Judith Butler Informative Acts And Gender Constitution Analysis
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When reading Judith Butlers “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution” it became clear that my own experiences were incredible reflective of what Butler’s description of gender as performance. Butler asserts that “gender is made to comply with a model of truth and falsity which not only contradicts its own performative fluidity, but serves a social policy for gender regulation and control” (Butler, Pg. 279), meaning that gender is not only an act but a societal tool used to control the meaning and rules that apply to gender. The concepts of a true and false model, the amount of restrictions and requirements, and the punishments for failing at gender are all things I have experiences personally. The concept of the true and false model is something…show more content… Butler talks about how the social concept of gender is a method of “regulation and control” of the genders. By placing very specific and ridged requirements on given gender, it becomes easy to spot outliers and rule breakers. Butler stated that “these types of possibilities are necessarily constrained by available social conventions” (Butler, Pg. 272) meaning that the outliers and the rule breakers end up being outcast by society and generally people want to be accepted. Therefore only through meeting the social expectations of their given gender, can a person prevent social isolation, giving a heavy incentive to remaining with in the societally given gender…show more content… I lived as an outlier and a rule breaker, although I wanted acceptance, I always wanted it on my terms, not societies. This rebellion, however, often left me outside of many activities that were common to my given gender. Taking part in the standard female experience was challenging, I didn’t wear make-up, or “girly” clothes, and I was failing at my gender constantly. I was tired of not understanding my female friends and them not understanding me. So I gave up on my authentic self. It started with me trying to cut my hair so that I had bangs, I hid my tee-shirts and jeans, and I wore a skirt with boots. People reacted in a highly positive manner when I actively chose to perform the gender of woman to the best of my abilities. Everyone complimented me and told me how lady like I looked, how much better I looked, and I even got asked out on a date, my performance was most convincing, I had achieved my gender, I had become “woman”. It was later that day when I realized that none of these people liked me, they like the girl I portrayed, they like my performance of “woman”, they liked that I had given into the perceived idea of “woman”. After I gave into the regulations and saw the control, I was capable of seeing what I hadn’t before; by giving into the rules and letting the social realm choose my script, my