Judith Butler’s performative theory of gender.

She is one of the referents of political philosophy, and argues that gender can be deconstructed.

American philosopher Judith Butler's theory of gender performativity was proposed in the 1990s in the context of gender theories and movements. was proposed in the 1990s in the context of contemporary feminist theories and movements.

Through this theory she questions in an important way the apparent naturalness of the sex/gender binary system and analyzes its effects in terms of power. Broadly speaking, it proposes that, in the dominant binary system, gender is created through a series of acts deployed through categories such as "sex" and "gender". deployed through categories such as "man" or "woman".

This has been one of the most relevant and controversial works of the end of the century in the social sciences as well as in philosophy, politics and activism. We will now see what Butler's gender performativity theory consists of and what are some of its theoretical and political implications.

The contemporary context of feminist theories

In the context of "postmodernity", the rupture with traditional forms of understanding the rupture with the traditional ways of understanding identity, which used to present it as somethingwhich 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 such sex-gender dimorphisms have historically established the reference models to define us in one way or another (and in an apparently stable, unquestionable and unique way).

At this point in time, part of feminism is beginning to focus on the analysis of the "mechanisms of power", which are the coercive forms that are presented to us during socializationwhich are the coercive forms that are presented to us during socialization, and which allow us to defensively cling to a given identity (Velasco, 2009). The question is no longer so much about the type of identities prescribed by patriarchy, but by means of what mechanisms of power we end up clinging to these identities, and how this is a way to keep us safe from exclusion, rejection or marginalization (ibidem).

Among these questionings emerge the proposals of Judith Butler, who has been one of the central theorists of contemporary feminism. In her studies she takes up the works of Simone de Beauvoir, Witting and Rubin, to the critical theories of Michel Foucault, Lacan and Derrida, as well as different philosophers and feminists.

At the same time, she establishes important criticisms to the theories of feminism that had settled on binary and heterosexual models of gender. And, finally, she defines gender not as an attribution of man or woman, but as a mise-en-scène (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 it is that the staging of gender ends up shaping gender itself, Butler takes up the speech act theory of the philosopher and linguist John Austin..

For the latter, there is an important distinction between the different types of utterances we use when communicating. On the one hand there are declarative utterances, and on the other hand there are realizative or performative utterances.

Austin argues that, far from the only task of uttering an utterance being to make known the truth or falsity of a fact (to ascertain), there are utterances that can have another function: beyond describing things, these utterances do things..

One of the classic examples is that of pronouncing affirmatively before a wedding: saying 'I do' in the setting of a wedding implies an act beyond a statement, in that it has effects at the individual, relational, political, etc. level. Another example is the commitment implied by statements formulated as a promise, a bet or an apology. Depending on the context in which they are uttered, all of them can change the situation, the attitudes can modify the situation, attitudes, emotions, and even the identity and/or behavior of the subjects. and/or behavior of the subjects.

Butler's theory of gender performativity

Taking up the above, Judith Butler says that the same thing happens with sex and gender: by naming a person "man" or "woman", even before birth, what happens is not a statement but a realization (in this case of gender).

This is so because such enunciation unfolds a series of norms about relationships, identifications, desires, interests, tastes, ways of speaking, dressing, bonding with "the opposite sex", etcetera. This translates into a construction of one's own body as a function of dominant gender norms.

In Butler's (2018) words, although we live as if "woman" and "man" were facts with internal reality, and therefore unquestionable; it is one's own behavior that creates gender: we act, speak, dress in ways that can consolidate an impression of being a man or a woman..

Gender then is not an unquestionable, internal truth. Rather, it is a phenomenon that is constantly produced and reproduced. Thus, to say that gender is performative implies that no one has a given gender from the start, 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 men, or how to be or not to be women).

In the same sense Judith Butler makes a distinction between "gender is a performance" (the staging, an act), and "gender is performative". The first case refers to what we do to present ourselves to the world under the label of "gender". present ourselves to the world under the label of a gender, commonly binary (female or male), while (female or male), while the second term refers to the effects that such a performance produces in normative terms (of becoming a norm).

Institutional power

All of the above is monitored, legitimized and protected especially by the action of political and institutional powers of different types.

One of these is the traditional familyfundamentally 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 to stay within 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 male/female and masculine/feminine.

Thus, the problem is that this produces different forms of daily violence and even ends up conditioning opportunities and access to opportunities and access to education. end up conditioning opportunities and access to rights.

Negotiation of power and resistance

This leads Judith Butler to question: how do these norms become established, even at the institutional and political level? And, on the other hand, given that not all people feel comfortable in the gender they have been assigned and identity is diverse and continuous, what types of violence do these norms generate? What is the best way to subvert them or to overcome the political power related to this?

From the above, Butler argues that gender is culturally formed or constructed is culturally shaped or constructedbut not only that. Agency and self-freedom are fundamental elements in understanding identification, subversion and forms of resistance to the violence imposed by gender ideals.

In short, gender is seen as a power device, insofar as it is a crucial mechanism for socialization, that is, for making us competent members of a society and assigning us desires and certain functions within it. But, for such a device to exist, it has to be acted upon by a body, whose will and identity are constructed in constant tension and negotiation with the dominant gender norms.

In these tensions and negotiations opens the possibility for its deconstruction; an issue that has been fundamental in the development of contemporary feminist movements and in different struggles to counteract the violences and vulnerabilities legitimized by the hegemonic sex/gender system.

Bibliographical references:

• Amigot, P. & Pujal i Llombart, M. (2009). A reading of gender as a power device. Sociológica, 24(70), pp. 115-152.
• Butler, J. (1996). Sex and Gender in Simone de Beauvoir's second sex. Yale University Press, no. 72, pp. 35-49.
• Butler, J. (2009). Performativity, precarity, and sexual politics. AIBR. Journal of Iberoamerican Anthropology. (4)3, pp. 321-336.
• De Mauro, M. (2015). Bodies on stage: Materiality and the sexed body in Judith Butler and Paul B. Preciado. Egales: Barcelona.
• Jones, J. (2018). Theorist Judith Butler Explains How Behavior Creates Gender: A Short Introduction to "Gender Performativity". Open Culture. Retrieved 01 October 2018. Available at http://www.openculture.com/2018/02/judith-butler-on-gender-performativity.html.
• Velasco, S. (2009). Sexes, gender and health. Theory and methods for clinical practice and health programs. Minerva: Madrid.