MDSA01H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Judith Butler, David M. Halperin, Queer Theory
Document Summary
Performativity: michel foucault (1926 1984, judith butler (b. Before the late 19th century, one could not be a homosexual. A man could have sex with another man, but this was merely an act, an individual instance, and not a quality of identity. With the rise of religious, medical and political discourses surrounding sexuality, the notion of homosexuality (and heterosexuality) came to be a coherent classification of people. Gender, rather than a coherent component of identity incorporated through socialization is in fact a bodily performance of discourse that exists only because people believe it is significant. Gender only exists because people act as gendered beings. It is meant to cause some question; it questions the heteronormative view of society: its pushing for greater tolerance. Seeks to disrupt socially constructed systems over meaning regarding human sexuality. Binary: heterosexuality/homosexuality: there should be transsexuality and bisexuality, not just the two, binary: they are opposite; eithers black or white; they are opposites.
