The Key Themes Of Gender Trouble By Judith Butler

Culture often thrives off of polar opposites—hot and cold, bitter and sweet, male and female. By setting up these opposing constructs, one can easily find a set definition for each. A hot surface could scorch someone or a cold temperature could cause them to shiver. In the same way, a bitter substance would be less enjoyable to eat than a sweet one. These terms are often defined by mentioning their antitheses. Because it’s comfortable to embrace specificity and certainty, topics such as gender and gender expression often get simplified into binary existences—however, they don’t quite operate under the same parameters. In an essay entitled “Bad Feminist”, Dr. Roxane Gay explores and warns against the dangers of binary thinking. Throughout

In this short story, Butler deconstructs the socially constructed sex and gender roles of men and women by placing female characters as the source of power and domination. As “ the lic government official in charge of the Preserve, and thus the important of her kind to deal directly with Terrans” (Butler 1), the female alien, T’Gatoi, holds a strong and powerful role in the story. Her political position not only puts her beyond her male counterpart but allows her to hold power and privileges that are usually given to men. With T’Gatoi, Butler's several of masculine and feminine role, allows her to display a gender that contradicts the creature's sex. Furthermore, by stepping outside gender binaries, the monstrosity that occurs is the grotesque

Clare Croft’s article talks about the physical responses to prompts, as she removes the word “girl” from rehearsals and gives them words such as “bossy” or “scarred.” With this she achieves a less hetero-normative performance as it removed the idea’s of femineity and gender. She also talks of the loudness of the male actors in comparison to the females, and how it draws the eye away. This is one way in which IF THERE’S NOT DANCING AT THE REVOLUTION, I’M NOT COMING… achieves feminist goals. By removing the male from the stage, directing the focus to the Julia Croft and paying attention to her representations of gender.

The Traffic in Women: The “Political economy” of sex by Gayle Rubin is an exploration of the origin of women’s oppression. Rubin’s main objective is to arrive at a more fully developed definition of the sex/gender system, otherwise referred to as “mode of reproduction” and/or “patriarchy”. She further develops her definition through the analysis of the work of Levi-Strauss and Freud from a marxist perspective. Rubin provides the following preliminary definition of the sex/gender system “A set of arrangements by which a society transforms biological sexuality into products of human activity, and in which these transformed sexual needs are satisfied.” (159) She attempts to add to her definition of the sex/gender system through the analysis of the overlapping work of Claude Levi- Strauss and Sigmund Freud. Despite implications with their work, Rubin believes that both Levi-Strauss and Freud provide conceptual tools in describing the sex/gender system. Rubin looks at a Marxist analysis of sex oppression, as well as, Engels theory of society which integrates both sex and sexuality. Furthermore she incorporates aspects of each theory addressed into her own working definition of the sex/gender system. By shifting between Marxist, structuralist and psychoanalyst explanations of sex oppression, Rubin is able to construct a multi-dimensional definition of the sex/gender system that is not only inclusive but also provides a basis of which to build from.

The essential part of Butler’s theory is that performativity exists “within a highly rigid regulatory frame”—meaning that it is the expectations and assumptions of discourse that enable gender’s performativity, not subjects themselves (Gender 43-44). Ainsley does not consciously choose her gender Instead, Ainsley is responding through performance to the patriarchal expectations that inform this regulatory frame—she dresses as a young and inexperienced girl not only because she chooses to, but also the regulatory expectations demand this type of performance from her specially, Len (Fleitz

By Marilyn Frye’s conception of oppression, men cannot be oppressed. She sees sexism in terms of mainly its institutional and structural states, with interpersonal and personal expressions perpetuating the oppression. Because of her views, she concludes that men as a group cannot be oppressed. However, there are problems with her analysis and ultimately I will argue that men can be oppressed as a group - but only by other men. They can suffer under the institutional sexism that Frye describes but the institutions and structures are created by and mainly perpetuated by men.

