How can gender be thought of as performative and regulatory category

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How can gender be thought of as performative and regulatory category.

Gender is often confused with sex. However, sex generally refers to biology and anatomy. People are said to be of the male sex or the female sex, as determined by three sets of characteristics: external sex organs, internal sex organs, and secondary sexual development at puberty. The word sex is also used to mean sexual intercourse or activity. 

By contrast, gender refers to a set of qualities and behaviours expected from a female or male by society. Gender roles are learned and can be affected by factors such as education or economics. They vary widely within and among cultures. While an individual's sex does not change, gender roles are socially determined and can evolve over time.  Many people believe that gender is a vital criteria of identity.  Butler argues that there is no sex only gender and the fact that gender is performative.

 In other words, gender is an act, a performance, a set of manipulated codes, costumes, rather than a core aspect of essential identity. Butler's main metaphor for this is "drag," i.e. dressing like a person of the "opposite sex." All gender is a form of "drag," according to Butler; there is no "real" core gender to refer to. (Butler 1993)

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Butler believes that masculinity and femininity are not traits that we inherently have, rather they are effects that we perform by the activities we partake in.

Butler argues that gender and sex are socially constructed concepts – concepts used to control people. She argues that we do not possess a gender identity. Our identity is continually constructed: However, she argues that sex does not “necessitate gender.” Homosexuals and transgendered people, as well as heterosexuals who do not follow norms, subvert gender norms and draw our attention to the constuctedness of sex. Butler argues that our gender is never fully ...

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