Judith Butler | Identity + Performative Acts and Gender Constitutions

Judith Pamela Butler is an American philosopher and gender theorist and their work has had a lot of influence in feminist, queer and literacy theory. She believes that there are certain gendered behaviors that are natural, however the way we learn performances of gendered behavior (meaning masculinity and femininity) is imposed upon us by 'normative heterosexuality'.

She believes we speak and act in ways that consolidate impressions of being a man or a woman. A large part of her work and telling people about her beliefs is discussing her own personal experiences in order to explain the things that a lot of other people go through almost every day. Butler is openly gay and discusses how her appearance opens up possibilities for people to make judgments and negative comments about her, even in public situations. Another thing she has discussed that I found quite interesting is how we act being of a man or being a women is the defined fact about us and something that should be stood by. Whilst adding to that, a feminine boy or a tomboy may struggle to be social and be themselves without the fear of being judged and bullied, sometimes getting to the extent of having to deal with threats of violence. Even in a family situation someone like this may have to deal with people asking them why they can't 'be normal' or if they need counselling assistance in order to help them through this 'stage'. As if the traits they present and the people that they wish to be are not excepted and therefore need to be 'fixed'.

Butler argues that we are not born ourselves but rather become or create a self, through the means of social pressure in order to conform. When we discuss and think about this on a deeper level we can come to a conclusion that if we threw out these expectations and social pressure there is in fact no wrong way for somebody to do their 'gender wrong'. There should be no wrong or right way to be masculine and/or feminine when it comes to your own gender.

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