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Quote by Judith Butler

“Everyone has a set of presuppositions: what gender is, what it's not. And they may not write them out or they may not be in theoretical books published by Routledge, but they have a theory.”

Quote by Judith Butler

Author

Judith Butler is a renowned philosopher, born on February 24, 1956. Her research focuses on issues of gender, identity, and power, having a profound impact on postmodernism and gender theory. more

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“If you have a conversation "Why is it you think masculinity is linked with heterosexuality? Or why is it you think masculinity is linked with sexual dominance or the sexually active position in the sex act?" If you start to ask people those questions, then they realize "Maybe gender is not one thing. Maybe I have collected a number of things under one category and I've made a mistake".”

People Ifs Thinking Made Asks Sex Realizing Numbers Mistake One Thing Position Conversation Gender Active Categories Linked Masculinity Sexually Made A Mistake Dominance Heterosexuality

Author:Judith Butler

“A certain kind of permission is given to live differently, to conceptualize and to act according to a new conceptualization.”

Kind Certain Given Permission Conceptualization

Author:Judith Butler

“It's important that if one opposes discriminatory speech, one opposes all kinds. That is that one decides on a principle that it will include all minorities. But if the protection of one minority against another minority is what is happening, then I worry about that.”

Ifs Kind Important Principles Worry Speech Happenings Protection All Kinds Minorities

Author:Judith Butler

“You could protect a religious minority against gays and lesbians. Or you could protect gays and lesbians against a religious minority. And then, it seems to me something political is happening. Because we're not really looking at the kind of speech that is injurious.”

Kind Seems Political Religious Gay Protect Speech Happenings Minorities

Author:Judith Butler

“We're trying to divide groups or decide that some of them are truly victims and some of them are truly aggressors.”

Trying Groups Victim Divides Aggressors

Author:Judith Butler

“In the US the problem has been, for instance, that Nazis have rights of free expression, right? But other kinds of racist speech is not protected. And you have to link the speech to conduct or to a certain kind of threat against minority population. I know that in Europe, this kind of framework doesn't exist in the same way so it's very difficult to make the analogy.”

Knows Way Kind Has Beens Problem Certain Difficult Rights Expression Speech Europe Threat Population Instance Minorities Racist Links Protected Nazi Framework Analogies Free Expression

Author:Judith Butler

“I do think we need to allow for there to be room for subversive and ironic speech. We need to be able to put out plays in which we make fun of ourselves or in which we interrogate the words that injure us. And maybe give them another meaning.”

Thinking Needs Giving Play Able Fun Rooms Speech Ironic Subversive

Author:Judith Butler

“So for instance in rap music, you very often hear words that would seem very racist, or very misogynous or very homophobic but in some of those instances, the words are being taken back or redefined so that they lose their injurious quality.”

Seems Loses Quality Taken Rap Instance Racist Rap Music Homophobic

Author:Judith Butler

“We need to be I think equally sensitive to the injurious power of certain kinds of speech acts but also to the subversive and possibly liberatory effects of certain kinds of play.”

Thinking Needs Kind Play Certain Effects Speech Sensitive Subversive

Author:Judith Butler

“The United States are such a large place. And there are some states and some cities where the questions of gender or sexuality would not be asked, or where scholars or academics are working in small little corners of the universities trying to raise these questions and being told that either that they're strange or not appropriate or being actively opposed. There are other places where there is very active scholarship going on. Certainly on gender.”

Trying Littles States United Cities United States Strange Raises University Corners Gender Active Sexuality Appropriate Scholar Scholarship

Author:Judith Butler