Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory

Compulsory heterosexuality is a term for the practices through which heterosexuality is defined as the “normal” or “basic” type of human relationship. The idea that heterosexuality is “natural” tends to devalue and stigmatize other relationships, particularly homosexual ones. Adrienne Rich popularized the term in her 1980 essay “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence.” In Butler’s essay, compulsory heterosexuality is an example of the way cultural and historical practices create norms for gender and sexuality despite there being no necessary reason to assume a normal/abnormal binary at all.

Feminism is a blanket term for movements (intellectual, political, and social) that seek to attain equal rights and respect for women. It is also the term used to refer to the historic and continuing movement to eradicate institutional, social, and cultural oppression of women. In Butler’s article, both feminist activism and feminist theory play distinct roles. Feminist activism is the political effort to sway minds, votes, and policies toward creating a more equal society, while feminist theory is the philosophical effort to understand the causes and components of women’s oppression and to conceptualize what a world might look like without it.