Synthesis of Judith Butler's Gender Trouble

BAÑARES, DESIREE T.
Synthesis Paper 3
LLS0107 SECTION 1 May 17, 2021
Synthesis Paper on Chosen Theory
FEMINIST THEORY: REPRESSION AND EMANCIPATION
The feminist movement is a fervent pursuit towards the historical, social,

economic, and political equality of the sexes (Brunell, 2021). The theory is applied,
expanded, and lifted in academic, literary, and philosophical discourses. It focuses
primarily on the experiences of women in a male-constituted and male-dominated
society. Despite the powerful assertion of feminism for agency and substance, the
movement struggles in formulating a standardized and consistent definition of what
and what does not constitute the woman as an identity. Judith Butler’s (1990)
discussion in “Gender Trouble” argues that gender is a subjective experience and
performance, which has been repressed and conditioned because of juridical systems
of power, phallogocentrism, and compulsory heterosexuality.
The political and legal conditions of women are shaped by the juridical systems
of power, which simultaneously restrict and produce the subjects it is meant to govern
over. These state practices and policies demand a universal definition for woman in
order to regulate and “protect” them as individuals (Butler, 1990, p. 3). However, by
creating stable and immutable guidelines on sex and gender identity, there is the issue
of inevitable exclusion of intersectional and visceral experiences – such as race, class,
sexuality, location, and other constituting parts of personhood. The state and its
services will then only cover the circumstances of women who belong to an ideal
category as defined by a Western and masculine pre-requisite of foundationalism.
Moreover, the dominance of phallogocentric language in social, cultural, and

political spheres make it all the more difficult to craft an inclusive and encompassing
movement. Phallogocentrism is basically the privilege of the male or masculine
perspective in assigning meanings and relations to the world (Felluga, 2002). The
preeminence of this notion obstructs women from defining and representing
themselves as individuals of subjective substance. This pertains to the common
concerns raised by Luce Irrigaray and Monique Wittig as women are absent in
language, that they are non-subjects and merely identified by difference to male
counterparts (Butler, 1990). Phallogocentrism assumes that the male is the general
person, intended and cultivated by society. Thus, the male is also the center from
which the signifier of “woman” is derived.
The juridical system and phallogocentric language then create a standard for
sex and gender within a heterosexual matrix of intelligibility. By forcing a universal
“truth” in sex and gender, there are distinctions made into what is acceptable and valid.
According to Butler (1990), compulsory heterosexuality is a patriarchal regulation of
“coherent” norms in which a stable sex must be equivalent to a stable expression of
gender identity. For example, the male must be masculine and attracted to women –
just as the female must be feminine and attracted to men.
These repressive concepts contribute to a pre-discoursal myth that assumes

sex has existed prior to language and thought. But Butler (1990) insists that this cannot
be true for if the male and female are natural structures, meaning they exist in the
nature as real beings, then non-conforming identities are equally as natural. The
names and labels attached to that of the physical sex, which is after all derived from
the social and cultural constructs that has split it with gender, gives the body a role
imposed by juridical structures (Butler, 1990). The woman, queer, intersex, and non-
binary exist alongside men in their subjective substances and performances.
The Feminist Theory forwards gender as the actions and expressions of an

individual, not an instructive guide to heteronormative compulsions (Butler, 1990).
Whether or not they are perceived as “intelligible” by general society, the inability of
cultural and political structures to regulate what can be felt, practiced, and portrayed
by individuals proves the insufficiency of binary frameworks. The gender core is
challenged by its own false and unnecessary concepts. The woman as an open and
developing term allows the movement to accommodate individual circumstances, and
expand the standards of cultural intelligibility. It allows women to create and modify
the center of phallogocentric language and narratives. And avoid the contradicting and
exclusive paths of achieving a fair and just society, to acquire true emancipation. In
alignment to Jacques Derrida’s (1970) theory of deconstruction, which is
demonstrated by feminism, the origin and end of the woman is ad infinitum.
References:
Brunell, L. (2021, March 24). Feminism. Retrieved from Britannica:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/feminism
Butler, J. (1990). Subjects of Sex, Gender, Desire. In J. Butler, Gender Trouble:

Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (pp. 1-46). Oxfordshire: Routledge &
CRC Press.
Derrida, J. (1970). Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences.
New York : Columbia University Press.
Felluga, D. (2002, July 17). PHALLOCENTRISM OR PHALLOGOCENTRISM.

Retrieved from Introduction to Theories of Gender and Sex :
https://cla.purdue.edu/academic/english/theory/genderandsex/terms/phalloce
ntrism.html
Leitch, V. (2001). Judith Butler. In V. Leitch, The Norton Anthology of Criticism (pp.
2485-2488). London: W.W. Norton & Company.

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How does Butler argue that gender is performative?

What are the three concepts that contribute to the repression of women according to Butler?

BAÑARES, DESIREE T.

Synthesis Paper on Chosen Theory

FEMINIST THEORY: REPRESSION AND EMANCIPATION

The feminist movement is a fervent pursuit towards the historical, social,

Moreover, the dominance of phallogocentric language in social, cultural, and

These repressive concepts contribute to a pre-discoursal myth that assumes

The Feminist Theory forwards gender as the actions and expressions of an

Brunell, L. (2021, March 24). Feminism. Retrieved from Britannica:

Butler, J. (1990). Subjects of Sex, Gender, Desire. In J. Butler, Gender Trouble:

Felluga, D. (2002, July 17). PHALLOCENTRISM OR PHALLOGOCENTRISM.

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