...Butler attempts to analyze the normative heterosexuality. He points out that disciplinary social rules force us to conform to a hegemonic, heterosexual identity. Butler sates that a selective reading of structuralism, psychoanalytic and feminist accounts enforce gender identities within a heterosexual frame. Butler reports that feminists have alternatives to the pre-patriarchal culture. They use this as a model to base a new society. If patriarchy has a beginning, it can also have an end. Therefore, accounts of the original transformation of sex into gender have proven useful to feminists. Cramer discus ideologies of gender, race, and class and states that these themes linked to sexual morality. Cramer analyzes Sex and the City, stating that it has an interesting paradox between the single life and the hunt for marriage. Cramer also reports on Queer life, saying that this show revolves around the idea that friendships are...
Words: 434 - Pages: 2
...Theories of work organisation have gone through considerable changes in the last couple of decades. Describe what you believe to be the main changes and evaluate their importance in the changing world of business. (You may choose a particular industry or occupation to illustrate your argument). Introduction to the feminist movement: In an constantly evolving society, theories of work organisations have undergone drastic changes over the past few decades (Tosi 2009). Organisational theory developed from the work of Taylor and Weber (Reed & Ross-Smith 1994) along with the management theory of Mintzberg (Bartram 2005). The application of these concepts needed to change to reflect the desires and expectations of the current working demographic. The ‘highly visible’ (Stanley & Wise 2000) feminist or women’s movements, particularly in developed countries throughout the past century, have allowed women to enjoy substantially increased levels of equality and the ability to enter male-dominated occupations which their predecessors could not. Modern philosophers such as Foucault and de Saussure (Kelemen & Rumens 2008) have been considering one facet of ‘poststructuralism’ (Tosi 2009, p. 263), leading to a new stream of though on the implications of language interpretation. Modern poststructuralist feminists such as McNay and Weedon (as cited in Kelemen & Rumens 2008) have been debating ways in which to instigate and enhance a shift from a male-centric organisation compositions towards...
Words: 2245 - Pages: 9
...Postmodernism However in postmodernism, it holds an subjectivist ontology that reality is formed by one’s own experiences, assumptions and beliefs, which challenge the perspective of modernism (Hatch & Cunliffe 2006). Postmodernists view reality as an illusion that is formed based on language which is an instrument used by the elite to control the employee interpretation of a scenario and so lead them to satisfy their interests (Robbins & Barnwell 2002). In addition, through discourse and deconstruction, postmodernists can unveil the multiple interpretations of organizational reality, hidden power relationships, the repressed and marginalized of groups (Cunliffe 2008). It will provide a better understanding on the interpretations of the organizational reality, the influence on one thought and the constraints of the organizations. Postmodernist built their structure of organization on a horizontal level of hierarchy and they perceive power and control are integrated in everyday social relationships and organizational practices (Hatch & Cunliffe, 2006). Postmodernist applies the concept of disciplinary power that was developed by Michael Foucault, a French philosopher. According to Foucault (1980), the concept of disciplinary power causes employees to engage in a self-surveillance behavior due to the anticipation of control and the self-disciplinary behavior which is view by the postmodernist as a discourse of power within the organization. He believes that disciplinary power...
Words: 379 - Pages: 2
...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 gender including sex and sexuality. This essay also argues that these two approaches are fully flawed for a number of important reasons. This essay offered an argument on the ideas of two of the most prominent postmodernists in the field of ‘Gender’ including sex and sexuality namely Judith Bultler and Discussion Postmodernism of Judith Butler Judith Butler is one among the most influential proponent of postmodern practitioner of gender including sex and sexuality. In Gender Trouble It is stated that identity of gender constitutes the very expressions which are its results and does not go beyond the expressions of gender. Butler does not consider gender as an appropriate social as well as natural expressions of a sexed body, but it is a fluid identity which is always in a deferral state ad does not exist fully at any given point of time (Norris, 2010). She does not believe in the notion of a stable and essential identity of gender manifesting itself by way of external activities instead of the radical view which is anti-foundationalist meaning the doer is variably e constructed through and in the deed. Butler goes beyond the idea that gender did not exist prior to performance instituted by culture and questions it through the givenness of the body. Butler assumes that heterosexuality is an intrinsic oppressive...
