Judith Butler Imitation

One of the most important quotes Judith Butler uses in her writing is seen in, Imitation and Gender Subordination. Judith Butler explores the ideas that gender is about a performance one must do and how gender has become an imitation of what others deem as acceptable behavior. She also explores that idea of why gender is important for a society and states, “Drag constitutes the mundane way in which genders are appropriated, theatricalized, worn, and done; it implies that all gendering is a kind of impersonation and approximation. If this is true, it seems, there is no original or primary gender that drag imitates, but gender is a kind of imitation for which there is no original; in fact, it is a kind of imitation that produces the very notion
of the original as an effect and consequence of the imitation itself” (“Imitation and Gender Subordination” 313). What Judith Butler is trying to explain through her quotes is the idea of how we are all seen through the world. She wants us, the society, to understand that they way we gender the world is not a natural process and is seen as a performance rather than a necessity. That the gender we are associated with does not have a defined way to fully be expressed and seen a whole. That the only reason we associate certain behavior with a gender, masculine or feminine, is done through imitation of those we feel that gender is a needed process to understand and embrace to be seen included into a society. What drag does is allows us to see their imperfections that the world has on gender. Instead of a statement, it becomes an action to show that gender norms have become a important aspect of society and not following them creates a disassociation of being a productive member of a society.
Judith Butler’s idea about how gender is seen as an imitation has been able to challenge my own thinking when it comes to the world.
One of the ways that her writing is able to challenge my thinking is through the performance of gender I was taught to be when growing up. Within my family, of all children female identifying, we were always taught the idea of “being a lady” and how identifying your gender is important to be being included within the society. This was seen from the moment that we were born when my parent checked the box female on my birth certificate and put me in a pink blanket. This continued throughout my childhood for multiple outlets. As a child, I was also taught to play with dolls and Barbie’s and imitate the house play. This was the start to reinforce the maternal instinct that females are suppose to have families and become more nurturing. This also continues throughout my schooling and the activities that I was involved in as a child and still to this day. I was also taught that girls did not play rough sports because we were not allowing to have aggression. So, my parents enrolled me into dance classes, cheerleading, gymnastics, and even girl scouts. These activities were to enforce that ideas of performing a female gender. It was also seen through my clothing choices. As a child, I was also given dresses, light color clothing, and girly hair accessories to wear. This was done on purpose to express the gender that I identify with and show the society the group that I have associated myself with. As one of the measure of expressing the groups that one associates with, clothing is one of the most easily recognized markers to show. This was also seen through my hair styles. As a child, I never had very short hair with the exception of my hair growing as a baby. The long hair was a way to express to everyone that I was a female without having to say I identify as a female. Another example that I see through my childhood is through many forms
that I needed to have filled out. Every time I went to the doctor, school, or any program involvement, I needed to state the gender I associated myself with.
Overall, the connection that Judith Butler is able to make to how gender is a process of being imitation without a true meaning of what is gender is important to understand. It is important to understand because gender is a process of performing what group you identify within the society. Her ideas are able to challenge my own as a way of keeping in mind that my parents raised me with a certain intention of being a female identifying women. It makes me understand that actions that my parents had made when raising me and my sisters were not become they felt this was the correct way to raise a female identifying child but, I was to help us be seen as included into the society we were born into.