Introduction
Judith Butler, a feminist philosopher, introduced the theory of gender performativity. Butler wrote an article, “Gender Trouble” (2011), that concerned the identity of men and women in society. Butler’s view of gender entailed what an individual does, but not what the person is. Gender was perceived as natural or internal, but not in the theory of gender performativity and undoing sexual categories. Butler defined gender as actions and signs portrayed by a person. People’s actions reveal their gender based on performance rather than siding with people. This essay proves how identity has been theorized to affect performance based on sexual category.
Repetition and Social Construction of Gender
Ritualized repetition defines the gender of an individual rather than a single act. Reiteration of activities in society brings stability to a sexual category to make it seem legitimate. In a community, some things are left to be done by men while others are left to women. Tasks that involve large amounts of energy are viewed as being done by males. Chores that require minimal energy are left to women (West & Zimmerman, 1987). According to Butler (2011), societal structures reward people who perform gender in the “right” way. The society also punishes those who do not abide by its definition of gender.
Distinction Between Sex and Gender in Feminist Thought
Sex and gender are different in biological determinism, which holds that men and women are biologically inherent. Feminists in the twentieth century proposed that masculinity was the cultural expectation that sexed an individual’s body (Butler, 2004). The activists argued that sexual role meant the biological identification of the body.
Models that emphasize the differences between men and women can be modified. This modification could bring a fair definition of differences between males and females in society based on performance. Sexual characteristics follow a binary system of distinction between a man and a woman (Butler, 2004). Gender should not be subjected to double identification but rather be differentiated based on individual performance.
Undoing Gender: Performance Over Identity
Sexual difference should not be solely used to distinguish gender. The performance of an individual matters when classifying the person as masculine or feminine. To other thinkers, including Rosi Braidotti, sexual variances go beyond the sex binary, which is fixed.
Butler believed that once a child is born, parents refer to them as boys or girls (West & Zimmerman, 1987). That, however, was not what defined the children, but their actions shaped them. The world already has an understanding of gender, and this results in the judgment of people’s anatomy.
Gender, viewed in this perspective, affects performance. Critics befell Butler’s class of thought, accusing the philosopher of terming gender based only on language and not bodily appearance (Kinkaid & Nelson, 2020). The opposers of Butler thought that she meant that one could wake up and decide one’s gender.
Societal Norms, Judgment, and the Binary System
In the theory of undoing gender, Butler states that actions reproduce gender, not only by speaking, contrary to most thinking. People dress in a particular manner, exercise at the gym, and visit exceptional medical specialists (Durmuş, 2022). These practices are done in repetition to the extent of making sex reinforced and inescapable.
Sexual category is created and redefined throughout an individual’s life. Things are done repeatedly, and modifications may happen at different times. It is possible to change sexual characteristics by doing things differently or by stopping them and changing their meaning (Butler, 2004). Undoing gender portrays the possibility of having performance affected by gender.
Political and Social Influences on Butler’s Work
International movements inspired Butler’s gender agenda during her writing. Political alignments and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission boosted Butler’s work. Committed to justice, non-violence, and equality, Butler’s work was ironically faced with false allegations.
Some religious associations saw the theorist as a threat to society. Humanity has always viewed gender and its roles as conservative, meaning that a particular sex, whether male or female, has its assigned tasks (Butler, 2020). If an individual is tasked with male duties, it seems awkward for the same person to be seen carrying out female ones and vice versa.
Gender as a Limiting Category in Performance
Gender is theorized to affect the performance of an individual’s life. Butler questioned whether some genders are natural, pointing out that some are learned. Gendered behavior is commonly termed or associated with masculinity or femininity (Durmuş, 2022).
The doctrine of the constitution takes an individual as an object instead of a subject of the constitutive acts. According to Butler’s theory, it is not advisable to determine a person’s consequences (Butler, 2020). People predetermine the life of a human being immediately, and they are termed male or female.
It is challenging to grow in a world that categorizes people by judging and placing them in a specific group (Silva & Alves, 2020). People fail to realize their full potential because they are fixed in a particular bracket. The classification limits one’s abilities to advance and perform to the maximum limit in life’s activities.
