Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex

Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex is a book published by Judith Butler in 1993. Along with Butler’s 1990 book Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, Bodies That Matter is a leading work of 20th-century feminist philosophy. Judith Butler, an influential philosopher and cultural critic, currently teaches at the University of California, Berkeley. In Bodies That Matter, Butler tackles the topics of materiality, performativity, gender, and sex. They challenge essentialist views, proposing that gender performativity defines identities over time. The book delves into the theme of Performativity and Identification to examine sexual difference as a regulatory ideal, criticize the sex/gender distinction, and explore the nature of gender norms. Such norms are based on exclusion, which is especially important for understanding the theme of The Feminine as Other. Butler analyzes the implications of exclusion and develops the notion of abjection (exclusion) as a category with subversive potential.

Butler scrutinizes poststructuralist idealism, critiques the feminist focus on an idealized female body, and questions essentialism while advocating for a nuanced understanding of materiality. After examining the theme of The Relationship Between Penis and Phallus in the works of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan, Butler proposes the lesbian phallus as a deconstructive symbol that challenges normative gender views. The following chapters examine a wide range of cultural materials, from Jennie Livingston’s movie Paris Is Burning and Willa Cather’s and Nella Larsen’s prose to psychoanalysis and Slavoj Žižek’s critique of poststructuralism and feminism. Butler advances the theme of Queer Subversion as Critical Practice, arguing that the term “queer” can be a site of political resistance. In addition, Butler discusses the critical potential of drag performance and its subversive role in challenging heteronormativity.

In 2015, Judith Butler gave a public lecture discussing the continued importance of Bodies That Matter, addressing the book’s reception and criticisms and how it intersects with contemporary questions related to gender, sex, and race.

This guide uses the Routledge eBook edition, published in 2011.

Summary

In the Preface of Bodies That Matter, Judith Butler introduces the central themes of materiality (the physical reality of the body), performativity, gender, and sex. Butler emphasizes their personal investment in the subject matter and addresses critiques of their earlier work. The Introduction considers Michel Foucault’s idea of the regulatory ideal—social norms that govern behavior—and its importance in the formation of sexual difference. Butler develops a nuanced examination of the sex/gender distinction and the role of materiality in the history of philosophy. Although the book relies on multiple philosophical schools of thought, the most influential include poststructuralism, feminism, and psychoanalysis.

In Chapter 1, Butler examines the classical dichotomy of matter and discourse in philosophy, focusing on how the feminine body is implicated in related theories. Considering Aristotle’s and Plato’s views on the soul and body, Butler critiques their approaches, which exclude the feminine from philosophy. Then they shift the focus to Luce Irigaray’s analysis of Plato’s form/matter dichotomy. Irigaray argues that this dichotomy does not include the feminine in any form. While agreeing with Irigaray’s critique of traditional philosophy, Butler, in turn, criticizes her gender essentialism, advocating for a broader exploration of excluded identities.

In Chapter 2, Butler discusses Sigmund Freud’s essay on narcissism, exploring the link between bodily pain, libido, and psychic investment. Critiquing Freud’s connection of pathology and arousal, Butler cautions against accepting this theory amid contemporary discourses. They analyze the traditional dichotomy of mind and body in philosophy, asserting that they coexist with and inform each other. Butler extends their discussion to bodily morphology—the physical makeup of the body—introducing the concept of “phantasmatic morphology” (46), in which the body is shaped by ideas and language. Critiquing Jacques Lacan’s masculine-centric concept of ego formation, Butler introduces the idea of the lesbian phallus, challenging the symbolic link between the phallus and the penis.

In Chapter 3, Butler challenges essentialism in sexual identity essentialism. Rejecting binary thinking, they defend performative construction, arguing that societal constraints inform the construction of identity. Examining Lacan’s notion of sexual identification, in which identification arises from societal prohibitions and desire. Butler questions heteronormativity—social structures and discourses that support heterosexual relationships as the only viable option for expressing love and desire—arguing that real identifications and desires defy traditional norms. Critiquing identity politics—the tendency to form affiliations based on shared social categories—they call for a democratic society that recognizes diverse identities without exclusion, advocating for the disruption of symbolic arrangements.

In Chapter 4, Butler turns to Louis Althusser’s concept of interpellation, in which individual identities are molded by social frameworks, and argues that performativity is useful in understanding the constant shaping of gender identity in society. Analyzing the film Paris Is Burning by Jennie Livingston, Butler explores the ambivalence of drag in reinforcing and subverting gender roles. They critique simplistic feminist views that dismiss drag as a sexist performance and introduce an intersectional dimension, as well as examine the film’s use of race to address broader issues.

In Chapter 5, Butler draws several evocative images and concepts from Willa Cather’s prose, such as the symbolic significance of one’s name; the symbol of the snake, which represents masculine castration; and the role of the lesbian in reinforcing heterosexual conventions. Butler continues with literary examples in Chapter 6, in which they examine Nella Larsen’s novel Passing to advance an intersectional method of analysis in which they draw on gender, race, and class elements. They propose the term “queering” to highlight the inclusion of both race and sexuality in analysis. Butler challenges the notion of prioritizing sexual difference over racial or class differences; instead, she proposes an understanding of interconnected racial, gender, and class norms.

In Chapter 7, Butler engages with the work of Slavoj Žižek, his critique of poststructuralism, and his understanding of Lacanian foreclosure as part of subject formation. Lacanian foreclosure is the idea that psychosis results from exclusion—for example, Lacan asserts that the Oedipal complex results from a lost father figure. Butler questions Žižek’s treatment of the feminine as an empty signifier, cast as exterior to social configurations through the process of foreclosure, and critiques his dismissal of feminism. Butler explores the performativity of political signifiers like “women,” emphasizing their role in shaping identities and aiding political engagement.

Chapter 8 explores the term “queer” and its historical uses, from discrediting non-heteronormative individuals to strengthening homophobic communities. Butler advocates reclaiming “queer” for political contestation. Their analysis extends to the critical potential of drag performances, emphasizing the subversive potential of such performances in challenging heteronormativity by exposing the constructed nature of gender norms.