Judith Butler is obnoxious.

Judith Butler is obnoxious.  Cool (I think) but obnoxious nontheless.  In the 1999 preface to her famous book Gender Trouble (which is famous for two things: saying gender is performative and saying it in a very complex, inaccessible way) she says that she's heard the criticisms that the language of the book is unduly obtuse but thinks making it more accessible would be underestimating (read: talking down) to her audience.

Bullshit.  I only understood about three sentences until I went to class.  And this is an advanced feminist theory course.  We had to have at least one fem theory course beforehand.  So I'm not exactly completely new to this stuff (although I am new to Butler).  But I have the most wonderful professor and the best classmates ever and we had a very cool discussion today. 

Did you know that "juridical power" is power/authority granted to a subject because we believe in that thing?  Yeah, me neither, but it's pretty cool, isn't it?  It's inspired by Kafka's story "Before the Law" about this guy who's waiting to go to court --to go before the law-- and... And?  And that's it.  He's just waiting for the law.  And it never comes.  End of story.  Why does he wait?  He has to.  He believes in the law and so grants it authority over him. He can't help it.  It's inevitable.

Heh.  Takes a certain amount of pivilege to come up with that one, eh?  We talked about that too.  Whether it's legit for her to completely ignore race and class issues while on this heady philosophical trip.

Anyway we're only halfway through and I think I have a much better understanding and am better prepared for the second half now.  Which I think I'll go read even though Hugo is ticking me off.  You ever have one of those days where all you're saying is X, X, X, and all other people are hearing is Y, Y, Y?  yeah....*sigh*

UPDATE: ooh, I just found these online lecture notes maybe these will help too.

Comments

[kate.d.]

whoa, i just read the dust-up over at hugo's. glad you two were able to make peace. i'm still digesting his post, because there are some interesting things there beyond the complications/confusions with what your post was saying...some things i'm not quite sure yet that i agree with.

i'll be mulling it over today, along with the idea of moving to miami and living in a loft and being fabulous (which i discussed with my boyfriend on our walk to the El this morning) :) ah, friday daydreaming....

[kate.d.]

oh yeah, and don't even get me started on the whole "academic jargon" thing. i haven't read gender trouble, but what i hear about the pretentious nature of the language would probably have me taking a blowtorch to it in no time :) my boyfriend read it, i think, for a class in grad school...and he *loathes* high-minded academic jargon more than i...so i'll have to ask him what he thought.

it's a shame, to me, that some authors think that there's no way to put complex theoretical arguments into simpler terms. i just think it's flat out not true.

[Hugo]

Barb, I have many days where my Xs are heard as Ys. Thanks for accepting my apology. Have a great long weekend, and I'll be rooting for your Gators on Saturday if you root for my Bruins!

[vegankid]

hey barb! The first time i picked up a copy of Gender Trouble, it took be ten minutes to read the first page and i still didn't understand. So i put the book down figuring i would never read it. Shortly after, i read Joanna Kadi's Thinking Class and i had an incredible revelation. Kadi talked about how those of us from working class backgrounds, especially those of us without college degrees, are taught that we are genetically inferior and therefore unable to read academic works - a belief i had taken to heart. Kadi points out, however, that this is bullshit. Being the defiant persyn i am, i picked up Gender Trouble again. I made sure to read it in utter silence (usually with some tea). Lo and behold, i finished it in a week... and it is one of my favorite books. As a tranny and a genderQueer the book really spoke to me. It helped me to intellectualize a lot of what i feel to the core. It felt good to make those mind-body connections.

Don't get me wrong, i certainly agree that the work could be made more accessible without losing any of its content. But we do need to be careful of when we are making a work accessible and when we are merely talking down to people.

You're right, the concept of juridical power is very interesting. to look at. I think what Kafka and Butler were saying was very applicable, not only to gender or law, but to the many ways that we are programmed to act/react. Certainly, if you take the example given, there are plenty of people who wait for the law not because they believe in it but because they are thinking of their own survival and safety, but its just a metaphor. So much power is given to concepts of gender, race, ability, age, class, sexuality and so on that those concepts become realities. Not because they necessarily exist as absolutes, but because we believe in them so much that we grant the concepts authority over us. Well, now you got my brain a-churnin. But i really need to go eat something. I'll be back.

[barb]

Hugo: I don't know what Bruins are but I've sure learned a lot about college basketball in the past few days. Apparently this final four thing is a very big deal. Coach Donovan sent us all an email asking us not to act like Complete Hooligans, (only partial ones).

Everyone else: vegan's right. We should not let academic jargon intimidate us. I am taking up Butler again today with renewed vigor.