Gender Trouble

Feminism and the Subversion of Identity

By: Judith Butler

Narrated by: Emily Beresford

One of the most talked-about scholarly works of the past 50 years, Judith Butler's Gender Trouble is as celebrated as it is controversial. Arguing that traditional feminism is wrong to look to a natural, "essential" notion of the female, or indeed of sex or gender, Butler starts by questioning the category "woman" and continues in this vein with examinations of "the masculine" and "the feminine."

Best known however, but also most often misinterpreted, is Butler's concept of gender as a reiterated social performance rather than the expression of a prior reality. Thrilling and provocative, few other academic works have roused passions to the same extent.

©2006 Routledge (P)2018 Tantor

Why do they make Judith Butler sound like that?

Seriously. Why do they make Judith Butler sound like that? (like kind of a C word)

Deep insight into gender

I enjoyed this book as it gives a clear and logical rationale for the deconstruction of sex and gender as identities of oppression. I’d highly recommend this book to anybody who is politically active or even not

ivory wall

great book, great adjustments made as time/society progresses. dense academic language, like an ivory wall keeps people from learning about these topics tho!

Essential theory

I am delighted by how many excellent theoretical works Audible has produced this year. It lets me read a little outside my field, painlessly.

Important (If Verbose) Read

Butler’s writings on gender as being performatively-constructed are groundbreaking for contemporary feminism & queer theory. Much of the text consists of critical readings of psychoanalyst, feminist, and post-structural writings. Gender Trouble is infamously wordy, although Butler attributes this to her goal of demonstrating how language shapes cultural possibilities. The narrator was ok.

Wonderfully Logical

Butler is thorough in her exploration of gender and this book has the essence of why gender is so complex. Takes only about 10 or 20 listens to put it all together. Admittedly, she could simplify the idea but I think that would take away from the central reality that the grammar of gender is NOT at all simple and the language Butler uses to get this across to readers drives the point.

Loved the book and feel it should be a required text for every college student of our age. Hopefully, in the future, high school students will be able to tackle it with ease. (Perhaps I'm too hopeful.)

Too fast!

Ok you can adjust the speed but I just don’t know what’s the rush about? It’s Judith Butler! Slow down!

Been wanting for a long time to read Gender Trouble

...but I’m much better at listening than reading. I’ve been hoping Gender Trouble would come out in audio for about 7 years, after trying several times to struggle through print.

Lots of people say the language is difficult. And sure: it’s a book a lot about philosophy. I’ve had to listen through several times, but I find the narration makes it pretty easy. And I feel grateful to finally have the chance to encounter Butler’s words and powerful perspectives.

The one suggestion I would make to audible: please cut it into smaller chunks. The audio is cut into 9 sections, the first 4 mapping to the two prefaces and starts of the first two chapters, and the final 5 mapping to some place in the middle of chapter 2, the starts of chapter 3, ch 3 section 3, ch 3 section 4, and the conclusion. I found it helpful to listen to each section multiple times before moving on, but difficult to do so, given audible’s large audio chunks. It might benefit listeners to cut along each section of a chapter, instead of doing so only at the end.

Please keep ‘em coming, Tantor!

Awesome Read

This book aged so well! It is truly ageless and timeless.

The analyses and conclusions of this work is so persuasive and cogent.

Difficult and Confusing read but interesting

I am not a gender studies mayor and thus didn't know many of the works she was responding to and this along with here academic language made the book very difficult for me to understand. a lot of interesting ideas but I felt like I lacked a complete understanding of the text. but I really like her response to foucault and love loved the idea of gender as performance. I am not homosexual nor female but I'd imagine this book would mean more for those folks