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Timestamps: Ch. 5: Is Kinship Always Already Heterosexual (Beginning) Ch. 6: Longing for Recognition (9:00) Ch. 7: Quandries of the Incest Taboo (21:30) Ch. 8: Bodily Confessions (27:14) Ch. 9: The End of Sexual Difference (36:00) Ch. 10: The Question of Social Transformation (47:52) Ch. 11: Can the 'Other' of Philosophy Speak (55:25)                                                                 

In this episode, I conclude my presentation of Butler's text, paying close attention to her re-evaluation of her theory of performativity, the political potential of drag, and the possibility for social transformation.

 CW: Suicide, Transphobia, Homophobia.                 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy                                               Instagram: @theory_and_philosophy

In this episode, I turn my attention to Judith Butler's "Undoing Gender." This is a collection of essays, so it is difficult to summarize the book. However, we can comfortably say that it explores what it means for gender to become undone, and the undoing that is done through gender.

On The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind (2020).

What is it to be nonviolent in political activity? Most ethics allow for self-defense, but Judith has a problem with defining "self" as well as "violence," and offers a full critique of the individualism that underlies typical Western approaches to both ethics and politics.

Mark, Seth, and Wes interview Judith about these issues and the connection to Gender Trouble.

End song: "Dancing with Death," discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #111 with Marty Willson-Piper.

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More Gender Trouble (1990) with Jennifer Hansen. We get into the metaphysics of substance (is gender an attribute that a person has, or is there a better way to describe the situation?), performatives, Beauvoir vs. Irigaray on femininity, and the available mechanisms for changing gender norms.

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On Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990). Is gender socially constructed, and if so, how?

Butler describes gender not as an essential quality of a person, but as "performed," as habits of acting in certain ways in accordance with customs. Her idea of social construction is so totalizing that even biological sex itself is constructed. With guest Jennifer Hansen.

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Pat was feeling misogynistic (again) so Ben had to even the scales by bringing in Gender Studies expert and Pat's certifiably insane roommate Victoria Tyler to help teach Pat how to not hate women. Join Vic and Ben as they clumsily explain to Pat the social & political theories of American philosopher & radical feminist Judith Butler. By walking through the main points in Butler's magnum opus Gender Trouble, Ben reveals to Pat how gender is socially constructed and determined primarily by the cultural pressures we feel while navigating a fraught social life. Also Vic chimes in every once in a while!

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In this episode, I finish up Butler's "Gender Trouble." It is this episode that I dissect Butler's elusive notion of "performativity" and the potential it houses to challenge the oppressive regimen of sex.