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Gender Performativity

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The term 'gender performativity' has subsequently been used in a variety of academic fields that describe individual participate in social construction of gender. The idea of social construction and knowledge are created by actors within the system, rather than having any inherent truth on their own and gender is a social identity that needs to be contextualized. Butler argues that gender is formed by 'institutions, practices and discourses with multiple and diffuse points of origin'(Gender Trouble, 37). She also argues that human beings are formed through language, with classificatory categories, such as male or female and masculine and feminine, creating rather than simply describing, human bodies. She conceives not only of language and intentions as performativity, but also subjectivity. The author also discussed about 'Queer theory' and 'Drag Act' in Gender Trouble to establish her theory of 'Performativity' as righteous. Gender Trouble critically discusses the work of Simone de Beauvoir, Julia Kristeva, Sigmund Frued, Jacques Lacan, Luce Irigray, Monique Wittig, Jacques Derrida, and most significantly Michel Foucault. Gender can be analyzed in at least two ways; gender identity and gender expression. The famous French philosopher Rene Descartes says; 'I think, therefore I am or better, I am thinking, therefore I exist.' Gender identity relates to the sense of who I am; the way we refers to ourselves as man or woman and cannot be seen by others. Gender identity is not a bodily matter though it is socially constructed that our sexed body is our identity and this identity comes by birth. In this context, the question arises that if our gender identity; male or female is defined by birth or by genital organs, then how can we categorize hermaphrodite? So gender identity should be defined by performance. Gender performativity is quite simple, how we commercialese our gender identity to others by clothes we wear, our mannerisms, hairstyles, dialogues, tones and interaction with society; this is the side of gender that is visible t

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