Brooke Meron Queer Theory

A philosopher enthusiast named Judith Butler created what is known as queer theory. Queer theory is based on that the ideas of ones gender falls under what is called a social construct which is the perception society has on an individual or group. Her invention of queer theory began after she looked into the minds and theories of three people. A linguist named Jacques Derrida, A sexologist named Alfred Kinsey, and last a philosopher named Michel Foucault. Our society has a metanarrative that creates a hegemonic state where gender defines all without question. Derrida, Kinsey, Foucault and most importantly Butlers theories can and does change gender. Among their theories, Butler began to agree, expand and broaden their theories, along with her own enlightening ideas, and thus the invention of queer theory happens. Jacques Derrida was a linguist. He came up with the theory of post-modernism and it questioned the hegemony of his time. Hegemony being a belief that society takes on without question. Derrida spoke a lot about language and his theory of postmodernism is the problem that all language is binary, judgmental, and exclusionary and by definition must be. Derrida came up with the process to change the problem, thus creating a solution. First, language is binary, judgmental, and exclusionary. Derrida example of binary language by an example of the word chair, and society first thinks of what is not a chair, i.e. a stool, a bench, or a rock. In order to picture a chair one must know what is not a chair. Society does this binary judgment with all things, and

persons. Derrida calls this process the societal discourse. Society decides what is on the inside and outside of being the chair versus not chair. In the real world, man versus not man. Anything or anyone that society decides is not a man is on the outside and loses privilege, gets judged, and is apart of the binary language. Derridas solution to post-modernism is called deconstruction. He questions the underlying truth of words, and language, and if one questions its truth, tears it apart, one can see its b inary, judgmental, and exclusionary meaning behind it. Then, after you deconstruct language is when the societal discourse can change in our society. A great example deconstruction in todays society are artists, singers, songwriters, and activists can set boundaries and expand the minds of society and change their views of what is a man or not man, or normal versus not normal and there are no longer those binary, judgmental boundaries among society. When Butler starts her testimony with queer theory and looks into Derridas theory of post-modernism she agrees with the fact that language is binary, judgmental, and exclusionary, but her big move is this: Language is not only that but harmful and dangerous. For example, you take the word man and everything on the outside of man is wo-man, no-man, and gay-man. Taking that further on man versus a wo-man or for a more promiscuous explanation, a stud versus slut. This is harmful and dangerous because a stud man is a positive, macho person. Yet, a slut wo-man has a negative, harmful and derogative meaning and feeling towards the word. When Butler looks into deconstruction, she states that deconstructing is not enough. Her idea is that one has to go farther. One needs to up-stream the issues. The problem is like dirty water in a

stream, and going farther up-stream one can find the root of the problem and benefit greatly. Next, is a man by the name of Alfred Kinsey. He was a biologist turned sexologist. He was the first American man to study and document human sexuality. After seeing an idea spark from his love of studying the evolution of gall wasps he realized something with reproducing and sexual desires among people. Couples have a delayed sense of sexual experience. With this realization, Kinsey conducted hundred of sexual history surveys. He raised a lot of controversy but also opened many doors of ideas that sexual desires are not binary. He created what is called the Kinsey Scale. It ranges from 0-6, 0 being completely heterosexual and 6 being completely homosexual. Kinsey found through his personal experiences, co-workers, and surveyed men and women, that not one soul can be found to be completely a 0 or a 6. Basically creating the acknowledgement that each person has some sort of homosexual desire, fantasies, or acts. He wrote two novels called Sexual Behavior in the Human male, and Sexual behavior in the Human Female. His work created uproar of opening the minds of people and influenced the world that sex can just be an act for pleasure whethe r its homosexual, heterosexual or a mixture of both. Kinsey also created a chart that indicates the findings in his surveys with ones sex, gender, identification, orientation, practice, attraction and aversion, ones philias, and last their urges and fantasies are combined into sub categories. The subcategories indicated that all things are a biology, social construct, and personal choice or psychological. After looking at the chart one can see that under attraction and aversion there is a question mark. Kinsey made a big

statement with substantial, factual data indicating that ones attraction is unknown and can be wide open. Human sexuality or orientation is and has a wide variety. There is no right answer or one way to be sexually. Butler completely agrees with Alfred Kinsey, and the fact that there is actual evidence about all humans having homosexual ideas whether straight or gay. That everyone is bisexual. All of this just adds that much more fuel to her fire about queer theory. Last, is a man named Michel Foucault. An openly gay philosopher who had

Foucault

Foucault was an openly gay philosopher who came up with three separate ideas. His three ideas are the history of sexuality, self-policing with the idea behind panopticon, and last the idea of no self. His whole idea behind sexual theory begins with the fact that Foucault explains and connects love, marriage, guilt, sin and sex all into three different ideas. Foucault empowers the idea that it took 2000 years of the history of sex, as a bodily function to what it is today, a mess. Foucault spent countless hours with the ideas behind the history of sexuality. The history of sexuality starts with the ancient times, procreation, and sex is a just as a bodily need as water or food is to a hungry person. The romans create marriage for power and money, and homosexuality was encouraged because it didnt lead to procreation. The Catholics and the middle Ages created a sense of sin and guilt with sex and a repression that sex is only for procreation. Not until the renaissance was the rebirth that the man and woman bodies are different and should be protected. You can look but you cannot touch. The hegemony of heterosexuality has only been around for 100 years and one can see that social discourse takes forever to catch up to these findings. Panopticon sets an imagery that every one of us lives in a little glass box and we self police ourselves. The Panopticon is the allegory for a circular jail encompassing a one-way mirror circle to watch inmates. Just the idea that someone may or may not be watching, entices the person to act in a normal behavior, eventually graduating to self-policing. People live in their own glass boxes and self-police so that each person acts

to societies normal behavior. Self-policing can lead to a society where everyone are docile citizens. His last idea is the idea of no self. Foucault explains that not one single per son can know himself or herself because not one single person knows what they look like. You are many characters, personalities, colors etc., so therefore no one can be just one person. You cannot and should not be determined by one self, because any one person is a combination of numerous identities that they should be able to express. The ideas behind Foucault really get Butler going, especially on the no-self theory. Butler says there is no self to know, you are a fluid person, so she refuses to put labels on the no-self saying you are one of many people combined into one. Butler expanded on the theories of Derrida, Kinsey and Foucault but adds a few ideas of her own. Behind Butler's gendering one can see how she clearly states three big ideas. The reality of gender being a social construct that feminisms stance can be attacked with the notions of making a line between male and female, and that gender is a societal hegemony. Through all these ideas she creates queer theory and her ultimate statement to just be Gender being a social construct is seen through acts in life. These acts in life are considered normal or not normal. Stating that when one is acting that person is already a constructed way of life that has been going on way before them. A great example is when one feels like they are less of a man when they act out in a certain way. Just by making that statement they have experienced being gendered in life. Butlers way of looking at this social construct and veering away from it is her thought that each being

should be a moving being, that can shift and morph into their own contexts pertaining to each situation. Butlers peak of interest in queer theory happened when she began looking at the womens movement rights. Butler thought that putting a line between male and female happens with the feminist movement. Being a feminist and stating you are of equal as to man; yet they are considering themselves a group of similar ideas sets themselves up for failure of gendering one another. It reinforces the binary notions between male and female and what each sex does or is in life. Last, Butler states that society is a gendered hegemony. There is a hold on society of what has become normal, and natural in your culture. This hegemonic state happens in the continuous daily acts of life. Ones personal acts are in the public eye not being questioned and it doesnt have to be that way. Her big statement is to just be. Butler believes there should be no labels to one human being. You are a constant moving human that can be fluid and change through out life. If one takes the just be walk of life the gendering, binary judgment, self policing and every part of queer theory can just be. The societal discourse then changes and society can move forward. All of the theories among Derrida, Foucault, Kinsey and Butler would create a society that doesnt exist at this moment. Derrida is talking about changing at the root; the way language is looked at as a whole. Deconstructing language, binary judgments and having it change the society discourse. Then, the hegemony of our society would be more open. Kinsey makes society realize attraction is open and welcomes all, and our

society is prude. Foucaults self-policing would no longer have docile citizens. Society would realize a person is more than one judgmental stamp of approval. Butler expands the ideas off of these linguists, philosophers and sexologists, and takes things up stream and creates queer theory. Ones identity and gender is not a fixed notion nor does it determine who we are. With all that creating queer theory with her solution of just two words just be.