In this section of Gender Trouble, Judith Butler examines how the body itself becomes a site of subversion against rigid gender norms. Butler critiques Julia Kristeva's idea that the semiotic (linked to the maternal body) subverts the symbolic (the paternal order), arguing that even subversion is often contained within dominant structures. Using Michel Foucault’s insights on the body and power, and Monique Wittig’s radical lesbian critique of sex categories, Butler challenges the assumption of a stable, natural sex and identity. Instead, Butler explores how gender is performative, created through acts that can be disrupted, parodied, and multiplied, opening new possibilities for identity beyond traditional binaries.
