Preview

Judith Butler Beside Oneself Summary

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
258 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Judith Butler Beside Oneself Summary
Tylencia Harvey
Ms.Bowser
English 1101/MWF 12
October 18,2012

A Question for Philosophers In Judith Butler’s essay Beside Oneself: On the Limits of Sexual Autonomy she discusses sexuality and what actually makes a world livable. Judith is a gay rights activist and doesn’t believe that your gender is not who you are skin deep, but it is who you define yourself as. The world can be livable to some people, but not all. The world is harsh, and cruel, but the only reason it is like this is because of the people who live inside of it who do not wish to accept everyone for who they are. These people believe that their purpose to be here is to make judgments. A livable world is defined as being able to get your foot in the door enough so

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    A modern woman in her late 20’s named Dana time travels back in the nineteenth century when the 13th amendment did not exist, yet. Based on her knowledge, she firmly presumes the reasonings for her voyages is due to her ancestor, Rufus. It seems to be that whenever Rufus is in a troubled situation, Dana goes back in time. On one of her perilous journeys, she brings her husband, Kevin Franklin. But, Dana did not want Kevin to be apart of this horrendous trip. While, Dana was getting dizzy, Kevin held her. She tried pushing and shouting at him to get away. But, it was too late. Once, they arrived at Rufus’ time period, she stated, “ In this place, he was probably better protection for me than free papers would have been, but I didn’t want him…

    • 214 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Judith Ortiz Cofer's “First Love”, the speaker is opportunistic and infatuated. The narrator is opportunistic because she did not let a sense of morality stop her from taking advantage of whatever opportunity she had to get what she wants. Simply because the narrator wanted a mere glimpse of her crush who worked at a grocery store, she hoped her mother “[smoking] with so little enthusiasm”(Cofer 1) did not mean that she'd have to stop going to the store to pick up cigarettes. The narrator did not have the morality to think that to quit smoking cigarettes may be good for her mother's health. Rather, she wanted her to continue “[smoking] them fast” just to go to the grocery store more often(1). The speaker even called that moment of her life…

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This presentation will explore Violence, Trauma, and Knowledge as interlocking concepts in Octavia Butler’s Kindred. While it may be obvious that violence and trauma are integral parts of both the slave narrative and neo-slave narrative traditions, the part these concepts play in the slaves’, or their decedents, acquisition of knowledge may be more subversive. In Kindred, the protagonist, Dana, is somehow teleported to save her white male ancestor in slave era Maryland. During these times, she has to live as a slave in order to blend in, and she experiences the same violence and trauma as a slave during this era would. Throughout the novel, she is confront with the chose to let her white ancestor die, or to kill him or his father when they…

    • 318 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    | The fact that sexual identities have only recently emerged as a concept suggests that:…

    • 1311 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Butler questions whether these gendered behaviors are natural as they are learned from one’s performance of a “gendered” individual to keep heterosexuality among their culture. If she had it her way, she would simply like to let one subject “be” and see how he/she becomes on his/her own. This would determine the true natural gender of subjects, instead of having them act in specific roles they might not agree with. However, this would never happen as many feminists defend the idea of a concrete identity because they believe it’s crucial for the advancement of interests of women. Butler argues, “My point is simply that one way in which this system of compulsory heterosexuality is reproduced and concealed is through the cultivation of bodies into discrete sexes with ‘natural’ appearances and ‘natural’ heterosexual dispositions” (905). Ultimately, Butler is stating it is a mistake to characterize women as possessing the same assets. Because by doing this, gender regulations are reinforced by staying divided into two categories, men and women. But more importantly, where does this leave individuals who are “confused” or “not able to identify” with a…

    • 1124 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Judith Butler Response

    • 727 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Judith Butler's Beside Oneself: On the Limits of Sexual Autonomy is an extremely philosophical essay that asks many questions that challenges the reader to look within themselves to search for their own interpretation of what they believe the answer to be. The first statement that Butler opens with is, "What makes for a livable world is no idol question". This statement almost seems like a question directed to the reader. I believe that people interpret what they believe would make their lives bearable differently. What I may seem bearable for my own life may be unbearable to another's. It is up to the individual to decide for themselves. Butler continues by saying, "It becomes a question of ethics when someone from a position of power decides what makes other people's lives bearable." To me, the question of what makes my own life bearable is my family. Other people may have different responses to that question. It is not up to one person to decide for others what they can live and can't live without. I interpreted this concept to mean that no one should tell another person who they should love or what can make their lives livable because it is different for all of us. There is no simple answer, therefore no one should be in the position to tell other people how to live their lives.…

    • 727 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Free Will in Society Today

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages

    My life is pre-determined by my race and gender. I have felt the pressure to conform to society’s image of a white wealthy male. Being male has given me benefits that many transsexuals have noticed and worked to become accustomed to. In Deborah Rudacille’s piece “Introduction”, Rudacille noted that one person “simply cannot understand why a successful middle-aged man would surrender his cultural power to assume the lower-caste status of a middle-aged woman” (Rudacille XIX). Growing up male already gives me a title and path to what I must become. Early on I was lead to believe I must become the main provider and source of security in my family, and the amount of free will I possess allows me to choose this path for myself.…

