Comments | pulpdecameron: Hands-On Gender Studies

pulpdecameron

Hands-On Gender Studies

Jul 13, 2006 10:10

The text surrounded by stars transcribes snippets of conversation heard through the narrator's first-floor window.The leaning tower of books on gender and queer theory stood precariously on the edge of her desk. It was time for the nightly staring contest among herself, her books, and her fifth cup of coffee ( Read more... )

Comments 5

chemlabgoddess July 14 2006, 02:35:03 UTC

I still can't see Judith Butler's name without shuddering. Entertaining piece. Pun intended.

velina13 July 14 2006, 03:42:17 UTC

Do we have a bone to pick with Judy? (Pun certainly not intended.)

chemlabgoddess July 14 2006, 19:32:59 UTC

I once slogged through The Transsexual Empire and haven't been able to stand the person since. Have her ideas of gender and transsexuality evolved beyond that point? If so, I should take a deep breath and plunge into some of her more recent thought. I have friends and friends of friends that have been discriminated against and Ms. Butler is one of the resources cited to back up said discrimination. Please, if I am incorrect, let me know. I do try to grow as I can.

velina13 July 15 2006, 06:22:27 UTC

The Transsexual Empire, by Janice G. Raymond, was published in 1979, when Butler was still in either university or graduate school. Was she cited in the revised 1994 edition? Citing people out of context is a common tactic for those who cannot possibly prove their point legitimately. I was recently told that Abraham Lincoln was cited out of context in a racist Civil War museum in Charleston, SC, so as to imply that he considered black people naturally inferior. Butler is a highly complex thinker who has consistently written about the ways in which gender itself is violently imposed on everyone. She would be the last person to attack the trans community, and citing her to support transphobia is a travesty at best. I would be interested to know who cited her thus, if I considered such texts worth reading.

Duality of Though anonymous July 14 2006, 18:41:43 UTC

I think the feature I like the best about this is the seeming dichotomy of academic and mundane thought. Replace feminism or post-feminism with any academic subjects and this situation applies. At least for myself, it often seems as if I have two ways of thinking which are difficult to reconcile: academic, scholarly, where my thinking is built of theories and everything is critically analyzed and parsed, and the more mundane way of viewing the world. This second is far less enjoyable, because it seems so vapid. Anyone feel that breach in thought and world-view?