Words: 1518 - Pages: 7
...explain the immense power Volumnia holds over her son Coriolanus. Ralph Berry argues the sexual motivation behind Volumnia’s control in his article “Sexual Imagery in Coriolanus.” Berry states that “from Volumnia, we derive a strong impression of the interlinked impulses of sex and power” (316). Lady Macbeth’s character and influence over her husband is explored thoroughly in William T. Liston’s "Male and Female Created He Them": Sex and Gender in "Macbeth." Liston outlines the ways Lady Macbeth manipulates both her husband’s masculinity and her own femininity to achieve her personal ambitions. Although Sparey and Berry examine the motives and character of Volumnia and Liston recounts the ambitious incentives of Lady Macbeth, this paper will focus on the performance of gender and how it is used to manipulate the masculine body, the feminine body, and to overcome the societal boundaries set out for individuals at the time of Shakespeare’s writing. Using Judith Butlers concept of gender performativity, Volumnia and Lady Macbeth break their roles as the proper wife and mother and shift their gender in accordance to their current situations. The women are cunning and ambitious heroines who are able to manipulate their male counterpart to achieve their goals which they could not otherwise do as women in an extremely patriarchal society. Volumnia and Lady Macbeth are...
Words: 2146 - Pages: 9
...etc, however, your gender insinuates the expected rules, behaviours and expectations considered appropriate for being a female or a male (Magrini 2003:1). In this essay I will discuss how, Judith Butler, Simon Frith, Angela McRobbie and Kristen Schilt explore how ‘traditional gender norms’ continue throughout popular music. Judith Butler looked at how gender is a ‘performance’ and that we need to break the traditional gender binaries. Simon Frith and Angela McRobbie discussed how Rock music is male dominated and that women are more or less in the background. Finally, Kristen Schilt discusses how the band Riot Grrrl portrayed girl power, and how Riot Grrrl associated bands tried to keep the girl power going, but still conformed to the traditional female stereotypes, the very thing they were trying to get away from. Describing gender, Butler states that gender is in fact ‘performed.’ We are performing gender as we behave, walk and talk in ways which connects human beings to impressions of being a male or being a female. She argues that there is “an unwitting regulation and reification of gender relations”, (Butler 1990) which reinforces the fact that there are binary views of gender relations. This means that human beings are essentially divided into two distinct groups, women and men (Butler 1990). There is nothing in between; it’s just two extremes at each end of the scale. It is this approach to gender where there is little lenience to resist the gender binaries and be ‘different’...
Words: 1680 - Pages: 7
...Marte Rognstad http://www.duo.uio.no Trykk: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo Abstract This thesis presents an exploration of the representation of gender in Virginia Woolf’s Orlando and Jeffrey Eugenides’s Middlesex mainly in light of the theories of Judith Butler. The focus will be on how the two novels challenge the traditional concept of gender and gender categories, and in what ways the novels can give us new perspectives on the concept of gender. The theoretical focus will be on Judith Butler, more precisely her idea of gender as performance, and her deconstructionist approach to identity categories. I will present Butler’s proposal for a “new feminist genealogy,” and through my investigation of the representation of gender in Orlando and Middlesex I will show how both novels take on a “Butlerian” understanding of the concept of gender. By looking at various issues related to gender explored in the two novels, and pointing to similarities and differences between the two works, I hope to show how the protagonists, Orlando and Cal/lie, break down and transcend the fraught categories of male and female, thus disrupting the traditional gender norms and conventions, showing them to be socially and culturally constructed. Judith Butler’s hope is for every human being to be acknowledged as a subject, no matter which gender and/or sexual identity he or she has, and my aim is consequently to present how Orlando and Middlesex, through their representation of gender,...
