The theory of gender performativity of the American philosopher Judith Butler It was proposed in the 1990s under the context of contemporary feminist theories and movements.
Through this theory, it significantly questions the apparent naturalness of the sex/gender binary system and analyzes its effects in terms of power. Broadly speaking, he proposes that, in the dominant binary system, gender is created through a series of acts displayed through categories such as “man” or “woman.”
This has represented one of the most relevant and also controversial works of the end of the century both in the social sciences and in philosophy, politics and activism. We will see below what Butler’s gender performativity theory consists of and what are some of its repercussions at a theoretical and political level.
In the framework of”postmodernity” it becomes relevant the break with traditional ways of understanding identity, which used to present it as something fixed and stable. In this same framework, the “universal truths” of Western society are strongly questioned; among them the binary logics of understanding bodies and sexual difference: woman/man; and its cultural correlate: masculine/feminine.
These were “universal truths” because these sex-gender dimorphisms have historically established the reference models to define ourselves in one way or another (and in an apparently stable, unquestionable and unique way).
At the moment, A part of feminism begins to focus on the analysis of the “mechanisms of power”, which are the coercive forms that are presented to us during socialization, and that allow us to defensively cling to a certain identity (Velasco, 2009). The question is no longer so much about the type of identities prescribed by patriarchy, but through what mechanisms of power we end up clinging to these identities, and how this is a way of keeping ourselves safe from exclusion, rejection or marginalization ( ibid).
Among these questions emerge the proposals of Judith Butler, who She has been one of the central theorists of contemporary feminism In her studies she returns from the works of Simone de Beauvoir, Witting and Rubin, to the critical theories of Michel Foucault, Lacan and Derrida, passing through different philosophers and feminists.
At the same time, it establishes important criticisms of theories of feminism that had been based on binary and heterosexual gender models. And, finally, he defines gender not as an attribution of man or woman, but as a staging (a performance) that can be as diverse as identities are.
Performativity in Austin’s speech act theory
To develop the theory of performativity and explain how the staging of gender ends up shaping gender itself, Butler takes up the theory of speech acts of the philosopher and linguist John Austin
For the latter there is an important distinction between the different types of statements we use when communicating. On the one hand there are declarative statements, and on the other hand there are performative or performative statements.
Austin maintains that, far from the only task of issuing a statement being to make known the truth or falsity of a fact (verify); There are statements that can have another function: beyond describing things, these statements do things
One of the classic examples is that of saying affirmatively at a wedding: saying ‘I do’ in the setting of a wedding implies an act beyond a confirmation, as it has effects at an individual, relational, political, etc. level. Another example is the commitment entailed by those statements formulated as a promise, a bet or an apology. Depending on the context in which they are stated, all of them can modify the situation, attitudes, emotions, and even identity and/or the behavior of the subjects.
Butler’s theory of gender performativity
Returning to the above, Judith Butler says that the same thing happens with sex and gender: when naming a person “man” or “woman”, even before birth, what happens is not a confirmation but a realization (in this gender case).
This is so since this statement displays a series of norms about relationships, identifications, desires, interests, tastes, ways of speaking, dressing, relationships with “the opposite sex”, etc. This translates into a construction of one’s own body based on dominant gender norms.
In the words of Butler (2018), although we live as if “woman” and “man” were facts with internal reality, and therefore unquestionable; It is behavior itself that creates gender: we act, we speak, we dress in ways that can consolidate an impression of being a man or being a woman
Gender then is not an unquestionable and internal truth. It is rather a phenomenon that is constantly produced and reproduced. Thus, saying that gender is performative implies that no one has a given gender from the beginning, but that it is produced during a constant enactment (that is, in the daily repetition of gender norms that tell us how to be or not to be). being men, or how to be or not be women).
In the same sense, Judith Butler makes a distinction between “genre is a performance” (the staging, an act), and “genre is performative.” The first case refers to what we do to present ourselves to the world under the label of a gender, commonly binary (woman or man), while the second term refers to the effects that said performance produces in normative terms (of becoming a norm).
institutional power
All of the above is monitored, legitimated and protected especially by the action of political and institutional powers of different types.
One of them is the traditional family fundamentally based on a hierarchical and heterosexual gender model.
Another is psychiatric instruction, which since its inception has pathologized gender expressions that do not conform to dichotomous and heterosexual norms. And there are also other practices, informal and everyday, that constantly pressure us not to deviate from gender norms. An example of this is verbal bullying due to gender diversity which is a way of insisting on compliance with the normative values associated with man/woman and masculine/feminine.
Thus, the problem is that the above produces different forms of daily violence and even ends up conditioning opportunities and access to rights
Negotiation of power and resistance
The above leads Judith Butler to question: how are these norms established, even at the institutional and political level? And, on the other hand, given that not all people feel comfortable in the gender assigned to them and identity is diverse and continuous, what types of violence do these norms generate? What is the best way to subvert them or overcome the political power associated with this?
From the above, Butler argues that the genre is formed or culturally constructed, but not only that. Agency and one’s freedom are fundamental elements to understand identification, subversion and forms of resistance to violence imposed by gender ideals.
In short, gender is seen as a device of power, insofar as it is a crucial mechanism for socialization, that is, for becoming competent members of a society and assigning us certain desires and functions within it. But, for this device to exist it has to be acted upon by a body, whose will and identity are built in constant tension and negotiation with dominant gender norms.
In these tensions and negotiations the possibility opens for its deconstruction ; an issue that has been fundamental in the development of contemporary feminist movements and in different struggles to counteract the violence and vulnerabilities legitimized by the hegemonic sex/gender system.