The term ‘feminism’ and ‘feminist’ first started to gain popularity in the 1970s. Starting in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, continued into the 1960s and 1970s, then followed by the 1990s to the twentieth century, feminism and feminist grown across the nation. From clubs and organizations, to readings and speeches, feminist all across the nation, and world, have influenced aspects of our daily lives, including our literature. “Feminist criticism examines the ways in which literature reinforces or undermines the economic, political., social, and psychological oppression of woman” (Tyson 83). In simpler terms, feminist criticism is critiquing literary readings, through the mind of a woman’s opinion of structure and being.

“Then, and not until then, will there be the perfect comradeship, the ideal union between the sexes that shall result in the highest development of the race” (Susan B Anthony). Feminism has evolved into our society in a slowly but remarkably life-changing way. Since the beginning of time, men have been deemed superior over women for the anatomy of their bodies and intellectual abilities. In the 21st century, patriarchal abuse has lessened and may not be practiced by women anymore; however, feminist (women and men) are fighting against these controversial roles implemented to them by society and culture. Many have the urge to presume that a feminist is a stereotypical man-hating activist who believes all the troubles in the world are caused by men. Feminism is anything but a stereotype; in fact the definition of feminism is “the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.” Equality is the main aspect that ties feminist together through the hardships of the developing society. Feminist perspectives therefore challenge and explore patriarchal interests implemented in women’s ability to express themselves and the quality of their lives. Fundamentally, feminist analysis intends to closely examine how male dominance and female advocacy manifest themselves in specific angles of society. In the world of feminist analysis, according to Donald Hall, critics and theorists are

The passage below from The Feminist Local and Global Theory Perspective Reader suggests that biological terms of male and female are not self-determined but pre-assigned. Once a person is assigned an anatomical category (in this case only being male or female) what they do with this information is how they are pre-determined to act. This cycle perpetuates the reoccurring gender roles that have been inevitably causing both males and females to be oppressed. Consequently, this is unlikely to change since until recently this is how things have always been when it comes to gender and sex. Throughout the reading the topics of both sex and gender are introduced on differently levels of complexity.

In Surfacing by Margaret Atwood, there are numerous portrayals of feminism and gender roles. There are underlying hints of distaste towards the female sex role and the predatory, aggressive behaviour of men towards women. The suppression of women is portrayed and analyzed, and Surfacing manages to tackle the theme of gender roles by exploring through the perspective of the female narrator how women are marginalized in many aspects of their lives. . Surfacing makes a case for strong women that defy stereotypical gender roles and portrays how men are continually pushing the boundaries of their roles and going to the extreme with them.

Sheila Jeffreys, a feminist scholar and political activist, writes in her book, “Gender Hurts: A Feminist Analysis of the Politics of Transgenderism,” that “men’s ideas about what women are have been formed from their ruling caste position, and have assigned women characteristics that would most advantage their masters, as well as justify men’s rule over them. They do not represent ‘truth’ but have been promoted as if they were” (Jeffreys 7). This statement by Jeffreys supports the idea of female misrepresentation and inferiority in the world, extending to various mediums of entertainment: literature, cinema, art, television, etc. Exploring two passages written by Ian Grey and Joanna Russ, I examined the purposes and arguments of both writers. Their

In Judith Butler’s “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution” she examines what fulfilling the role of gender and sex means through phenomenology. The Act Theory, a theory Butler outlines at the beginning of her essay, outlines an idea that seeks to represent what it is to do prior to an assumption of what you ought to do. Butler elaborates and shows the reader how phenomenology is simply an attempt to return to look at the body and subjective experiences – this idea is crucial to feminist theory. In Butler’s essay she addresses the issue of how gender is defined and adapted as a society, and the effects to how our own society interprets gender. In this paper I will be outlining Butler’s idea of phenomenology in regards to gender, while also

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.

What necessary tasks does Judith Butler identify for feminist criticism? How is her articulation of and response to these tasks characteristically "postmodern"?

This statement suggests that if you were to disregard the scripts that are assigned to each gender, something different might come to be. In summary, the theory of gender performativity highlights that gender performance is habitually and continually acted and performed on a daily basis in everyday life and gender does not have to be depicted by the set regulations of society.