Judith Butler mentions a crisis in our nature of being that’s experienced through both sexuality and language as an effect from the “idea that sexual practice has the power to destabilize gender” (11). Sexuality and language are destabilizing gender by the constant worry of if we can call transsexuals “woman” or “man” and how they contribute to societal roles of gender such as parenting. If a transsexual takes on this transformation, Butler argues that there will be a conflict within the public of what noun to use, so they will use active verbs instead, causing inner turmoil within the transsexual resulting in their loss of identity. She also questions why terms such as “mom” and “dad” are still distinguished in a homosexual household which dives the reader deeper into seeing her main argument such that gender is just a role being played and it all begins with language.
Sexuality and Language
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This exact topic was discussed in my ENG 240 course! While it is undeniable that the mother and father contribute genetics to a child, the role of parenting itself I think can use some expansion on the language and roles society has built. For example, using parent and guardian would be used in greeting letters to the parents of children in school. On the subject on pronouns, if we destigmatize using different pronouns as well as asking someone for their pronouns, we can eliminate confusion and minimize misusing someone’s pronouns.