Judith Butler’s Trouble in Gender

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My mother gave me my name in hope that the dreamy embers I began with would ignite into a roaring fire. A powerful fire that she could stand back and admire; a fire she helped build and that she hoped would never falter. She wished for me to be an individual and hoped that I would explore every avenue that might give me that spark we all so desperately seek to fulfill our lives. However, society has given me boundaries. They have passed down an unwritten, prescribed set of rules. They have informed me that I am a girl, consisting of female traits and feminine tendencies. I have been given the female version of the script and I am expected to follow it to a tee if I want to stay in the play. Imagine if you will...”You there! Take this script. This here is your stereotype, down here is your gender role, and on the back page with further clarification is the social norm. This is what is expected of you take the time to memorize it in full.” It sounds pretty rigorous and constricting doesn’t it?

In cJudith Butler’s essay Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, she examines the restrictions placed on men and women by the process of socialization. She makes an important distinction between sex and gender and argues that both sex and gender are culturally constructed. A vital term Butler fashions is Gender Performativity. She says that no identity exists behind the show that we put on. We are taught to wear a mask that supposedly expresses the gender society has prearranged for us. Those people who alter their masks or try on the opposite gender’s mask are socially outcast or at the very least frowned upon. These masks establish the roles we are to play rather than convey the illusion of the unwavering, traditi...

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... because it is directly opposing the norm and challenging the separated heterosexual genders. The ideal genders are not allowed to experiment with the roles either by playing them up or switching them around without being targeted in some way. However, it is a good thing some individuals deviate from the regular forms of expression because it is a step closer to changing gender norms and the binary understanding of masculinity and femininity. Butler calls for gender trouble which essentially means to mix up these given roles so that they aren’t so important or no longer exist at all. It is essential in order to gain back the individuality we all so desperately seek.

Works Cited

Butler, Judith. (1990). “Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire”. In Gender Trouble. Feminism and The Subversion of Identity”, pp. 1-34.

Philosophe en tout genre. Paul Zajdermann. 2006.

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