J.L Austin was a British philosopher who explored and discussed his view of ‘performative languages’ in the 1950s. The first person to divide language in two: constative or performative, he was J.L. Austin. Judith Butler, in 2004, was influenced to develop her ‘gender-performativity’ by John Searle’s theory about a’speechact’. The phenomenological view of acts’ as well as Simone de Beauvoir’s belief that “one isn’t born a girl, but one becomes a girl” (de Beauvoir, 1978). She argues in this theory that gender isn’t an identity. This means that gender doesn’t represent someone’s characteristics or behaviors. It is a social construct and is constituted through every expression. The same as speech acts are performative, so is gender. It is important to agree that gender is an identifier, and that there is a’single or permanent ground’ that is always contested by the identity positions, or anti-identity position, that it excludes. The feminism theory of ‘Gender Performativity,’ as defined by Chinn (1997), is one of the most influential theories. This essay will first explain that ‘gender as a form performativity’ is true and then provide some key points to understanding this concept through real-life and literary examples. For a better understanding of sexism, genderism, and sexuality we will also discuss some key implications.

People in the society perform acts that are different from their gender to maintain their identity. People are influenced by their social construction of gender to perform their gender identity in a way that they perceive and believe is appropriate. People are taught to act as a boy/girl since birth. (Chinn 1997) The act must be repeated repeatedly. The public is influenced by the performance of gender when it’s performed. If a gender performance is not repeated the identity changes, making it unstable and incoherent. Butler (2004) argues that people construct gender through their own repetition of gender performances. This is a “stylized repeating of acts” or imitation. She says that genders are ‘internally discrete’ and “real only in the degree that they are performed”. Butler (2004) in the movie ‘Farewell My Concubine” a film which explores gender performance. It is about how a male Chinese actor falls in loves with his male lifelong friend, who is also an opera performer. Due to his gender identity the male is then trained to look like a woman to perform in a women’s role. The young boy is taught to imitate females and perform the role throughout his life. In imitating dominant female conventions, his gender identity can be constructed. He falls in love because the actor playing ‘her wife’ in the Opera is also a performer. Lau (1995). Returning to Butler’s theory of gender impersonation, it is easy to understand that “the act, the performance, that is performed is, in some sense, a pre-existing act.” Butler (2004) argues that the differences between gender performance and the stage are due to the fact that the two worlds of the real and the stage are very different. Because opera is the performer’s whole life and the training/performance began when he was young, this is why he cannot differentiate.

Butler’s theory emphasizes that gender either isn’t optional or is natural. Butler’s Theory was heavily influenced Foucault’s genealogy. As a result, she begins her exploration of the gender issue at the very beginning. She claims that gender is imposed on people at birth and that ‘there is no identity of gender behind expressions’. The teacher told and corrected the male actor repeatedly to ‘become a female and act as a lady’. He feels very natural, and is able to do so because he’s a small child. This concept is explained by the phrase “It’s girl/boy” (Lau 1995). It is not the child’s choice to perform, but rather a social obligation. So, this performance represents and constructs a “gendered selves”. (Chinn, 1997)

My understanding is that understanding this theory will allow the mainstream to understand sexual differences and stereotypes. In patriarchal social structures, the relation between sex and gender depends on which sex has dominance and which sex has subordination. The fact that every gender performs is the reason why there are no constants. It is just a process of repeating the performance/imitation and consolidate the gender identity or certain act. In the mainstream media, there are many cross-gender performances or people who perform as the other sex. In other words, if there is a greater awareness of gender differences in the media, it may threaten and facilitate the mainstream thought and mechanisms created by men.

Butler’s theory about gender performativity makes a significant contribution to the field of cultural and gender studies. She crosses performativity theory and gender. Butler’s theory of gender performance is not new, but it still exists. From the past to today, people’s clothing, their behavior, and the law have always changed.