Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex

Bodies That Matter (1993) is the third book by Judith Butler. It is preceded by Subjects of Desire: Hegelian Reflections in Twentieth-Century France (1987) and Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Subjects of Desire focuses on Hegel’s influence on French poststructuralism, especially on theories of subjectivity. This book explores the formation of subjects in society as informed by historical, ideological, and discursive contexts. Following Hegel’s dialectical method of analysis, Butler analyzes the processes of cultural identification in a nuanced way. They also consider the psychoanalytic notion of desire an important element of subjectivity.

Gender Trouble, published in 1990, is Butler’s most famous book. It significantly influenced their career direction and activist work. In this book, Butler challenges second-wave feminism’s assumptions about fixed identities, such as the categories of “men” and “women.” They question the basic understanding of sex and gender, arguing that both notions are cultural constructs. They analyze the works of Simone de Beauvoir and Julia Kristeva, criticizing their gender essentialism. In Gender Trouble, Butler introduces the notion of performativity, countering gender essentialism. The concept of performativity suggests that gender is not an internal truth that subjects express but rather a set of behaviors and actions that are learned and repeated.