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Original poster

Judith Butler interview

414 replies

MotherofPearl · 07/09/2021 12:27

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/sep/07/judith-butler-interview-gender?CMP=ShareiOSAppOther

Apologies if this has already been posted. I found this troubling to read. Am I misreading this or is Butler saying that GC feminism is fascist?

OP posts:
Mochudubh · 07/09/2021 13:05

I've just managed to wade through about 2 thirds of that (very sycophantic) interview before I gave up. What a load of unintelligible wank!

dolorsit · 07/09/2021 13:04

Fran, I agree - I was done with Butler a long time ago before she gained her current "reverence"

I'm not opposed to philosophers being somewhat interpretive as I understand the intent is to encourage readers/students to think through the issue and come to their own understanding, not to be spoon fed "the truth".

I am opposed to work that is deliberately confusing and conflated so that the author can demonstrate their intellectual superiority.

Phobiaphobic · 07/09/2021 13:04

@MotherofPearl

I thought she was GC.

Exactly! Me too! I thought she was one of the key people who argued that gender was a construction and a performance.

Now she seems to be saying that GC feminists are transphobes and fascists. Infuriating.

I thought she was the mother of queer theory, therefore definitely not on the side of sex being real.
Original poster
MotherofPearl · 07/09/2021 13:02

I thought she was GC.

Exactly! Me too! I thought she was one of the key people who argued that gender was a construction and a performance.

Now she seems to be saying that GC feminists are transphobes and fascists. Infuriating.

OP posts:
GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman · 07/09/2021 13:00

I got as far as 'we are assigned a sex at birth' and gave up.

Sex is observed at birth. It's a biological reality. We don't 'assign sex' to animals. We observe it. I've never known a farmer 'assign' the male sex to a ewe, shove her him into a ram harness and put her him in the field to procreate.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 07/09/2021 12:55

@MotherofPearl

Grin

I just got so confused. I thought JB was one of the people who firmly believed gender is a construct. But here she seems to be saying it's sacrosanct? Mystifying.

Wuh?!

I thought she was GC.

Bleurgh.

SoManyQuestionsHere · 07/09/2021 12:52

Am I misreading this or is Butler saying that GC feminism is fascist?

I think she's probably actually saying that, yes, though she conflates right-wing and feminist opponents (also, somehow: capitalism as a whole and French neoliberals specifically, because: sure!) when she says it.

But then, I mean, it's Judith Butler. A.k.a. "person who made a whole career out of never being able to actually say anything with any amount of clarity".

Point in case: JB saying what I think could mean "I'm an enbie" (but clearly not saying that ...):

When I wrote Gender Trouble, there was no category for “nonbinary” – but now I don’t see how I cannot be in that category.

FrancescaContini · 07/09/2021 12:52

@dolorsit

JB firmly believed and argued that gender is a construction. When it slowly emerged that the John/Jane Doe psychological experiment was not only unethical, but falsified and actually abusive JB did a u-turn.

However Butlers work is so obfuscatory that her previous work could be interpreted as arguing that gender is innate, hence JB has always opposed the concept that gender is a construct...

Her work is an excellent example of "classism" in that if you disagree you are not clever enough or educated enough to understand her arguments.

Oh believe me I am clever enough 😆 but I can’t be arsed to wade through it all. It’s insufferable.
dolorsit · 07/09/2021 12:49

JB firmly believed and argued that gender is a construction. When it slowly emerged that the John/Jane Doe psychological experiment was not only unethical, but falsified and actually abusive JB did a u-turn.

However Butlers work is so obfuscatory that her previous work could be interpreted as arguing that gender is innate, hence JB has always opposed the concept that gender is a construct...

Her work is an excellent example of "classism" in that if you disagree you are not clever enough or educated enough to understand her arguments.

dyslek · 07/09/2021 12:47

Or there is always Douglas Murry's 'Someone who speaks so obscurely is hiding something'
and we all prity much know what that something is

FrancescaContini · 07/09/2021 12:46

Too painful to read. Just a load of jumbled words.

Diaryofamadwoman · 07/09/2021 12:41

Oh good grief. I can't even be bothered to read this.

Original poster
MotherofPearl · 07/09/2021 12:39
Grin

I just got so confused. I thought JB was one of the people who firmly believed gender is a construct. But here she seems to be saying it's sacrosanct? Mystifying.

OP posts:
dyslek · 07/09/2021 12:31

Mehgan Murphy gave the definative verdict on JB interviews;

'American academic re-emerges to remind the world she is a fraud.'

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