Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex

In the third chapter, Butler explores the construction of sexual identities and the implicit questions surrounding their essentialism. Essentialism refers to the belief that there are inherent and fixed qualities that define what it means to be male or female. However, Butler argues that constructivism should not signify absolute freedom because constraints and societal rules are integral to the constitution of sexuality. Butler challenges the binary thinking of sexuality as either constructed or determined, emphasizing the performative nature of construction and the role of constraint as a condition of performativity. Performativity, defined here as ritualized repetition under constraints, shapes the subjects through the threat of social consequences. Butler then develops their analysis of the relationship between sexuality, law, and power, observing how the law both represses and generates sexuality. This analysis focuses on the complex interplay of constraints, performativity, and regulatory power in the formation of sexual identities.

Turning to Lacan’s work on sexual difference, which has been taken up by some feminist scholars, Butler discusses the concept of constraints as limits on what can be constructed in the domain of sexuality. Butler questions the heteronormative aspects of Lacan’s notion of sexual difference, challenging the stability of gender development.