Judith Butler and Performativity

Gender Roles

• Judith Butler's influential work, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, critiques traditional binary gender definitions.
• Argues gender stereotypes are social fictions, not natural facts, created through repeated actions.
• Gender is performed through societal rules and customs, a process called performativity.

Gender and Socialisation

• Gender is learned through imitation, not innate.
• Influences include media, television, and social media.
• Butler compares gender to a social drama, where societal roles are performed and learned.
• Gender identities are fluid and subject to cultural change.
• Introduces concepts like "gender-neutral" and "non-binary".

"Like a Girl"

• Media often promotes sexist stereotypes, e.g., "like a girl" used as an insult.
• Such stereotypes can harm young girls' identities and confidence.
• Campaigns challenge these stereotypes, advocating for positive media representation of women.

Performativity and Bluey

• Bluey, an Australian cartoon, challenges gender norms by avoiding stereotypes.
• Bluey is female, despite associations of blue with masculinity, encouraging broader representation in media.

Debates on Gender Constructs

• Butler critiques traditional feminism for overlooking diversity in women's identities.
• Gender viewed as a social construct, not a fixed identity.
• Gender Trouble highlights disruptions to traditional gender binaries.

French Feminist Theory

• Butler examines thoughts of French feminists Luce Irigaray and Monique Wittig.
• Irigaray: Masculine identity dominates through production of the "Other".
• Wittig: Feminine identity is defined, masculine is universal and unmarked.
• Both perspectives deconstruct traditional gender identities but differ on how gender disparity is produced.

Your Behavior Creates Your Gender

• Butler explains gender as a performance in a video for Big Think.
• Encourages understanding of gender as a construct rather than an innate trait.