QUEER THEORY AND FLUID IDENTITIES
QUEER THEORY, DESPITE one interpretation of its name, is not a theory of homosexuality (although it does have some things to say about that). It is an approach to sexuality and, more generally, identity, which builds on some of the ideas developed by Foucault (
This really is odd, though, because almost everybody regards Butler as the creator of modern queer theory. She owes a debt to Foucault and other earlier figures, but the thing we call 'queer theory' today definitely starts with Gender Trouble by Judith Butler.
THE EASY BULLET POINT SUMMARY
We'll need to look at each of these points in more detail to fully understand their meaning and implications, but here's the simple summary of what queer theory is about:
• Nothing within your identity is fixed.
• Your identity is little more than a pile of (social and cultural) things which you have previously expressed, or which have been said about you.
• There is not really an 'inner self'. We come to believe we have one through the repetition of discourses about it.
• Gender, like other aspects of identity, is a performance (though not necessarily a consciously chosen one). Again, this is reinforced through repetition.
• Therefore, people can change.
• The binary divide between masculinity and femininity is a social construction built on the binary divide between men and women – which is also a social construction.
• We should challenge the traditional views of masculinity and femininity, and sexuality, by causing 'gender trouble'.
http://coleshillmediasite.weebly.com/uploads/4/6/0/1/4601434/media_gender_and_identity.pdf
Media Gender and Identity David Gauntlett
Showing posts with label Queer theory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Queer theory. Show all posts
Tuesday, 4 March 2014
Wednesday, 12 February 2014
Gender Mc Robbie and Butler
A2 fem gen from Kathryn Peers
Judith Butler - ‘Gender Trouble’ In her most influential book, Gender Trouble (1990), Butler argued that feminism had made a mistake by trying to assert that 'women' were a group with common characteristics and interests That approach, Butler said, performed 'an unwitting regulation and reification of gender relations' - reinforcing a binary view of gender relations (men and women) She argued that, rather than opening up possibilities for a person to form and choose their own individual identity, feminism had closed the options down. “ There is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender; ... identity is performatively constituted by the very 'expressions' that are said to be its results.” (Butler) In other words, gender is a performance; it's what you do at particular times, rather than who you are.
Angela McRobbie points out that the magazines are not only read, but also written and edited, by young women who want to have exciting and interesting lives, and who should have no desire to perpetuate patriarchy. Although it is regrettable that lesbian sexuality is not routinely included within the magazines' celebration of sexuality – which could cause misery and even psychological trauma to young women trying to come to terms with their excluded desires – McRobbie notes that the magazines show the clear impact of feminism in their coverage of (heterosexual) sex:
'The idea that sexual pleasure is learnt, not automatically discovered with the right partner, the importance of being able to identify and articulate what you want sexually and what you do not want'
Judith Butler - ‘Gender Trouble’ In her most influential book, Gender Trouble (1990), Butler argued that feminism had made a mistake by trying to assert that 'women' were a group with common characteristics and interests That approach, Butler said, performed 'an unwitting regulation and reification of gender relations' - reinforcing a binary view of gender relations (men and women) She argued that, rather than opening up possibilities for a person to form and choose their own individual identity, feminism had closed the options down. “ There is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender; ... identity is performatively constituted by the very 'expressions' that are said to be its results.” (Butler) In other words, gender is a performance; it's what you do at particular times, rather than who you are.
Angela McRobbie points out that the magazines are not only read, but also written and edited, by young women who want to have exciting and interesting lives, and who should have no desire to perpetuate patriarchy. Although it is regrettable that lesbian sexuality is not routinely included within the magazines' celebration of sexuality – which could cause misery and even psychological trauma to young women trying to come to terms with their excluded desires – McRobbie notes that the magazines show the clear impact of feminism in their coverage of (heterosexual) sex:
'The idea that sexual pleasure is learnt, not automatically discovered with the right partner, the importance of being able to identify and articulate what you want sexually and what you do not want'
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