On Judith Butler's Criticism Of Gender Performativity

Judith Butler is a well-known gender researcher in the world,and her theory of gender performativity raises a wave of gender research in academic.She analyzes many of the literary works in her writings,revealing the present situation of sexual minorities,exploring expression of the core concepts of subject,gender and performativity in her literary works which are typical gender performativity criticism.Butler generally carries out her gender performativity criticism from three aspects: criticism of gender subject,discourse attribute of gender subjects,and interpreting the mechanism of gender discourse.From the analysis of the deconstruction of the gender subject,she focus on the subject's of depression and the disguised gender subject;and meanwhile,from the discourse attribute of the gender subject,she explores how the gender of the protagonist in the text is marked and how the physiological gender is constructed by the discourse;what is more,from gender performativity discourse mechanism,she explains how the characters' gender are performed in the repetition and constructiveness of the discourse.There are three main reasons for the criticism of Butler's theory of gender performativity: Firstly,the guidance of Butler's theory of purpose,deconstructionism in fit with its spiritual temperament,psychoanalysis and discourse etc.have profound influences on her gender criticism.Secondly is the need to construct a gender performativity theory.For the construction and demonstration of her gender performativity,she uses both classical texts and cases in help with contributing to her in-depth analysis and providing opportunities for her dialogues with former thinkers and theorists in the same field;Thirdly is the support of literary text attributes.She chooses to criticize those unique,classic and influential literature texts,for the creation,depth and proof of the theory.Butler's criticism of gender performativity provides a brand new perspective for interpreting literature: interpreting literature from a gender perspective,revealing the possibility of resisting gender domination,and giving hope for finding the reasonable gender identity.It also opens a new path to discover the meaning of literature: analysis of the construction and resistance of the gender from both discourse and performativity,recognition of the value and significance of literature outside the framework of literature representation.But some limitations exist,ignoring the Indep-endence and literary nature of the text,excessively emphasizing on theoretical significance and philosophical value,neglecting the integrity and complexity of the text,and belittling the overall spiritual value and aesthetic value of the text.