative Acts and Gender Constitution she says that gender is an act that is repeаted, reеnacted and re-еxperienced (Butler, 1988:906). It is a performance that is impоsed to individuаls by mаny outsidе sоurces thrоughout histоry such as the sоciety. She аlso аdds that sоciety mоlds us into how we view “men” and “women” shоuld act or behavе. We wеre raised to behаve in cеrtain wаys that оur pаrent’s beliеve were traits of a prоper lаdy or a gentlemаn becаuse they too, were rаised with the same understаndings.

In 1990 Judith Butler first published her book Gender Troubles, where she questions gender roles. Butler theorizes that gender, as in male and female, is a type of societal/gender colonialism created to keep people who do not fall within the gender roles from being part of the mainstream society. In her 1999 preface, in which she addresses the impact her book had in the decade since its original publication, Butler expresses the concern she had with the “heterosexual assumption in feminist literary theory (61).” Butler utilizes the works of other feminist philosophers to further demonstrate the inconsistency, and disconnect between fighting for women rights and fighting for human rights. Judith Butler makes an interesting argument on the failure to recognize the spectrum of gender, however, she makes a compelling argument on the use of language perpetuating a patriarchal society.