27 pages • 54 minutes read
Judith ButlerPerformative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory
Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 1988A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Third Wave Feminism
Butler, writing in the late 1980s, was active during the transition from second to third wave feminism. The second pushed for equal rights both in public life and the home, some key successes being an acknowledgment of domestic violence and sexual harassment, availability of birth control, reproductive rights, and the prohibition of sex-based discrimination in any federally funded educational institution. Criticism of the second wave focused on its tendency to homogenize the interests of women, ignore the needs of women of color and other minority groups, and view pornography and sex work as forms of oppression rather than expressions of women’s autonomy.
The third wave focused on intersectionality, included trans issues, and aimed to destabilize the norms of patriarchy. Butler’s work addresses the thinking behind this transition and cautions against considering the category “woman” as inherently meaningful. A particular concern of Butler’s is defining women based on their status as oppressed. Though this tactic can be useful for creating solidarity, it can also become self-fulfilling.
Existentialism and Phenomenology
Butler’s work depends heavily on the French philosophical traditions of existentialism and phenomenology, particularly the ideas of Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Simone de Beauvoir. Existentialism influenced other theorists important to Butler like Michel Foucault. The goal of these schools is to question assumptions about the structures of society—such as the distinction between sane and insane or man and woman. Butler’s work, by taking inspiration from a variety of fields and interrogating many basic assumptions about society, fits firmly in existentialist and phenomenological traditions.
The Concept of “Trans”
Today, the term “transvestite” has fallen out of favor due to its etymological association with the psychological diagnosis “transvestic disorder”—a condition in which wearing the clothes of the opposite gender creates intense sexual arousal and the urge to engage in this behavior causes significant distress or impairment in daily life. Transvestic disorder is distinct from cross-dressing, as wearing the clothes of the opposite gender can be done for many reasons, does not necessitate sexual arousal, and does not necessarily cause distress or impairment in daily life. Butler, writing in the 1980s, uses the term “transvestite” as a synonym for cross-dresser without any medical or psychological implications. It was simply a more common term at the time. Clothing is a major tool through which gender is defined and expressed, as the performance of gender in daily life is closely associated with the “costumes” considered appropriate for men and women. For that reason, clothing can also be an instrument for disrupting gender norms. Today, the term “trans” is generally accepted to denote a person whose sense of personal identity does not correspond to the gender associated with their birth sex. Wearing clothes associated with one’s sense of identity rather than one’s birth sex is, in Butler’s view, a way to challenge the gender roles at the foundation of patriarchal social structures.
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By Judith Butler
