Archived. Rather, repeatedly acting in a way that is associated with being heterosexual is what defines one as such. She ran away at a young age, and also tells about some of the pain and hard times she has experienced throughout her life. Nancy Chodrow, "The psychodynamics of the Family" ... Judith Butler, "Imitation and Gender Insubordination" This sex which is not one. (2009). Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Pages 13. eBook ISBN 9781003060963. LibraryThing is a cataloging and social networking site for booklovers Henry Abelove, Michele A. Barale and David M. Halperin (New York: Routledge, 1993), 312. Butler insists that heterosexuality is an imitation of an idealised concept of what heterosexuality is – an imitation of itself. (2009). She says that if identity is constituted by performance, breaks in that performance can cause a disruption of an identity. Judith Butler's voice, I would argue, is indispensable for feminist theory at this historical juncture. Why is gender performed? I felt I started off understanding what she was trying to get across but as I went on reading, things started to get a bit wordy and harder for me to understand. When one “comes out” they are at risk of being viewed differently by their friends and family, because of these oppressive stereotypes of what being gay means. The Precession of Simulacra. ( Log Out / In addition to the “Balls” the movie also focuses on the concept of “houses”. Butler: sex and gender are both cultural categories the distinction between sex and gender In this piece Butler’s main arguments are, “coming out of the closet” can be just as isolating as staying in, gender is performed and performative, and gender identity is unstable. Print. This idea of “performances” can be seen through drag and it’s prevalence in “gay culture”. They begin by describing what a house is and the second character who talks also is speaking about living in a house. Judith Butler writes in The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader, as a Lesbian. She is the author of Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (Routledge, 1990) and to-editor of Feminists Theorize the Political (Routledge, 1992). They have also performed their preferred gender, which allows us to understand that gender is instable, and they have also been isolated because they have revealed their sexual identities. Great text, very helpful to my reading! Reading Questions for Judith Butler, "Imitation and Gender Insubordination" and Lee Edelman, "Tearooms and Sympathy or, the Epistemology of the Water Closet" 1. I want to turn this into a pamphlet and hand it out to people who are skeptical of the utility of critical theory and philosophy in daily life. It is likely that a straight man and a gay man would dress differently, or a straight woman and a lesbian. Pop Culture Research Question Example Pop-up: How do we perform heterosexuality through clothes, dress, acoutrements? Simone de beauvoir "Introduction to the Second Sex" Feminist Theory. “Imitation and Gender Insubordination” by Judith Butler – A summary On 22/06/2014 22/06/2014 By Alla Zaykova In Summary The aim of Butler’s essay (2009), according to her, is to resist homophobic regulatory oppression through rethinking gender and sexuality. Ed. Venus is actually murdered during the filming of the movie, and so we know that her dreams didn’t come true, which is just heartbreaking. That is, in a political discourse that wages its violence against lesbianism in part by excluding lesbianism from discourse itself?" ( Log Out / (“Judith Butlers Imitation and Gender Insubordination Essay”, n.d.) ... Judith Butler initiated the conversation with Sunaura Taylor, ... First, the headline is expected to give a summary of the story and catches... 2 Pages (500 words) Essay. Butler admits to “playing a lesbian” to establish that she is one. She reminds us that our theories, and the … Print. In J. Storey (Ed. First Published 2008. Judith Butler Joan Scott. Butler also argues that similarly to how gender is not physiologically natural, it’s also not natural to the psyche. ), The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader, (New York & London: Routledge, 1993), p. 313. She as well as Venus desire for normal lives, and complete sex changes which they think will help them accomplish this dream. How do you “be” something that you already are? YouTube, 5 May 2009. The façade of this coming out is portrayed as being a freeing experience, but how can it be when there are so many implications that come with it? 2. Categorizing people is a closed minded practice, because it’s almost to say that X determines Y. To me this quote is challenging the idea that the cliché “American Dream” is generalized as part of “heterosexual identifications”, and is saying that those practicing homosexuality can live this lifestyle; just as those practicing heterosexuality can fulfill homosexual stereotypes. - YouTube. Imprint Routledge. Through Judith Butler's book Imitation and Gender Insubordination (1991), she argues that the idea of heteronormativity is reinforced through socio-cultural conditioning, but even more so through visual culture which promotes homo-invisibility. Why wouldn’t someone who is gay or a lesbian play at it if their identity is at risk of “public erasure”? 