Words: 37487 - Pages: 150
...What is the Difference Between ‘Sex’ and ‘Gender’? To start this essay I will clearly state definitions of ‘Sex’ and ‘Gender’ respectively. ‘Sex’ is described as ‘the biological properties that distinguish organisms on the basis of their reproductive roles.’(Princeton University – 2010). Whereas gender is listed as ‘the state of being male or female, typically with reference to social or cultural differences rather than biological.’(Michigan University – 2010). In this essay I will explore and investigate both sex and gender, whilst identifying the differences between the two. I will start by elaborating on the given definitions. Sex is defined on the Princeton University website as ‘biological’. This is a word that has recurred in many other definitions that I have researched for the word ‘sex’. This would suggest that sex is able to be categorized in a straight forward manner. However, there are several high profile cases in the media, when the issue of ‘sex’ has come into question. Perhaps most recently is the case of South African athlete, Caster Semanya. Semanya won the 800m race during the African Junior Championship, with the fastest time of the year. This lead to some spectators questioning her sex. When looking at the athlete she has an incredibly muscular and angular frame, and this coupled with her record breaking run made the International Athletic Association ask for a sex test. This case brought the issue of ‘sex’ into much disrepute. Now, we are...
Words: 1974 - Pages: 8
...standard is seen as a degenerate demonstration (Germov & Poole 2011, p.10). This implies that all social connection is separated and seen through the viewpoint of a hetero normative look. A typical misinterpretation, nonetheless, all through Western culture is that sexual orientation and organic sex are synonymous in meaning. Biological sex is naturally decided, sexuality is changed in agreement to inclination, and sex is a behavioral method of being (Butler 2011).It is a normally underestimated perspective that females ought to act like young ladies and guys ought to act like young men yet this is not generally the situation. Exploration demonstrates that in numerous English talking nations, not barring Australia, oppression homosexuality is disheartened and, on occasion, even unlawful. Despite this, hetero men are demonstrated to disregard gay person want in apprehension of being avoided by their companions (Richter’s & Riesel 2005, p.118). A developing collection of sociological hypothesis and research on men and masculinities addresses late changes in men's practices, appearances, assessments, and that's only the tip of the iceberg. Thus there are many...
Words: 490 - Pages: 2
...Rhetorical Strategies in Butler’s “phylosophe” and Brook’s “Honor Code” Judith Butler and David Brooks both use the similar method of telling a story at the beginning to convince their audience that what they are saying is true. Judith Butler, a philosopher, in a youtube interview, “phylosophe” (2007), argues that society has a severely deep fear relating to gender norms. Meanwhile, David Brooks, a columnist, in “Honor Code” (2012), from The New York Times claims that the education system is to blame for the increase of males failing each year, not the males themselves. While Butler tells an anecdote, Brooks uses an allusion which both are stories that get the audience involved, appeals to pathos and logos, which is when the author tries to affect the audience’s personal feelings and tries to persuade the listener through deductive reasoning, and uses tone, the attitude of the speaker and the effects it has on the audience. Butler begins by...
Words: 1847 - Pages: 8
...catch the genuine physical and enthusiastic changes that a person encounter, performance doesn't start to address the way that, amid someone's move, the way a transitioning person may act the same, wear the same clothes that they generally had. When we discuss gender as if it were a performance, we let the group of observers,with every one of their desires, preferences, and assumptions, totally free as a bird. Gender is not just a performance, gender is confusing and a complicated mess that no one can really figure out. In “Dismantling Gender Polarization and Compulsory Heterosexuality: Should We Turn the Volume Down or Up?” Sandra Lipsitz Bem. In this article Bem discusses the work of three scholars whose ideas are central: philosopher Judith Butler whose theory was all gender is a performance, anthropologist Mary Douglas whose theory was society classifies as “dirt” those things of which it opposes,it needs the dirt; however, it must control it, and developmental geneticist Anne Fausto-Sterling theory was that sex is a continuum that ought to be divided not into just two sexes but into at least five sexes. “Monster in the Closet:Homosexuality and the Horror Film” Harry M. Benshoff, the book examines the historical figure of the movie monster in connection to different medicinal, mental, religious and social models of homosexuality. Set in 1930’s Paris, starving musical vocalist Victoria (Julie Andrews) is supported by gay men club entertainer Toddy (Robert Preston). At the point...
