Butler’s Performativity: the (neo)materialistic critique and the answers within Butler’s theory

Abstract

This article aims to revisit the theory of gender performativity by the American philosopher Judith Butler, in order to discuss problematic points of their theory to the field of feminist, gender and sexuality studies. To this end, initially, I systematically present their conceptions of gender and performativity. Then, I recover the critique offered by French philosopher Michel Kail based on the French psychoanalyst Juliet Mitchell, alongside the critique made by Portuguese feminist Isabel Magalhães. In the end, I return to Butler's theory and evoke Sara Salih's elaborations on the performativity theory, in order to answer to the critique presented.