Sexuality and gender continue to be a focus of modern discourse on sociology, philosophy and psychology. In Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, Judith Butler makes some feminist theory claims about sexuality and gender that shows their connection to power in society. Butler makes two primary claims about sexuality and gender. She argues that sex is not located within the body in a way that cannot be changed or altered in any way. She also argues that sexual desire and sexual orientation are also not innate, but are created as social constructions. In this sense, categories like "male" or "female" or "homosexual" or "heterosexual" are not innate qualities of human beings but categories created by culture to lend notions to gender behavior. This analysis will discuss the feminist theories offered by Butler in Gender Trouble, showing how the author believes constructs of gender and sexual orientation are largely fabrications related to social forces. A conclusion will address the implications of Butler's feminist perspective of gender and sexuality.
One of the main points made by Butler is that desire is not a given in culture. Instead, the author argues that sexual desire is produced by culture, whose laws and taboos help to produce sexual desire through categorization of the spectra of human sexuality. In essence, Butler attempts to argue that sexuality and gender are social constructions and can, therefore, be deconstructed through language. For instance, where the construction of "female" is concerned, Butler (viii) wonders if the gender designation is a "natural fact" or something more akin to what amounts to a performance of "female" due to cultural expectations. Or, Butler (viii) wonders, is what is natural "constituted through discursively constrained performative acts that produce the body through and within the categories of sex." It is through these social constructs t
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