William Butler's 'Shame Before Others'

Butler believes that human norms single out people who do not fit into these circumstances. This is discrimination and a form of bullying. People who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, etc. do not fit cultural norms which leads to them being singled out and harassed. Sara Ahmed would agree with Butler on the idea that human norms single out those who are different. Ahmed wrote an article called “Shame Before Others” in which she explains the meaning behind shame, guilt, grief, and pride. Ahmed believes, “...shame feels like an exposure - another sees what I have done that is bad and hence shameful - but it also involves an attempt to hide, a hiding that requires the subject turn away from the other and towards itself” (Ahmed 103). We

She says, “To counter oppression requires that one understand that lives are supported and maintained differentially, that there are radically different ways in which human physical vulnerability is distributed across the globe” (Butler 24). We do not live in a healthy society. A healthy society supports all of the people who live under the society. No one should feel like they do not belong in a society because there should not be a distinct standard of the people whom live in a society. Butler feels that “certain lives are not considered lives at all, they cannot be humanized; they fit no dominant frame for the human, and their dehumanization occurs first, at this level” (Butler 25). Ocean believes that we are alike, “Human beings spinning on blackness” (“Frank Ocean”). He agrees with Butler that we all should not fit into a dominant frame for humans. We should all join together as a variety of different individuals. I agree with Butler, dehumanization begins when a person does not fit a cultural frame for a society. Society tries to mold us all into the perfect reproducing, law-abiding citizens. When we do not abide by these terms, we cannot live worry free in this society. We are singled out which brings upon shame and guilt within ourselves. Ahmed says, “…the transference of bad feeling to the subject in shame is only temporary, as the ‘transference’ can become evidence of the restoration of an identity of which we can be proud” (Ahmed 109). I think Ahmed is trying to say that shame is only a temporary feeling. You will not experience this feeling for a long period of time once you reveal whatever it is that is causing you the shame, then you will feel relief and pride within