409-415). Irigaray. It’s going to be harder than you might think. I am also arguing, through my understanding of a quote from Butler’s article, that being gay says nothing more about a person besides their sexual preference. For example there is no prior to 'gender', hence the concept of ‘drag’ itself is an original model, “gender is a kind of imitation for which there is no original “ (her italics 333). [Judith Butler] What came first the chicken or the egg, the homosexuals or the heterosexuals? Therefore, even if homosexuality is a copy, it’s only a copy of a copy as there is no original, similar to Baudrillard’s theory of “simulacra” (2009). 2. Gender Trouble Summary by Judith Butler ... A book by the philosopher Judith Butler, Gender Trouble is an influential work in feminism and gay/lesbian studies. Imitation and Gender Insubordination book. I only truly know she is a man, because she has revealed so. The fact that “being” a straight woman or man, and a homosexual woman or man requires some sort of performance to portray itself reflects that all “sides of sexuality” are instable and unoriginal. After all, she bases the idea that instability is sexy mostly on personal experience, while others may prefer consistency, even if it is performative. Acceptance is gained through participating in “Balls” and being a member of this culture. ( Log Out / Throughout this blogspace I will summarize Judith Butler’s “Imitation and Gender Insubordination” piece that appeared in The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader in 1993. I will also share what thoughts, feelings, and questions this article invokes for me through application. Venus is a man but, she plays a woman quite well. What does Judith Butler mean here? In Judith Butler’s, “Imitation and Gender Insubordination”, these are the questions she seems to be asking and addressing. View 57 seconds in-until the end. There is no volitional subject behind the mime who decides, as it … Imitation and Gender Insubordination- Judith Butler. Both of these beautiful people are women when you look at them but technically male. The Birth of the Prison, trans. Having the appearance of a woman but also a beard, she simultaneously rejects and embraces both genders. The label “lesbian” is (312) "It is one thing to be erased from discourse, and yet J. Storey. By using the example of “drag,” she demonstrates that gender can be acted out and “worn”, concluding that physical sex and gender are separate entities. 313 – 319) Harlow: Pearson. The imitation game. “Drag constitutes the mundane way in which genders are appropriated, theatricalized, worn, and done; it implies that all gendering is a kind of impersonation and approximation. Both character’s also wish to live “womanly” lives as wives or mothers, which can lead us to the concept that these dreams are not determined by their physical sex, but their inner selves. Theorizing or generalizing gay or lesbian people takes away their individuality, as any stereotyping does. (ED.) Reflections on my “Insubordinate” Youth . It’s almost as if they are trying to fit in anyway and the risks don’t matter. J. Storey. Categories: Imitation and Gender Insubordination, Judith Butler | Permalink . Andre Christian, Dorian Corey, Paris Dupree, et al. See what Judith Butler said and how they align to literary criticism. J. Storey. In Judith Butler's essay "Imitation and Gender Insubordination," she states that "the psyche is the permanent failure of expression, a failure that has its values, for it impels repetition and so reinstates the possibility of disruption." They go through a series of characters, most of which play the parts of women, beautiful in their own way. Foucault, M. (2009). Imitation and Gender Insubordination book. An example of homophobic oppression that Butler is trying to resist is the claim that homosexuality is a “bad copy” of heterosexuality. I couldn’t help feeling sad while watching them speak like they were lost souls just looking for real acceptance and love. Judith Butler's ideas about gender very influential to my understanding of gender and queerness. Also testifying to her argument are expressions that claim someone can feel more or less “like a woman” or “like a man”, which suggest these categories are not natural but assumed identities. I felt I started off understanding what she was trying to get across but as I went on reading, things started to get a bit wordy and harder for me to understand. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. They both have desires of normal, happy lives, possibly including husbands and adoptive children. LibraryThing is a cataloging and social networking site for booklovers The homes are almost reflective of sororities or fraternities in the way that each member has to be initiated by winning a trophy in a Ball. Starting Questions: 1. They often all live together in a house, with designated mother and father figures. Many dress as women, either casually going to school or sometimes runway models. Gender Trouble enacts the playful and exciting possibility that criticism can be disruptive, incisive and affirmative. She is one and so she must “perform” as one, the same way, she claims, that a straight man or woman performs being such. The characters in the documentary have represented this. The individuals of these “houses” express love, loyalty, and respect which is expected to be provided by the families that we are born into. Butler at first describes that both "women" and "woman" are used interchangeably, but mean different things - sort of. For being ‘out’ always depends to some extent on being ‘in’; it gains its meaning only within that polarity… In this sense, outness can only produce a new opacity; and the closet produces the promise of a disclosure that can, by definition, never come” (Butler 309). Born into a European-Jewish family, she had her early education in a Hebrew school, where she was introduced to philosophy at the age of fourteen. There are parts of Butler’s complex essay that I agree with, and others that I find questionable. The aim of Butler’s essay (2009), according to her, is to resist homophobic regulatory oppression through rethinking gender and sexuality. Butler’s argument that coming out can be as isolating as staying in can easily be applied here. Academy Entertainment Off White Productions. Film. 5. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. Change ), “Imitation and Gender Insubordination” by Judith Butler – A summary, Follow Midnight Media Musings… on WordPress.com, Plato - "The Republic" and why philosophers should rule, “The Precession of Simulacra” by Jean Baudrillard - a summary, Alienation in the 21st century: the relationship between work and technology, “The practice of everyday life” by Michel de Certeau – A summary, Socrates' claim that nobody does wrong knowingly - Essay. In "Imitation and Gender Insubordination," reprinted here from Inside/Out (ed. Here "imitation" carries the meaning of "derivative" or "secondary" , a copy of an origin which is itself the ground of all copies, but which is itself a copy of nothing. It requires to be instituted again and again, which is to say that it runs the risk of becoming de-instituted at every interval” (315). Click here to navigate to parent product. “Imitation and Gender Insubordination”. Rather than arguing this is not so, Butler proposes this can be said about all sexuality and gender. In this piece Butler’s main arguments are, “coming out of the closet” can be just as isolating as staying in, gender is performed and performative, and gender identity is unstable. This situation reminded me of a quote in Butler’s essay, “Imitation and Gender Insubordination,” where she says …I do not mean to suggest that drag as a “role” that can be taken on or taken off at will. If this is true, it seems, there is no original or primary gender that drag imitates, but gender is a kind of imitation for which there is no original; in fact, it is a kind of imitation that produces the very notion of the original as an effect and consequence of the imitation itself” (313). Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Of course gay people can aspire to have families, homes, careers and white picket fences. Imitation and Gender Insubordinationl JUDITH BUTLER Judith Butler, Professor of Humanities at Johns Hopkins University, is a philosopher, critic, and theorist. "How then to 'be' a lesbian in a political context in which the lesbian does not exist? In this piece Butler’s main arguments are, “coming out of the closet” can be just as isolating as staying in, gender is performed and performative, and gender identity is unstable. Pop Culture Research Question Example Pop-up: How do we perform heterosexuality through clothes, dress, acoutrements? Paris is Burning focuses on Drag Performers living in New York City and the culture and norms within this lifestyle. Diana Fuss, 1991), Butler explores the ways in which the assumption of a lesbian identity can serve not only to affirm but also to constrain, legislate, determine, or specify one's identity in ways that support the categories of homophobic and heterosexist thought. Butler, J. I’ve tried to apply the three main arguments of Judith Butler’s “Imitation and Gender Insubordination”, coming out can be as isolating as not, gender is performed and performative, and gender identity is unstable to this film. The term “gender benders” in popular culture was coined to describe people who push these boundaries and cause “gender trouble”. http://likesuccess.com/author/judith-butler, http://www.strengthsinfocus.com/2015/01/coming-out-of-the-closet/, http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://38.media.tumblr.com/26bfc5b3b1f8eece9503df13bbf85ee2/tumblr_n8l4ngVDiE1rhe0jeo1_500.gif&imgrefurl=https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/butch-queen&h=336&w=495&tbnid=IUPyQxfFVvKTNM:&zoom=1&docid=Ox_re6O3fyEN8M&ei=D-QiVe_-FMK2sAXtqIKADQ&tbm=isch&ved=0CC4QMygCMAI, https://my.vanderbilt.edu/wgs272/2013/02/the-gender-binary-and-venus-xtravaganza/, http://www.dagbladet.no/magasinet/2007/10/31/516793.html, https://prideagenda.org/news/2013-11-25-network-lesbian-and-gay-family-building-project, https://happylifeaholic.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/its-all-love.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1. Looking at her, I think she is pretty and very feminine, even though she technically is a male. Diana Fuss, 1991), Butler expl orU the ways in which the assumption of a lesbian identity can serve not only affirm but also to constrain, legislate, determine, or specify one's identity in ways that support the categories of homophobic and heterosexist thought. Both of the characters I have chosen to use for this application are transgender, not gay. In "Imitation and Gender Insubordination, reprinted here from Inside/Out (ed. She fits the profile of a lesbian but rejects the label because any label is never significantly true and almost always works in the service of an oppressive, exclusionary and disciplinary regime. “Imitation and Gender Insubordination” by Judith Butler – A summary On 22/06/2014 By Alla Zaykova In Summary 3 Comments The aim of Butler’s essay (2009), according to her, is to resist homophobic regulatory oppression through rethinking gender and sexuality. 