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In Gender Trouble (1990), the philosopher Judith Butler argues that gender identity takes shape through acts repeated under social expectations. Those acts do not merely express a finished inner identity; they help create the appearance of one. Butler calls this 'performativity', which is not the same as choosing a costume or playing any role you please.

Judith Butler

Philosophy

The story behind the card

Judith Butler is an American philosopher at the University of California, Berkeley. Gender Trouble drew on thinkers such as Simone de Beauvoir and Michel Foucault and became a founding text of gender studies and queer theory. Some readers took performativity to mean a free choice, so in Bodies That Matter (1993) Butler stressed that the repeated acts happen within social norms older than any one person, which shape what others recognise and accept.

Türkçe oku
Filozof Judith Butler, Cinsiyet Belası'nda (1990) toplumsal cinsiyet kimliğinin, toplumun beklentileri içinde tekrarlanan davranışlarla şekillendiğini savunur. Bu davranışlar hazır bir iç kimliği dışa vurmakla kalmaz, öyle bir kimlik varmış izlenimini de yaratır. Butler buna “performatiflik” der; bu, kostüm seçmek ya da istediğin rolü oynamak demek değildir.

Judith Butler, Berkeley'deki Kaliforniya Üniversitesi'nde ders veren Amerikalı bir filozoftur. Simone de Beauvoir ve Michel Foucault gibi düşünürlerden beslenen Cinsiyet Belası, toplumsal cinsiyet çalışmalarının ve kuir kuramın temel kitaplarından biri oldu. Bazı okurlar performatifliği özgürce yapılan bir seçim olarak anlayınca Butler, Bodies That Matter'da (1993) bu tekrarlanan davranışların, kişiden önce var olan ve neyin tanınıp kabul edileceğini belirleyen toplumsal normların içinde gerçekleştiğini vurguladı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Gender Trouble
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