Description

American philosopher and gender theorist Judith Butler discusses a personal story and the basic idea of gender as performance.  She also briefly brings up the idea of gender policing, the blank slate of gender, and other related notions.  A great, short intro by an iconic figure.

Discussion Questions

• What does she mean by gender is performed or a role we play?
• How is gender different than sex?
• Do you think we have a gender “from the start”?  How much does nature and nurture play affect our genders?
• What is society’s expectation about being a “man” or being a “woman”?  How is this expectation “policed”?  How can we fight unjust policing?

Keywords: gender, sex, cis, society, norms, social, performance, feminism, queer