Essay on Judith Butler and Postmodern Feminism - 2618 Words

Judith Butler and Postmodern Feminism What necessary tasks does Judith Butler identify for feminist criticism? How is her articulation of and response to these tasks characteristically postmodern? She has no identity except as a wife and mother. She does not know who she is herself. She waits all day for her husband to come home at night to make her feel alive. This sentiment lay buried, unspoken, for many years, in the minds of American women, until In 1960, the problem that has no name bust like a boil through the image of the happy American housewife. Betty Friedan coined the phrase `the problem that has no name during the second wave of feminism in the 1960s. By the time Judith Butler began articulating her views on†¦show more content†¦Juliet Mitchell concurs with Butlers view in her critique; Psycho-analysis and Feminism (1974), where she attempts to show that gender is constructed rather than biologically necessitated and sees importance be place upon identifying the precise developmental moments of that construction in the history of gendered subjects. This is similar to Butlers demand for a genealogical inquiry into gender construction. Butler draws on Jea n Paul Sartres essentialism; existence precedes essence, and Simone de Beauvoirs concept that One is not born, but rather becomes a woman. Judith Sargent Murray argues that when born we are tabula rasa; a blank slate, therefore concurs with the idea that one is not born a woman; our gender is constructed. Donna Haraway adopts Murrays concept later, suggesting we rid of our cultural baggage and accept our identitys as hybrid. In her feminist discourse Butler maintains this idea that a sense of `womanness is not prescribed at birth, but is in fact constructed by society through experience and life. Gender is not something you are but something you do; gender, sexuality and the self do not exist before they are performed in a social context. Butlers `Gender Trouble seeks to discover, however if there is some commonality among women...independent of their subordination by hegemonic, masculinist cultures? Butler questions if there are, perhaps certain natural elements that are speci ficallyShow MoreRelatedFeminism And The Postmodern Feminist Theory1596 Words   |  7 PagesThe evolution of feminist theory from a modern to a postmodern viewpoint stands to correct the injustices of historically liberal feminism. For some time, grand narratives have governed the ideas of self and gender from a single experience of â€Å"man†. Traditionally, modern feminism aimed to eradicate the hegemonic theory of inferiority by women to the male gender. Postmodern feminism aspires to eliminate categories of gender altogether, for the social construct of gender is considered to disregardRead MoreGender and Postmodern1508 Words   |  7 PagesModern â€Å"An argumentative essay on ‘Gender’ through comparison and contrast of the views of authorities who are postmodern practitioners† Introduction Defining postmodernism as well as gender is an extremely difficult task if not impossible. This essay is an argument on the two postmodernist’s concept on ‘Gender’. This essay argues posing foucauldian postmodernism of Judith Butler against Baudrillardean post modernism of Arthur and Marilouse Kroker with analysis on both their ideas on genderRead MoreThe Implications Of Gender Divisions1763 Words   |  8 Pages The Implications of Gender Divisions: A Critical Examination through a Postmodern Feminist Analysis Ashourina Hanna ID: 500495249 Dr. Amina Jamal SOC 475 24 November 2014 Word Count: 1766 Feminism addresses and recognizes the struggles often underwent by women of the past. Unfortunately, women’s historical struggles and lived experiences in the domestic sphere and private sectors of life have been erased from public awareness. Their realities often went unnoticed as they wereRead MoreEssay on On Feminism and Postmodernism3282 Words   |  14 PagesOn Feminism and Postmodernism It seems fitting that the marriage of feminism and postmodernism is one fraught with both difference and argument. The fact that these disagreements occur within the realm of the intellectual undoubtedly puts a wry smile on the face of either party. While feminism and postmodernism share several characteristics, most notably the deconstruction of the masculinised western ideology, feminism chooses to place itself within the absolutism of the modernist movementRead MoreThe Inequality Of Gender Inequality2723 Words   |  11 Pages PIED2721 End of Semester Essay Student Number - 200823400 Word Count: Which types of feminism can best account for the persistence of gender inequality? Include discussion of at least two different types of feminism. Introduction It would be foolish to say that gender inequality is not a continuing problem in today’s society. However it is difficult to understand why this view is so persistent. This is due to the great variety of issues and the large number of competing and oftenRead MoreAn Analysis Of Haraway s Manifesto Manifesto Essay1375 Words   |  6 Pagesby Cyborg Manifesto. From this productive dialogue this paper also hears echoes the oft-times contentious debates between Feminism and Poststructuralism/Postmodernism. The strains of it are captured in the contentions between feminist academics Seyla Benhabib and Judith Butler (Feminist Contentions 1994). For example, in advocating against a feminist embrace of Postmodern canons (i.e. – ‘Death of Man’, ‘Death of History’, ‘Death of Metaphysics’ [18-20]) that she claims would diffuse, drain andRead MoreThe Role Of Media And Communications Developed Over The Last Century?1803 Words   |  8 Pagesworld that has had major input in the development of technology and knowledge. However, there are theoretical aspects that have gone into the development of media and communications such Marxism, structuralism, cultural studies, subcultural theory, feminism and postmodernism. Louis Althusser (1970) wrote an essay called ‘Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses’, in which he explains how the various parts of social formation- â€Å"the family, education, the mass media, cultural and political institutions†Read MoreSocial And Feminist International Relations Theory Essay1766 Words   |  8 Pagessocially constructed and in herently dynamic and non-binary. From the perspective of Feminist International Relations theory, and employing the concept of intersectionality and the works of post-modern feminist international relations theorists, Judith Butler, Ann Tickner, and Christine Sylvester will be used to support my argument from the approach of gender identity. I will first define identity and gender, and how they relate to global politics and feminist international relations theory. I willRead MoreSociological Perspectives On Health And Social Care3443 Words   |  14 Pagesaddition for the man is to carry out the instrumental function he is the ‘breadwinner of the family and should be in paid employment to assure its material wellbeing.’’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_functionalism P1) Feminism: Feminists have different types of movements and ideologies aimed at establishing, and defending equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights for women across the globe. This involves trying to get equal opportunities for women in educationRead MoreInterpretivism7441 Words   |  30 Pagesaforementioned goals as relatively straightforward: I hope to show how a multiracial feminist approach can improve quantitative social science research in a variety of areas. Readers with a background in the humanities, feminist philosophies of science, postmodern feminist theories, or queer theories, however, are likely to see these goals as something else: complex, perhaps even misguided or naive. As psychologist Carolyn Wood Sherif (1979/1987, p. 51) wrote some thirty years ago, â€Å"If the issues of [gender]