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "Beside Oneself" Response

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Throughout “Beside Oneself: On the Limits of Sexual Autonomy”, Butler uses numerous terms to address the age old question of what makes humans human and to characterize the world we live in. One recurring theme that stands out in this essay is the innate vulnerability that all humans must endure as bodily creatures. As human beings we are all vulnerable due to our dependency on others, both physically and socially. This universal dependency on one another interconnects all people no matter their race, gender, or sexual orientation.…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In Bodies that Matter, Butler uses drag as an example of potential subversion to traditional gender performativity, stating: “Drag is subversive to the extent that it reflects on the imitative structure by which hegemonic gender is itself produced and disputes heterosexuality’s claim on naturalness and originality.” According to Butler, drag is one of many ways to resist the power structures that regulate gender identities, mainly through the ridiculing of normative cultural and social expressions. Drag destabilizes the “truth” of sexual and gender mainstream ideology by pointing to the fact that there is no obligating reason that necessitates the constant repetition of normative behaviour. Drag exposes social coercion at the base of the performative…

    • 1431 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sexuality and Development

    • 1189 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The LGBT member self-identity is a women named Amanda White who I interviewed for this paper. Amanda is thirty three years old and has been a lesbian her whole life. Amanda says she can remember even far back as grade school when she remembers she was fascinated in a special way by a particular girl in her class. Amanda says her thoughts were not particularity sexual she was only eleven years old at the time. Amanda can say that she also remembers having thoughts about this girl and weather not if she thought she was cute. Amanda says she remembers when she would look at that girl that she did fell some kid of pleasure by doing so. Amanda said her self-identity was recognized at an early age of knowing she was a lesbian but did not know how to describe or even tell others about herself identity. It was the eighth grade when Amanda realized that she was not emotional and never had any sexual thoughts about any boy’s only girls. She had strong feelings for girls…

    • 1189 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Feminists hold the belief that biological determinism of gender has promoted gender inequalities. When the sex of an individual is female, then one is expected to predispose the gender characteristics of a female such as maternal, passive, and domestic. Given that biological diversity between men and women is the root cause of the social inequalities, then one can do nothing to effect changes. This is the argument used by feminists to rub off the importance of biology in determining gender. Additionally, feminists believe that there is no need to associate biology and gender roles. Butler (1999), a feminist, questions on fixedness of gender and biological determinism of sex. She argues that if gender and sex are a social construct, then any effort to assign sex specific aspects is not possible. This view could be termed as self-defeating which means that sex and gender are deeply rooted in…

    • 2784 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    In history, mean and women have never argued their biology and unknowingly fell into the gender norms that exist today. In more recent times the issues of gender and self-identification have rapidly increased. Sex is our biological anatomy and which reproductive organs we have. Typically, there are two sexes- male and female. The more controversial and increasing in variety. A person’s gender and sexuality can differ from whatever body parts you were born with. An increasing amount of people feel they do not belong or fit in with a particular sex’ standards who are beginning to identify as “queer” or “transgender” which do not necessarily fall under fully boy or fully girl. The nature vs. nurture debate claims influential factors such as media…

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Butler surveys the ideas of Hegel, Althusser, and Foucault around subject formation, interrogating how power produces its subject and how that subject comes to perceive itself as one. Butler understands power as forming the subject and as providing the very condition of its existence. I believe that her basic idea is that the subjects become attached to the conditions of their own subjectivity even if these conditions are oppressive one. According to her, therefore, power is not simply what we oppose but also, in a strong sense, what we depend on for our existence and what we harbor and preserve in the beings that we are. She argues that power is not mechanically reproduced when it is assumed. Instead, power runs the risk of assuming another form and direction.…

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Butlers theory addresses the problem of society controlling women in regard to how they perceive gender. Butler explores how women are taught to value the "regulatory schemas” “ which produce and vanquish bodies that matter" (1993, 14). Butler explores the way women undergo conditioning within society in search of a futile everchanging perfection. This essay will address a my own awareness, as a woman, of my external appearance as “Gender “ becomes an “ impersonation “ (1993, Butler) in relation to its biological definition.…

    • 1464 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    With his critical essay: "Hawthorne's Awakening in the Customhouse" Loving gives the reader a psychoanalytical reading of The Scarlet Letter. Loving pays close attention to Hawthorne's unconscious motives and feelings in his interpretation of Hawthorne's writing. He is particularly concerned about the radical change of direction that Hawthorne takes in altering the initial course of his story by adding an unexpected ending. The ending, as presented to the reader in the last three chapters, undermines the notion of emancipation Hawthorne had developed throughout the story. Loving argues that Hawthorne withheld in this way a significant piece of information which would have enlightened the reader about Hawthorne's true self: "The author's last minute retreat from the primordial sense of himself in The Scarlet Letter may have preserved his sanity to some extent (...) but it also cost him (and us) the true ending of the novel". (Loving, p. 23)…

    • 412 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays