Women And Gender Studies By Judith Butler

Superior Essays
Women and Gender Studies is a discipline that primarily focuses on the relationship of womyn, womyn subjects, and contextualizes their relationship to the world. It has its roots in feminist activism and continuous to teach within this framework. “The binary between men and women seemed not only to be a presupposition within feminist work, but was elevated to the theological status of the ‘irrefutable’ within some feminism” (Kushamiro, 2000) What occurs within this framework is that it normalizes the usage of men and womyn as the basis of the curriculum, and in turn does not question the normalcy of how we feel about the differences outside of the framework. As Judith Butler observed, “Sex is gender, is sexual positionality”, a notion that I believe is heavily taught within the social construct of the discipline, which then perpetuates the man and womyn oppositional framework. “Does teaching in traditionally ‘feminine’ way reinforce the binaries of masculine/male and feminine/female? Does empowering girls to enter on traditional fields challenge gender inequities even while reinforcing gender binaries? What about the people that don’t fit the normative categories of boy and girl?” (Bornstein, 1994) The problem is that theoretically the dynamics of the oppression are not taken into account within this framework, and makes it almost impossible to view things outside of that paradigm. “The implicit and compulsory presumption of heterosexuality supported the normativity and irreversibility of that binary and posited relation of complementary or asymmetry between its terms in ways that only showed up, without marbling the assumption of the paradigm” (Kushamiro, 2000) Yes, the Woman and Gender Studies critiques various systematic oppressions found within the patriarchal system, but it does so in such a manner that it recreates the systems of oppression within other marginalized groups. This is where language and the power of language can be brought in, the discipline uses the language of the oppressor, and recreates these systems unknowingly. The feminist lens that is found within all three disciplines affect the manner in which texts are read, interpreted, and recreated. Although all disciplines have various critiques and goals, they are all intrinsically connected. Feminism and queer theory are indirectly or directly connected through the political movement that they engage in, both inside and outside the academic setting. This suggests that all curriculums are inherently framed around feminist theory no matter which way you frame it, and achieving some sort of social justice agenda. “The feminism against which queer theory defines itself is a feminism redirected almost to a caricature: a feminism tied to a concern for gender, bound to a regressive and monotonous binary opposition.” (Weed, 1997) The concern surrounding gender is so great, and carries so much weight that it is forgotten that the very notion of gender is socially constructed and enforced through the binaries. “The tendency to think of sexuality as either/or often reflects a desire to stabilize a person’s own sexual (gender) identity…” (Kushamiro, 2000) Having this train of thought allows for the ignorance of the implications surrounding this feminist framework of discourse. It also allows for students and professors alike to veer away from having discourse that potentially puts them in uncomfortable positions. “The desire to learn only what is comforting goes hand in hand with a resistance to learning what is discomforting and this resistance often proves to be a formidable barrier to movements toward social justice” (Kushamiro, 2000) A lot of the times, curriculums found in these disciplines do not go beyond western train of thoughts, and do not go beyond ideologies that place the academia in places of chaos and discomfort. An example of this is the word and usage of queer in the academic setting. The word queer when put into a historical and cultural context carries a history of violence, but now is used in order to reclaim an identity in a heteronormative world. This then creates the implication that terms change within what historical time period you place them in, which then means that all words and their meanings are socially constructed themselves which then reduces the concept of heteronormativity as socially constructed. This challenges any and all students and

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