Judith Butler Gender

The Rise In Women’s Power: No Correlation Between Gender and Identity Judith Butler, an American philosopher and gender theorist, once said, “We act as if that being of a man or that being of a woman is actually an internal reality or something that is simply true about us, a fact about us, but actually it’s a phenomenon that is being produced all the time and reproduced all the time, so to say gender is performative is to say that nobody really is a gender from the start.” Butler focuses on how gender is a social construction that relates gender performance to identity. She illustrates that identity is separate from gender and that society simply defines identity by gender, even though it is incorrect. Many people in society have written

Aaron Devor, a professor of sociology, Dean of Graduate Studies at the University of Victoria in British Colombia and member of the International Academy of Sex Research, wrote “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender” (1989), which describes the social constructions of men and women by contrasting their differences in performance. Devor complicates and challenges my argument by illustrating how performance classifies gender as he states, “People use femininity or masculinity to claim and communicate their membership in their assigned, or chosen, sex or gender” (Devor 390). Devor is claiming that gender and sex are synonyms and that a person can choose if he or she is a male or female. He complicates the argument as a person can choose their gender to proclaim an identity, which challenges my claim that gender does not reflect identity. Devor expands my argument as he explains how gender performance relates to gender inequality as he states, “Many aspects of masculinity and femininity are the result, rather than the cause, of status inequality” (Devor 391). He is implying that masculinity and femininity are socially constructed norms of society. Devor expands my argument, because he supports my claim that gender inequality causes the social constructions of gender. Therefore, women’s inequality causes society to depict the

Bell Hooks, an American author, feminist and social activist, wrote “Feminism: A Movement to End Sexist Oppression” in the book Feminist Theory From Margin to Center (1984), which describes the goals of feminism. Hooks expands and complicates my argument as she defines feminism as “The struggle to and sexist oppression. It’s aim is not to benefit solely any specific group of women, any particular race or class of women. It does not privilege women over men…It compels us to centralize experiences and social predicaments of women” (Hooks 240). Hooks defines feminism as the fight for equality for all and further expands to empower women and men of all sexualities and races who are discriminated. She expands my argument by stating that feminism challenges people to think of how societal norms discriminate people and encourages acceptance of all, regardless of their gender because every identity is central to each person, not simply compliant. She complicates my argument by stating that feminism is fighting for equality of all people, not just for women. Thus feminism is the fight against discrimination and is not simply a man hating group of women, which has created ideals that contribute to women’s rise in