Judith Butlers Queer theory

GENDER VS SEX


Gender + Sex= normal
Nature Vs Nuture

Judith Butler is Professor of Comparative Literature and Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley, and is well known as a theorist of power, gender, sexuality and identity.

Butler argues that if a gender act is performed and witnessed often enough it becomes the norm. "The notion that there might a "truth" of sex, as Foucault ironically terms it, is produced precisely through the regulatory practices that generate coherent identities through the matrix of coherent gender norms. The heterosexualization of desire requires and institutes the production of discrete and asymmetrical oppositions between "feminine" and "masculine," where these are understood as expressive attributes of "male" and "female."

the call for gender trouble has obvious media implications, since the mass media is the primary means for alternative images to be disseminated. The media is therefore the site upon which this semiotic war (a war of symbols, of how things are represented) would take place.

There are certain perceptions for certain sexuality's, a good example is the children's cartoon programme of Scooby Doo and the conventions of image that the characters give off.

(L-R) Fred, Velma, Scooby, Shaggy, Daphne

1) As you can see with Fred, he has been dressed to appear macho and his posture looks like he is strong and masculine. He looks like he is meant to represent the 'typical' heterosexual figure. His clothing looks stylish with a scarf and the colour blue is normally meant to represent male.
2) Shaggy compared to Fred looks like he doesn't really care about his style and the way he is percieved. His stance also looks like he's not masucline and doesn't represent a 'typical' macho male figure.
3) Velma has short hair and looks like a tomboy, even though she is wearing a skirt, her characters doesn't give off a feminine personality. Her appearance is very different to Daphne's who gives off a typical feminine persona.
4) Daphne is wearing purple which is a colour normally aimed at females. Her pose looks like shes quite self-obsessed compared to Velma. Her long hair is also another typical factor of a feminine female as to which Velma is the opposite of.