Judith Butler's Gender Trouble is a book which has challenged conventional thought on gender studies for some time. Although some of her ideas have been rejected because they do not correspond to physical evidence, her attitude of deconstruction has been thoroughly welcomed into the cultural zeitgeist of the west. In this book, she discusses the way gender and sexuality manifest in nature, from which analysis she concludes that these terms refer strictly to human constructs. She further analyzes the way women relate to society itself, often participating in a male-dominated and male-constructed economy and hierarchy for which they are not educated.
Butler does humanity a service by challenging the status quo. She encourages her reader to similarly challenge what they believe to be certain. According to her arguments, Butler has the insight to recognize concepts which society has agreed upon as boundaries to entry into society but which are arbitrary and do not necessarily reflect truth. In her opinion, gender and sex fall into this constructed category. They are socially accepted and even prerequisites to functioning as a normal individual within society, but they are not innate. In other words a person does not need to conform to these ideas in order to continue being a person.
Throughout the book, Butler intermingles her arguments with opinion. Her motivation is clearly rooted in a lack of acceptance of herself. She's writing to share how she has found closure to some very difficult questions of self worth. This motivation, however, works against her arguments when she allows it cloud her rationality. For example, Butler argues that women do not hold positions of power because they have been "naturally" excluded because men are physically stronger and historically power. Both of these reasons are valid, but Butler cites these observations as a reason to change that system. She says that the "natural" way is wrong because it privileges men. A more nuanced understanding of the situation, however, leads to an acknowledgement of the role of people in the historical oppression of women. The opportunities must be equal; however, the success of women depends on their own competence and dedication to success, not upon any concessions on the part of men for the sake of inclusion. In this way the outcomes may differ, accounting for some but certainly not all of the gender disparity in the job market.
