Sep. 23rd, 2015

dreamer_easy: (*gender)
I'm reading Judith Butler's essay "Imitation and Gender Insubordination". You know the thing where it's actually difficult to pin down the definition of "sex", ie "male or female" - do we count anatomy, chromosomes, genes, hormones, psychology, or what, when all of these have variations which aren't simply "male or female"? She's just pointed out that the same is true for sexuality:

"If a sexuality is to be disclosed, what will be taken as the true determinant of its meaning: the phantasy structure, the act, the orifice, the gender, the anatomy?"
Mind: blown. (This is going to be true for every identity, isn't it!)

ETA: "To argue that there might be a specificity to lesbian sexuality has seemed a necessary counterpoint to the claim that lesbian sexuality is just heterosexuality once removed, or that it is derived, or that it does not exist... the negative constructions of lesbianism as a fake or a bad copy can be occupied and reworked to call into question the claims of heterosexual priority." Holy frickle frack!!!

ETA: "Which version of lesbian or gay ought to be rendered visible, and which internal exclusions will that rendering visible institute? ... Is it not a sign of despair over public politics when identity becomes its own policy, bringing with it those who would 'police' it from various sides?"

That kind of sums up Butler's whole argument, I think - that resistance to bigotry which is based on categorising people can end up reinforcing the original categories and, ultimately, the resulting bigotry. Her remark about "which version of lesbian or gay" makes me think of some stuff I've been reading recently about how male homosexuality is integrated, at least partially, into cultures around the world - lots of similarities, lots of differences. She means "which version from Western or US culture", but the examples from different cultures highlight the fact that there's no single "gay".
__
Butler, Judith. Imitation and Gender Insubordination. in Henry Abelove, Michè€le Aina Barale, David M. Halperin (eds). The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. New York, Routledge, 1993.

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