It is interesting how the topics of social constructs such as sex, gender, and sexual expression are not usually questioned ‘out loud’ by people. And in the case they are indeed questioned, in silence, what is it that keeps us from verbalizing these questions? It seems from an ‘outside’ perspective that everyone, even laws and education, agrees with what is a normal behaviour for a man and for a woman and their positions in society. However, if we observe carefully the behaviour of people it appears as if there is also a certain degree of nonconformity against these expected behaviours. With an intention to articulate these questions about identity and positions of hierarchy within our society, Judith Butler’s theory of performativity explains
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According to Butler, the theory of performativity tries to explain that gender is socially constructed in the sense that people learn the set of behaviours, attitudes and roles that have been assigned by religion, medical science, and other forms of authority to each biological sex, male or female. In this manner, people imitate these characteristics, fitting them into their personalities and thus come to believe that gender is a natural consequence to their sex (Butler 1990).Thus performativity is achieved by the ‘’repetition of acts’’, which have been already given to us since birth and before it, in order to create a perception of who we are and how we need to act in this society, in particular a western society (Butler 1990). Butler, through research, observation, and work, has brought a change in the idea that gender is fixed, meaning a person is solely masculine if he is a male or feminine if she is a female. She proposes through her theory that since gender is something acquired from society, it is flexible and in a continuum (Butler 1997; Hawkes & Scott 2005:
According to Butler, the theory of performativity tries to explain that gender is socially constructed in the sense that people learn the set of behaviours, attitudes and roles that have been assigned by religion, medical science, and other forms of authority to each biological sex, male or female. In this manner, people imitate these characteristics, fitting them into their personalities and thus come to believe that gender is a natural consequence to their sex (Butler 1990).Thus performativity is achieved by the ‘’repetition of acts’’, which have been already given to us since birth and before it, in order to create a perception of who we are and how we need to act in this society, in particular a western society (Butler 1990). Butler, through research, observation, and work, has brought a change in the idea that gender is fixed, meaning a person is solely masculine if he is a male or feminine if she is a female. She proposes through her theory that since gender is something acquired from society, it is flexible and in a continuum (Butler 1997; Hawkes & Scott 2005: