I’m not a great reader and let me tell you this book was hard! But it was worth it. It’s sometimes easy to fall down the rabbit hole of niche feminism but Butlers words will open your mind completely and prevent your feminist thoughts from ever returning to the constraints of gender and heterosexuality again.
Butler words revolutionised the feminism of the 1980s and 90s and played a key part in the mainstream acceptance of the intersectional feminism we know today. Butler challenges the idea that gender is biological or required and suggests that it is conceptualised and a performative role we play to fit in with society. By suggesting this Butler deconstructs the core work of some of the most highly acknowledged psychologists of the twentieth century such as Freud and Lacan. Voices that were rarely doubted in such ways. Another theme investigated throughout the book is enforced heteronormativity. She suggests that because as children we are shown and taught that we are heterosexual we become heterosexual. This leaves a lot of people who find themselves outside this presumed existence facing internal conflict.
Throughout the book Butler is continually challenging different aspects of societal norms surrounding gender and sexuality, that are unconsciously ingrained into our actions and perceptions. It would be very difficult to finish Gender Trouble without having broadened your mind as a feminist and revolutionised the way you look at gender.
Note: If you have read this book please let me know what you think as I struggled to grasp a lot of it but what I did understand has been so insane and intense and has personally made me reevaluate how being ‘a woman’ has led me to become!
From Aimee x
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