Undoing Gender

Undoing Gender is a 2004 book by the philosopher Judith Butler.

Undoing Gender
AuthorJudith Butler
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SubjectGender
PublisherRoutledge
Publication date
2004
Media typePrint (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages288
ISBN978-0415969239

Summary

Butler examines gender, sex, psychoanalysis and the way medicine and the law treat intersex and transgender people.[1] Focusing on the case of David Reimer who was medically reassigned from male to female after a botched circumcision, Butler reexamines the theory of performativity that she originally explored in Gender Trouble (1990). David, then renamed as a girl- Brenda, rediscovers his masculinity and goes on to live his life as a male again.[2] While many of Butler's books are intended for a highly academic audience, Undoing Gender reaches out to a much broader readership.

Butler discusses how gender is performed without one being conscious of it, but says that it does not mean this performativity is "automatic or mechanical". She argues that we have desires that do not originate from our personhood, but rather, from social norms. The philosopher also debates our notions of "human" and "less-than-human" and how these culturally imposed ideas can keep one from having a "viable life" as the biggest concerns are usually about whether a person will be accepted if their desires differ from normality. She states that one may feel the need of being recognized in order to live, but that at the same time, the conditions to be recognized make life "unlivable". The writer proposes an interrogation of such conditions so that people who resist them may have more possibilities of living.[2]

gollark: Surely if you controlled the FDA you could find something better to do with it?
gollark: Like someone said in the comments, they can just run it all the way to the heat death of the universe instantly and fix that.
gollark: I don't see why you would want that. One infinitely powerful hypercomputer can do the same as whatever amount of infinitely powerful hypercomputers in zero time.
gollark: You get... two simulations, one different, presumably?
gollark: I didn't say it was proof, just that it wasn't disproof.

See also

References

  1. Zavaletta, Atticus Schoch (May 2005). "Undoing Gender (review)". The Comparatist. 29: 152–153. doi:10.1353/com.2006.0019.
  2. Chinn, Sarah (2017-03-07). "Log In - GenderWatch - ProQuest". ProQuest 233630965. Missing or empty |url= (help)
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