Words: 1215 - Pages: 5
...was placed on men) in order to draw attention to inequities in their portrayal in relation to men (in quantitative terms as well as in terms of the use of stereotypes). Since the 1970s, however, the scope of social constructionism has greatly expanded in feminist theory. Some suggest that the distinction between the biological and the social has, as a result, eroded to such an extent that it is no longer possible to understand the difference, while others question the need for this distinction. For instance, in queer and transgender theory and feminist cultural studies, theorists have sought to make strange the ‘sex/gender’ distinction. The key argument made is that biology is no less a cultural construct than gender socialization into masculinity and femininity. While the point is that biology, like gender, is thought to be socially constructed, that does not mean that there is no such thing as biology. While it is notoriously difficult if not impossible to identify exactly what is driven by biology or by culture, identity scholars insist that this is not the central question that needs to be asked. Instead, identity...
Words: 8766 - Pages: 36
...2. Men's Language (Excerpted from The Men's Bibliography: A comprehensive bibliography of writing on men, masculinities, gender, and sexualities, compiled by Michael Flood. 19th edition, 2008. Home URL: http://mensbiblio.xyonline.net/) a) Men and Language Note: Works on boys, literacy and language in education are listed under "Growing up Male" above. Coates, Jennifer. (2003). Men Talk: Stories in the making of masculinities. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers. 1. ‘We was Playing Naked Football the Other Night’: Introduction. 2. ‘Good Story!’: The Formal Characteristics of Male Narrative. 3. ‘So I Thought ‘Bollocks to it’: Men, Stories and Masculinities. 4. ‘Bad as My Mate’: Stories in Sequence. 5. ‘She’d Made Sardines in Aspic’: Women’s Stories, Men’s Stories and the Construction of Gender. 6. ‘I’m Quite Good at Mexican Food’: Men’s Narratives in Mixed Conversation. 7. ‘Still in Shock Weren’t You Darling’: Masculinity and the Heterosexual Couple. 8. ‘There are Problems’: Men’s Talk and Contemporary Masculinities. Cowburn, Malcolm. (2004). Men, masculinities and what men do: the relationship of critique and change (invited review essay). Sexualities, 7, 4 497-501. Edley, N. (2001a). Analysing masculinity: Interpretative repertoires, ideological dilemmas and subject positions. In M. Wetherell, S. Taylor & S. Yates. (eds.), Discourse as data: a guide for analysis (pp. 189-229). London: Sage Publications. Edley, N. (2001b). I. Conversation analysis, discursive psychology...
Words: 1278 - Pages: 6
...occur within the varying relationships of sex, gender, and sexuality (1996: 3). By having an analytical framework which includes numerous modes of sex/gender/sexuality combinations, such as cross-dressing, sadomasochism, and androgyny, Queer Theory acts in critical relation to the hegemonic social norms through which traditional sexual identities are governed and accepted (Weed and Schor, 1997: vii). Theorist David Halperin (1997) suggests that numerous varying degrees of difference and interpretation exist within any given from of sexuality - for example, there exist both feminine male homosexuals and masculine male homosexuals, and so on. Related to this is one Queer Theory’s central claims, which wishes to state that femininity/masculinity have no necessarily explicit link to biologically sexed females/males. Corber and Valocchi suggest that the belief that this link is anything other than arbitrary serves to legitimate social patriarchy, and that stigmatisations occur when such sex/gender/sexuality combinations step outside these social norms (2003:7). Another central claim of Queer Theory is that...
Words: 2109 - Pages: 9
...[Hook/anecdote on observations of nephews etc] A few years ago, a video of a five-year-old girl named Riley went viral. Standing in a decidedly pink toy aisle she laments, “Why do all the girls have to buy pink stuff?” Riley is not the only one questioning the ways in which toys are gender-stereotyped and marketed, and some go so far to argue that, in addition to shaping gender identity, it in contributes to gender inequality. [additional discussion/framing main questions of the paper etc] Gender, not to be confused with sex, which is biologically defined by reproductive organs, may be understood as a socially constructed range of characteristics that pertain to and differentiate between masculinity and femininity. To further clarify, “male” and “female” are sex categories,...
Words: 1683 - Pages: 7