Systems and nature place a person in an undesired position based on gender. Recently, people have assumed that women are deprived of their rights and have been misused in different fields. There has been an increase in female activists defending the rights of their male counterparts (Elliott, 2021). This makes gender an effect on the performance of an individual who is pushed by society.
Individuals need help to adjust to the community when tied to a standard the world sets. Ladies, for instance, fail to work to their maximum limits, waiting to be defended by activists (Elliott, 2020). Some males also find themselves deprived of their rights due to the increased shift in focus from men to women (Morgenroth & Ryan, 2021). Gender plays a vital role in the performance of males and females in society because of misinterpretations in today’s world.
Rethinking the Essence of Gender and Identity
Gender should be classified as a category of essence, according to “Gender Trouble,” written by Judith Butler. Questioning the psychoanalysis of Freud’s male and female classification, Butler is determined to show that the sexual category is not only based on the social construct (Burkitt, 2008). The performance of an individual is enough to place them in a group of either feminine or masculine.
Butler believes a woman is the other form of a man, excluding ladies from society (Schirato & Brady, 2010). The exclusion has adverse effects on the empowerment of women in society. Presentation is only fairly judged when an equal playing ground is provided to people of different genders. It is, therefore, unfair to judge the performance of females when an unequal platform is given to them, with most of the time, men being the beneficiaries of unfair terms.
The Impact of Queer Theory on Female Representation
Gender in the queer theory of Judith Butler is examined in the lives of women based on the societal influence of unwittingly engaging them. Women struggle to adapt to society’s norms that fail to give them a chance to perform. The female gender also finds it difficult to resist the acts of society that place them in undesired positions in the community (Wehrle, 2020).
The behavior of a human being creates the reality of the person. To change a person means to change the individual’s conduct to match the desired outcome (Harding, 2020). Women can shape their performance by creating potential or strengthening subversive outcomes.
Gender, the Material Body, and Social Expectation
The material body of a person should not be used to judge or determine the gender of the individual. One’s sense of identity is influenced by categorizing a being as either male or female. The psychology of a human being is affected by society’s classification of man. Performance is affected based on the full potential of a particular gender, which community members determine.
In ancient times, women were thought to be supporters of men and had no place in making decisions (Butler, 2004). This has changed in the recent past, with women’s rights being pushed all over the globe. People have advocated for female inclusivity in essential decisions, including politics (Mansfield, 2000). There are, however, challenges when the battleground is set for manhood and womanhood, with most of the time, people opting to choose men.
Performing gender to the extent of appealing to society makes an individual an entire subject. A designated role is given to a person in the community due to doing a specific task to satisfy those surrounding the human. People are made subjects of an unknown audience and live to appease their surroundings.
Cultural Performances and Regulatory Fictions
The theory of gender performativity by Judith Butler states that people live with an unconscious and conscious awareness (Osborne et al., 1994). Gender has constraints that people find challenging to conform to within society. Butler states that gender is not a fact but is created by the acts of a person, without which there would be no gender.
There should be no preexisting identity of an individual for measuring performance based on gender. Judith Butler states that a body produces or shows its presentation based on cultural signification (Franks, 2020). People term others as male or female based on their bodily identity, based on distorted acts of the designated gender.
Butler argued that postulating a true gender would be a regulatory fiction (Butler, 2011). Gender has its imitative structure and contingency, as revealed by drag, whereby men are perceived to perform exaggeratedly (Atkins, Ed., 2008). The performance of males is classified as a feminine model, which is extended beyond the reach of women.
Conclusion
The existence of gender-based performances in society brings an unfair comparison between men and women. As discussed above, there has been a recent rise in female activists who defend women’s rights, unlike in ancient times. People should not use bodily composition to determine the gender of individuals in the community.
As Judith Butler states in her writings on femininity, performance should be used in sex creation. People tend to use sexual characteristics to determine a preexisting identity of a person, which, as discussed in the above text, should not be the case. The performance of an individual should be used to determine a human being without having a predetermined limit in life. It is advisable to avoid basing arguments on binary sex when defining gender as a sexual category that is both bodily and linguistic.
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