Francesca, Butler

In the history of feminism, there has been three distinct periods. As these periods are referred to as waves, each wave has held concerns that reflected the given era. The first wave dealt primarily with suffrage while the second focused on unofficial as well as official inequalities. Examples of such unofficial injustices included discrimination and oppression. These broad categories of feminist concern were recognized as issues that must be rectified in order to render official change. This attitude carried into the third wave, that which the theorist Judith Butler was writing in. Her desire to question the categorization of women as a specific group was motivated by the evidently discriminative polarization of gender relations in all subsequent contexts. Viewing gender as a binary opposition implies that gender is synonymous for the biological predeterminations characteristically referred to as sex. Yet, as gender is merely a social construct, it is consequentially an expression of the delineations provided by a given culture. Thus, Butler purports a recall of categorization in order to foster a subjectivity in gender expression. The ramifications of such subjectivity include an individualized expression of one’s identity, as ascribed not by cultural delineations but rather the person themselves. Such an imperative is a reflection of third wave feminist concerns for several reasons. Butler’s argument contends that the rectification of gender inequality must begin with the address of unofficial problems by means of theoretical debate. It is only when this predicament is taken care of the official concerns applicable to gender relations can begin to be effectively resolved. In addition, the issue of reclamation is predominant within the third wave. Butler is asking the reading to reassess the validity and utilization of a particular word, woman. By reclaiming a given word, the power of language is placed into she who is manipulating language. In conclusion, the theoretical nature of Butler’s work holds applicability to plausible situations its change would affect.