Judith Butler's Concept of Performativity

Judith Butler's Concept of Performativity · A central concept of the theory is that your gender is constructed through your own repetitive ... Home›JudithButler’sConceptofPerformativity JudithButler’sConceptofPerformativity ByNASRULLAHMAMBROLonOctober10,2016 •(7) Claimingthat“Identityisperformativelyconstituted”,JudithButlerinherpathbreakingGenderTrouble(1990)formulatedapostmodernistnotionofgender,inlinewiththedeconstructiveethosandcontradictorytothetraditionalnotion’,thatgendersarefixedcategories.Butlerdefinedgenderasasocialroleperformed/enactedbytheindividuals,andvalidatedandacceptedbysociety.AccordingtoButler,themeaningofgenderdepends.ontheculturalframeworkwithinwhichitisperformed,andhenceit defiesfixities anduniversalities,becausegenderisacontinuousperformance,acquiringnewmeaningwitheachrepeatedperformancesorcitationsdependingonthecontextinwhichitoccurs.Refusingfixities,Butlerseesgenderasprovisional,shifting,contingentandperformed.Thisviewalsorejectsessentialismsandstableidentitiesandmeanings,whilealsoeschewingnotionsofauthenticity,authority,universalityandobjectivity. JudithButlerandPerformativityforBeginners(mostlyinherownwords) Acentralconceptofthetheoryisthatyourgenderisconstructedthroughyourownrepetitiveperformanceofgender.Thisisrelatedtotheideathatdiscoursecreatessubjectpositionsforyourselftooccupy—linguisticstructuresconstructtheself.ThestructureordiscourseofgenderforButler,however,isbodilyandnonverbal.Butler’stheorydoesnotacceptstableandcoherentgenderidentity.Genderis“astylizedrepetitionofacts...whichareinternallydiscontinuous...[sothat]theappearanceofsubstanceispreciselythat,aconstructedidentity,aperformativeaccomplishmentwhichthemundanesocialaudience,includingtheactorsthemselves,cometobelieveandtoperforminthemodeofbelief”(GenderTrouble).Tosaythatgenderisperformativeistoarguethatgenderis“realonlytotheextentthatitisperformed”(GenderTrouble). Thereisnoselfprecedingoroutsideagenderedself.Butlerwrites,“...ifgenderisconstructed,itisnotnecessarilyconstructedbyan‘I’ora‘we’whostandsbeforethatconstructioninanyspatialortemporalsenseof‘before.’Indeed,itisunclearthattherecanbean‘I’ora“we”whohadnotbeensubmitted,subjectedtogender,wheregenderingis,amongotherthings,thedifferentiatingrelationsbywhichspeakingsubjectscomeintobeing...the‘I’neitherprecedesnorfollowstheprocessofthisgendering,butemergesonlywithinthematrixofgenderrelationsthemselves”(BodiesthatMatter). Performativityofgenderisastylizedrepetitionofacts,animitationormimingofthedominantconventionsofgender.Butlerarguesthat“theactthatonedoes,theactthatoneperformsis,inasense,anactthat’sbeengoingonbeforeonearrivedonthescene”(GenderTrouble).“Genderisanimpersonation...becominggenderedinvolvesimpersonatinganidealthatnobodyactuallyinhabits”(interviewwithLizKotzinArtforum). Biologicalsexisalsoasocialconstruction—gendersubsumessex.“Accordingtothisview,then,thesocialconstructionofthenaturalpresupposesthecancellationofthenaturalbythesocial.Insofarasitreliesonthisconstrual,thesex/genderdistinctionfounders...ifgenderisthesocialsignificancethatsexassumeswithinagivenculture...thenwhat,ifanything,isleftof‘sex’onceithasassumeditssocialcharacterasgender?...Ifgenderconsistsofthesocialmeaningsthatsexassumes,thensexdoesnotaccruesocialmeaningsasadditiveproperties,butratherisreplacedbythesocialmeaningsittakeson;sexisrelinquishedinthecourseofthatassumption,andgenderemerges,notasaterminacontinuedrelationshipofoppositiontosex,butasthetermwhichabsorbsanddisplaces“sex”(BodiesthatMatter).Butleralsowrites“Ithinkforawomantoidentifyasawomanisaculturallyenforcedeffect.Idon’tthinkthatit’sagiventhatonthebasisofagivenanatomy,anidentificationwillfollow.Ithinkthat‘coherentidentification’hastobecultivated,policed,andenforced;andthattheviolationofthathastobepunished,usuallythroughshame”(interviewwithLizKotzinArtforum). Whatisatstakeingenderrolesistheideologyofheterosexuality.“Toclaimthatallgenderislikedrag,orisdrag,istosuggestthat‘imitation’isattheheartoftheheterosexualprojectanditsgenderbinarism,thatdragisnotasecondaryimitationthatpresupposesapriorandoriginalgender,butthathegemonicheterosexualityisitselfaconstantandrepeatedefforttoimitateitsownidealizations.Thatitmustrepeatthisimitation,thatitsetsuppathologizingpracticesandnormalizingsciencesinordertoproduceandconsecrateitsownclaimonoriginalityandpropriety,suggeststhatheterosexualperformativityisbesetbyananxietythatitcanneverfullyovercome….thatitsefforttobecomeitsownidealizationscanneverbefinallyorfullyachieved,andthatitisconstantlyhauntedbythatdomainofsexualpossibilitythatmustbeexcludedforheterosexualizedgendertoproduceitself”(BodiesthatMatter). PerformativityofGender(drag)canbesubversive.“Dragissubversivetotheextentthatitreflectsontheimitativestructurebywhichhegemonicgenderisitselfproducedanddisputesheterosexuality’sclaimonnaturalnessandoriginality”(BodiesthatMatter). Butsubversionthroughperformanceisn’tautomaticoreasy.Indeed,ButlercomplainsthatpeoplehavemisreadherbookGenderTrouble.“Thebadreadinggoessomethinglikethis:Icangetupinthemorning,lookinmycloset,anddecidewhichgenderIwanttobetoday.Icantakeoutapieceofclothingandchangemygender,stylizeit,andthenthateveningIcanchangeitagainandbesomethingradicallyother,sothatwhatyougetissomethinglikethecomodificationofgender,andtheunderstandingoftakingonagenderasakindofconsumerism....[treating]genderdeliberately,asifit’sanobjectoutthere,whenmywholepointwasthattheveryformationofsubjects,theveryformationofpersons,presupposesgenderinacertainway—thatgenderisnottobechosenandthat‘performativity’isnotradicalchoiceanditsnotvoluntarism...Performativityhastodowithrepetition,veryoftentherepetitionofoppressiveandpainfulgendernorms...Thisisnotfreedom,butaquestionofhowtoworkthetrapthatoneisinevitablyin”(interviewwithLizKotzinArtforum).Butleralsowritesthat“itseemstomethatthereisnoeasywaytoknowwhethersomethingissubversive.Subversivenessisnotsomethingthatcanbegaugedorcalculated...Idothinkthatforacopytobesubversiveofheterosexualhegemonyithastobothmimeanddisplaceitsconventions”(interviewwithLizKotzinArtforum). 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