Undoing Gender

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses violence, anti-gay bias, transphobia, suicide, and sexual assault.

Butler introduces their investigation of the “undoing” of gender. Gender is socially reproduced through performance and relies on recognition. Humans desire recognition, and many humans are marginalized by lack of recognition. Maintaining a socially unintelligible identity forms a paradox of being both resistant to and dependent on social norms. The project of undoing gender seeks to make the norms by which “humanness” is conferred more inclusive. Butler ties the issue of inclusivity directly to survival, citing the intersex community’s stance against coercive surgery and the pathologization of transgender identities in seeking medical and legal affirmation. Gay and lesbian marriage rights highlight a paradox: Gay and lesbian partnerships must either submit to heteronormative ideals or live outside what is accepted. Butler acknowledges violence against marginalized individuals like Brandon Teena, Mathew Shephard, and Gwen Araujo, linking their deaths to broader “coercive acts of ‘correction’” (6). Because queer theory and feminism oppose rigid legislation of gender identity, Butler asserts their importance in seeking affirmation of transgender and intersex individuals.

The premise that gender is naturally aligned with sex is one method by which gender is socially reproduced, though the meaning of gender changes over time.