Quote:
Originally Posted by dark_crystal
I am taking a literary theory class, and this week is "Feminism week," so our assigned readings included "Gener Trouble," by Judith Butler
I found it very triggery! And I am kinda feeling like holding her responsible for a lot of the "shoulding" i went through throughout the 90's
Basically, what i think she says in "Gender Trouble" is that there is no innate masculinity or femininity and we are all just performing arbitrary social constructions
I feel like she is telling me i don't exist! That my butch does not exist! That transitioning FTMs/MTFs are putting themselves through surgery for nothing!
I need to be ready to discuss this by Wednesday, and I see that she has written a lot more since "Gender Trouble"- so maybe it is possible that she refined her views?
I am kinda crowd-sourcing this inquiry since I have to write a paper about Nietzsche's "On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense" this weekend and so I do not have time to follow up on Butler like I would like to
So I am asking ya'll- does anyone else feel this way about that piece? Does she revise her views later on?
How am I going to talk about her as a theorist without personalizing the issue?
What that really be so bad if i DID personalize the issue?
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I don't believe she is saying that gender doesn't exist, she is arguing though that it comes into existence through repetition and that we perform gender. Remember it is only theory and there are a lot of competing gender theories.