The Narrative Demands of Normative Gender: Examining the Feminine Performance Through Butler

Abstract

Understanding that the gender system is a constructed entity, rather than a naturalistic one, I propose a possible route of restructuring the narration of women through gender norms, in an attempt to explore an alternative system that alters the superiority of the masculine and the subjugation of the feminine. ?20th century psychoanalysis sought to enforce the binary system of gender, including the normative appearance of gender, as a naturalistic construction. Through the application of theories and language from Judith Butler's range of literature, I examine the three demands of this binary system – prohibitions, performance, and recognition – and how these demands reveal a weakness in the infrastructure of the ‘gender matrix' that can be capitalized upon in restructuring the feminine narrative.