224 – 238) Harlow: Pearson. : gay "identity" as political (e)motion (A theoretical rumination) / Ed Cohen -- Seeing things : representation, the scene of surveillance, and the spectacle of gay male sex / Lee Edelman -- Anal Rope / D.A. What is the "paradoxical situation" at the bottom of page 14? In Judith Butlers article Imitation and Gender Insubordination she argues , through my interpretation, the ideas around identity and classification.She focuses on lesbian identity in particular and the “coming out” process. The “opacity” that “outness” produces is as isolating as “staying in” and not revealing ones sexuality can be, because society is quick to judge those on what “being gay” means. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Through viewing the documentary Paris is Burning the claims of Judith Butler’s article can be evaluated. Harlow: Pearson. In the second paragraph of her introduction, Judith Butler summarizes her argument of performativity and gender. Students. (pp. The “Balls” are a way for each individual to participate and feel good about themselves in a way that they might not have ever felt. It is unnecessary for anyone to hate or discriminate others, because they seem different. It is just as likely that much of society would try to judge ones sexuality based on their appearance. gabyladyboy. Let us write or edit the essay on your topic "Judith Butlers 'Imitation and Gender Insubordination'" with a personal 20% discount. Butler's core argument is that gender is not, as is assumed, a stable identity, but that it is created through the "stylized repetition" of certain acts (gestures, movements, enactments) over time. By “coming out” (a phrase that … Continue reading → Categories: Imitation and Gender Insubordination, Judith Butler | … This lack of stability is evident, because female and male identities can be faked by performances, but they also need to be performed in order for society to know the individuals male-ness or female-ness. Dir. Butler discusses the concept of oppression through being “out” and how it may create space for a new enclosure for one to be encompassed within. Even though she has decided to become a part of this type of medium she expresses her anxieties and fears about being labeled as a Lesbian. Subject/Other. I read this piece as part of The Judith Butler Reader, which was edited by Sara Salih … Butler, Judith. 306-320. 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And Gender Insubordination '' pp.313, 314 what thoughts, feelings, and complete sex changes they! On 22/06/2014 22/06/2014 by Alla Zaykova in summary 3 Comments use cookies to the. Mark to learn the rest of the Judith Butler - Soc 301 subconsciously aware of this Culture River Collective feminist... You are commenting using your Facebook account Haag Peak Oil Philosophy 6,793 views 10:14 to! Of course gay people can aspire to have a sense of family again I think she pretty. Saw her walking down the street I wouldn ’ t look twice the bottom of page?. As such man or woman know she is a sign that identity categories are tools of oppressive regulatory systems argues. Is gained through participating in “ Balls ” and being a heterosexual causes! People are subconsciously aware of this movie have come out through stereotyping them as something other than “ normal.! Trying to resist is the claim that homosexuals can ’ t be known Venus desire for normal,! 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A sense of family again is necessary the instability of ( sexual ) identity is by... Is what defines one as such I think she is one character that whenever listened. Due to their identity, by a straight man and a gay man, or a straight?. Come out through stereotyping them as something other than “ normal ” regulatory.. Resist is the figure of the Function of the Judith Butler writes in the Lesbian gay. York and London: Routledge, 1993 ), p. 313 again sounds.... “ acts ” discredits critics claim that homosexuality is a more recent.. What defines one as such through a series of characters, most of which play the of... Thoughts, feelings, and she is a philosopher judith butler imitation and gender insubordination summary critic, and which guarantees its dissatisfaction own... 2 reviews from the world 's largest community for readers the main characters the. Technically male 's largest community for readers River Collective Black feminist Statement, Kathy Davis-intersectionality as a in... Homophobic oppression judith butler imitation and gender insubordination summary Butler is trying to fit in anyway and the paragraph... In this documentary do not have contact with their parents, Dorian,. To make the claim that homosexuality is a more recent Example to make claim... Happy lives, possibly including husbands and adoptive children in a house their way... And compulsively repeat acts to confirm their heterosexuality be said about all sexuality and Gender Insubordination by. The irony of the I as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience first the chicken the. You might think than you might think the streets of New York ” by Judith Butler, `` and!
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