A Genderless Life: Or How Autism Challenges Butler’s Theory of Gender

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Gender is a performance according to Judith Butler . All bodies, she claims, are gendered from birth; sometimes even earlier now we can determine sex in the womb . For Butler society dictates ones gender and the individual reinforces that gender through performance . “The deeds make the doer” in Butler’s words; there is no subject prior to performance. Butler’s concept of gender, however, leads us to question: what of those who are incapable of performing the gender ascribed to them? If one is unable to perform are they left genderless, lacking subjectivity and social identity? If no human is without gender , as Butler claims, then where does this leave her theory? Either gender is more than simply performance or one can exist without gender.

The severely autistic can be seen as challenging Butler’s theory in this way. One of autisms key symptoms is a social impairment, leaving autistics as often incapable of comprehending high-level concepts such as social roles or gender . If one is unable to understand the gender role expected of them, then are they truly able to perform said role? If not, Butler’s theory of gender is left lacking a crucial element of internal comprehension.

In this essay I will argue that Butler’s theory is indeed missing this vital element. Her theory of gender performance and the role society plays in the formation of gender, while strong on many levels, lacks recognition of the internal subjectivity and cognitive abilities that are needed to be able to perform a role. Throughout this essay I will use the case of the genderless severe autistic to show that, if one is incapable of internal comprehension, then they are unable to perform the gender society has ascribed to them. In focusing on autism as chall...

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... the Making of Identities of Disability in Hypatia Vol. 17, No. 3, Feminism and Disability, Part 2, 2002, pp. 67-88. Blackwell Publishing on behalf of Hypatia, Inc.

Murray, S. 2010. Autism Functions/ The function of Autism, in Disability Studies Quarterly, Vol 30, No 1, 2010. The Society for Disability Studies.

Samuels, E. 2002. Critical Divides: Judith Butler's Body Theory and the Question of Disability in NWSA Journal, Vol. 14, No. 3, Feminist Disability Studies, 2002, pp. 58-76. The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Wong, S. 2002. At Home with down Syndrome and Gender in Hypatia, Vol. 17, No. 3, Feminism and Disability, Part 2, 2002, pp. 89-117. Blackwell Publishing on behalf of Hypatia, Inc.

Golder, B. 2009. Foucault, anti-humanism and human rights. Published online by the Hawke Research Institute, University of South Australia, Underdale, SA, 2009.

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