Not Born but Made: A Review of Judith Butler’s Gender Theory

Axeena

VOl-10,Issue-4,July - August 2025

Author: Axeena

Keywords: Judith Butler, Gender identity, Postcolonial feminism, Caste and gender, Gender roles, social construction of gender.

Abstract: This paper looks at Judith Butler’s important essay “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution” from 1988. She challenges the idea that gender is something we are born with. According to Butler, we form our gender through repeated actions influenced by social expectations. Her argument, based on feminist and philosophical concepts, questions the usual link between sex and gender. This paper explains Butler’s points and further analyzes how these points relate to contemporary conversations about gender, identity, and self-expression. It also acknowledges some shortcomings in her argument regarding lack of attention to how race, class, and colonialism structure gendered experiences. Nevertheless, Butler's theory is still powerful and respectable in considering gender as something fluid, social constructed and participatory.

Article Info: Received: 09 Jun 2025; Received in revised form: 06 Jul 2025; Accepted: 10 Jul 2025; Available online: 14 Jul 2025

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.104.17