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

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

This has represented one of the most relevant and also controversial works of the end of the century in the social sciences as well as in philosophy, politics and activism. We will see below what Butler’s theory of gender performativity consists of and what some of its repercussions are at the theoretical and political level.

The contemporary context of feminist theories

In the framework of post-modernity, the break with the traditional ways of understanding identity , which used to present it as something fixed and stable, becomes relevant . In this same frame, the universal truths of the western society are strongly questioned; among them, the binary logics of understanding the bodies and the sexual difference: woman/man; and its cultural correlation: masculine/feminine.

It was a question of universal truths, because these 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 time, a part of feminism begins to focus on the analysis of the mechanisms of power , which are the coercive forms that are presented to us during socialization, and that allow us to cling defensively to a certain identity (Velasco, 2009). The question is no longer so much about the type of identities prescribed by patriarchy, but rather by what mechanisms of power we end up clinging to these identities, and how this is a way of keeping ourselves safe from exclusion, rejection or marginalization (ibid.).

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

At the same time it establishes important criticisms of the theories of feminism that had been based on binary and heterosexual models of gender. And finally, it defines gender not as an attribution of man or woman, but as a staging (a performance) that can be as diverse as identities.

Performativity in Austin’s theory of speech acts

In order to develop the theory of performativity and explain how the staging of the genre ends up shaping the genre itself, Butler takes up again the theory of speech acts of the philosopher and linguist John Austin .

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

Austin argues that far from the only task of issuing a statement is to make known the truth or falsity of a fact (to ascertain); there are statements that can have another function: beyond describing things, these statements do things .

One of the classic examples is to say yes to a wedding: saying ‘I do’ on the wedding stage implies an act beyond a statement, as it has effects at an individual, relational, political level, etc. Another example is the commitment implied by those statements formulated as a promise, a bet or an apology. Depending on the context in which they are stated, all of them can modify the situation, attitudes, emotions, and even the identity and/or the behaviour of the subjects.

Butler’s theory of gender performativity

Taking up the previous point, Judith Butler says that the same thing happens with sex and gender: when a person is named “man” or “woman”, even before birth, what happens is not a statement but a realization (in this case of gender).

This is so because this enunciation unfolds a series of norms about relationships, identifications, desires, interests, tastes, ways of speaking, of dressing, of relating to “the opposite sex”, etc. This translates into a construction of one’s own body according to the dominant gender norms.

In Butler’s words (2018), although we live as if “woman” and “man” were made 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 being a woman .

Gender then is not an unquestionable and internal truth. It is rather a phenomenon that occurs and reproduces constantly. Thus, to say that gender is performative implies that no one has a given gender from the beginning, but that it is produced during a constant putting into act (that is, in the daily repetition of the 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 “genre is a performance” (the staging, an act), and “genre is performative”. The first case refers to what we do to present ourselves to the world under the label of a gender, commonly binary (woman or man), 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, legitimated and protected especially by the action of political and institutional powers of various kinds.

One of them is the traditional family , fundamentally based on a hierarchical and heterosexual gender model.

Another is psychiatric instruction, which from its inception has pathologized gender expressions that do not conform to the dichotomous, heterosexual norm. And there are also other practices, informal and everyday, that constantly pressure us not to get out of the gender norms. An example of this is verbal bullying for gender diversity , which is a way of insisting on compliance with the normative values associated with men/women and men/females.

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

Negotiation of power and resistance

This leads Judith Butler to question: how do these rules get established, even at the institutional and political level? And, on the other hand, since not all people are comfortable with their assigned gender and identity is diverse and continuous, what kinds of violence generate these norms? What is the best way to subvert them or overcome the political power associated with them?

From the above, Butler argues that the genre is culturally formed or constructed , but not only that. Agency and personal freedom are fundamental elements for understanding the identification, subversion and forms of resistance to violence imposed by gender ideals.

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

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

Bibliographic references:

  • Amigot, P. & Pujal i Llombart, M. (2009). A reading of gender as a power device. Sociology, 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, precariousness and sexual politics. AIBR. Journal of Ibero-American Anthropology. (4)3, pp. 321-336.
  • De Mauro, M. (2015). Bodies on stage: Materiality and sexual body in Judith Butler and Paul B. Precious. 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.