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Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (Routledge Classics) 1st Edition

by Judith Butler (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars 41 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0415389556
ISBN-10: 0415389550
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  • Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (Routledge Classics)
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (May 14, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0415389550
  • ISBN-13: 978-0415389556
  • Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 7.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA Preface to a Critique on Gender
By tamiii on July 9, 2001
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I'm no expert but I'm reminded of what a friend once confessed to me: it's hard talking about gender without it turning into a freak show. To her credit, Judith Butler speaks sincerely, with great subtlety, about a very touchy subject. Nevertheless, when you consider that words like "sex," "heterosexual," and "homosexual" are hardly a century old, you have to ask why do they seem so certain, so meaningful, so permanent and timeless? Why is it so hard to consider these words as concealing rather than revealing? In the tradition of Marx and Foucault, Butler begins to demystify their credibility and reveals how gender is something which is 'performative'. By this, she does not mean like a role which is donned (though those who don reveal) but rather as a repetitive, cultural activity from which identity is derived. This work is thought to be the beginning of 'queer theory.'
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3.0 out of 5 starsCome on Kindle! Clean it up.
By DocC on October 20, 2008
Format: Kindle Edition
Of course Butler's books on gender are breathtaking classics and receive 5 stars from me in their print editions. I assign them all the time in my Gender Studies class. But this Kindle edition is messy. This is the problem I keep finding with the Kindle editions. It's insulting of Amazon to assume that Kindle readers don't care about clean editing and formatting. As a PhD student in Literature I am looking for a better tool for amassing my huge reading list. Students in every field would be ecstatic with a Kindle that actually served our needs. I also think Kindle is underestimating the common reader who also appreciates careful editting and presentation. We need to know more information about the Kindle editions--i.e. who edits and Introduces the volumes and whether they are exact replicas of their print editions. We also need to be able to cite actual page numbers from known editions for quotes, essays, papers and dissertations. I hope Kindle fixes this in the next generation. At the moment I'm making due with the messiness because of the convenience of carrying 300 volumes in one light device. But I'd be out shouting Kindle's praises in the streets (and to the classrooms full of college undergrads I teach) if Kindle would just pay attention to these few details. The search tool can be so helpful as to be heavenly. The dictionary tool should be expanded to include philosophical and theoretical terms also! Come on Kindle!
5 Comments 137 of 158 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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4.0 out of 5 starsdifficult, but important
By A Customer on June 29, 2003
Format: Paperback
Though I agree with what others have written of Butler's prose, I think her approach to the ubiquitous "nature versus nurture" question of gender is an important one (politically, socially, culturally, psychologically...) At times her rhetoric is questionable & her ideas somewhat biased (to the point of bordering on... well, less than practical). However, that should not, by any means, dissuade anyone from reading her work. Despite the difficulties it might present, "Gender Trouble" is challenging, thoughtful and thought-provoking-- an enlightening experience for anyone willing to put forth some effort.
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4.0 out of 5 starsFascinating Ideas, Infuriating Writing Style
By T. Youker on March 10, 2007
Format: Paperback
Readers who are willing to tolerate labyrinthine sentences and brain-cramping scholarly vocabulary and who already have a working understanding of Freud, Lacan, Foucault, and deconstruction will find in Butler a challenging, highly stimulating theorist of sex, gender, and sexuality.

Readers looking for a breezy and accessible discussion of gender roles in modern society should definitely look elsewhere.
2 Comments 24 of 27 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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4.0 out of 5 starsGreat Review, Difficult Prose, Updated Version Please
By Artemesia on November 30, 2009
Format: Paperback
Most of the existing reviews give a good idea of how this book has come across to Amazon readers. I decided to create a review because I had a couple of points to add. The first is a reiteration - Butler's prose is, in places, exceedingly difficult to read without a lot of former practice in reading feminism, philosophy, linguistics, and literary criticism. This is the main reason for loss of one star. She makes such wonderful deconstructive arguments showing how categories of not only gender but sex itself are constructed. Having said that, even if you only pick up about 50% of the meaning, the rephrasing and recouching of multiple ideas from different standpoints conveys the basic ideas the author wishes to convey. The second point is that one may be left wanting more. As Butler says in her updated preface (1999 - the original was 1990) - if she were writing this book today she would also include a discussion of transgender and intersexuality and surgical intervention. I believe such a discussion would bring a valuable contribution to feminism, as feminism brings so much to any consideration of transgender and intersex issues.
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5.0 out of 5 starsRequired Reading
By Joseph W. Marohl on December 2, 1998
Format: Paperback
This is a densely written but repeatedly rewarding study of the constructions of gender and sex as they relate to women, lesbians and gay men, and, to follow the logic of Butler's argument, all of us. This work shows not only the relativity of our cultural understanding of femininity but also the limits of our scientific understanding of female-ness. For feminists, Butler's book offers a much-needed examination of what exactly the female subject is and how woman is defined in (or by) our particular culture. Butler goes far beyond Foucault in examining sexuality as socially contructed and, in the process, offers valuable insights to (and critiques of) the writing and thinking of Beauvoir, Kristeva, Lacan, and Wittig. The book's one flaw is a turgid, sometimes redundant prose (i.e. phrases like "judical law" and "'he' [sic]") all too common in technical and philosophical writing, especially, alas, of the postmodernist variety. But once the reader survives the first quarter of the book, he [sic] will find Butler's observations not only accessible but fascinating and, for whatever it's worth, socially important.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsEssential

Judith Butler is one of the great minds of our generation and Gender Trouble should be on every short-list of contemporary gender theory.

Published 1 month ago by Marc
5.0 out of 5 starsyou'll be glad you did

This book is very dense and difficult to get through. However, if you stick with it, you'll be glad you did! Read more

Published 5 months ago by S. Santens
5.0 out of 5 starsIf you have a foundational knowledge of Gender Studies (a ...

If you have a foundational knowledge of Gender Studies (a little above 101 level), you'll bond with this book right away. Don't let it intimidate you. Read more

Published 6 months ago by ApesFromSpace
3.0 out of 5 starsThe Cost of Pursuing a Cause

I approach this review from two perspectives.

The first is within the endeavor to change our culture by advancing a movement that had defined the place of women as... Read more

Published 6 months ago by Al Rodbell
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Reasonably fast purchase

Published 8 months ago by luis a. sierra gomez
3.0 out of 5 starsLacks Substance

I had trouble getting through this book. It's so theoretical and jargon-filled that it didn't accomplish much for me. Read more

Published 10 months ago by Benjamin Cacanindin
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Modern classic, difficult but must-read. Very different from later Butler.

Published 12 months ago by Susan Chung
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat Book.

Great book. Very Helpful for a research project in my theory class. It was a great read and explained the social dynamics that shape gender roles.

Published 13 months ago by typhanie
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

gift, didn't read, came as advertised or better

Published 13 months ago by Lisa
2.0 out of 5 starsHeads up! Page count discrepancy in same ISBN, different distributors!

Routledge classics' website (and Amazon) list the page count for this ISBN as 272.
The *new* copy I received with the *same ISBN* has 236 pages. Read more

Published 14 months ago by IShouldBePainting

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