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poetic_liz's review against another edition
4.0
For sure not a bad book. I mostly enjoy reading Butler's analysis and this book for sure provides a very good insight into contemporary politics (ruthly of the 2020s). Still I fear that this may also be a downside of this book which heavily reads like a reactionary piece to talking points very specificly bound to a time and place. I felt like the step into the meta-analysis and the promised call for action could have been stronger.
Overall this book may provide a good stepping stone for people interested in gender studies and the surrounding political discourse, however it may fall flat for people (like me) who are already familiar with the general academic as well as political discourse and context.
Overall this book may provide a good stepping stone for people interested in gender studies and the surrounding political discourse, however it may fall flat for people (like me) who are already familiar with the general academic as well as political discourse and context.
van_essa's review against another edition
4.25
Judy B proving the haters wrong and writing an accessible but still nuanced, insightful and timely book. I love love love the global focus and a refusal to dumb down any stances, even while having to state the obvious a few times. I think the trend to abstraction and analysis of rhetoric meant the second half, which was more theoretically focused, was stronger than the first.
dinah_yukich's review against another edition
4.0
Fantastic summary of the current (2023-ish) world affairs and forces in modern anti-gender politics. Draws heavily from Lacan from a philosophical underpinning, and addresses Evangelical/Catholic roots of anti-gender and the colonial/linguistic aspect of language of discourse // pulls the concept of gender as phantasm throughout which is an excellent way of framing the discourse.
The primary reason I didn’t give 5 stars is that an aim of the text was to develop a framework for opposition to the anti-gender movement and I didn’t feel that Butler did enough in this regard. The general idea of broadening alliances is a valid but is somewhat milquetoast. Of course broadening alliances is required, but doing so also requires a measure of mediation … and I didn’t feel they were concrete enough in this regard. They outlined the common causes but not so much the challenges except in the chapter on gender in translation.
The primary reason I didn’t give 5 stars is that an aim of the text was to develop a framework for opposition to the anti-gender movement and I didn’t feel that Butler did enough in this regard. The general idea of broadening alliances is a valid but is somewhat milquetoast. Of course broadening alliances is required, but doing so also requires a measure of mediation … and I didn’t feel they were concrete enough in this regard. They outlined the common causes but not so much the challenges except in the chapter on gender in translation.
sadiejayne3426's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Incredible. Honestly my favorite Judith Butler book. I found it to be much less dense and challenging than some of her earlier theoretical works but just as impactful. I really appreciated her theory applied to contemporary issues and her conceptualizations of a praxis of compassion and aid. Her illustration of capitalism as being a force which oppresses all, even those driven to uphold it out of anxiety challenged me to reconsider the conservative agenda. Awesome piece and I will be rereading.
tigerlillymelody's review against another edition
challenging
informative
5.0
Another banger from Judith Butler! Some of the best takeaways were the way that Butler uses the Platonic/Derridean idea of phantasms (reality as perceived as a concept warped by senses in the former and cultural or state narratives in the latter) to conceptualize the fake news/anti-fact fanatic authoritarianism growing in Western spaces. Furthermore, they compellingly tie this to Agnieszka Graff's thesis that the rise of satanic panic-esque movements in the west whether fears of Sharia law or the trans panic are an intentional misdirection to funnel the dissatisfaction with late stage capitalism onto an othered villain group. I also really loved the assertion that assigning gender at birth is an imaginative and not a scientific act, both by the doctor (using external genitalia to imagine the chromosomal or future hormonal reality of the child) and by the parents (who, unless intentionally subverting this, imagine a gendered future for their child). This is definitely something I want to think about and unpack further. The sections on the history of science as a social construct and history of gender as a force for colonial oppression are also both great overviews for people who have little or passing familiarity with those concepts/histories. On a completely personal note, not to brag or anything, but I gave a presentation at work on non-binary genders and the fact that my slides on the history of pre-colonial non-binary genders around the world shares so many of the same sources as Butler's chapter on "Racial and Colonial Legacies of Gender Dimorphism" was just incredibly validating. Also, I listened to the audiobook, which I liked both because I now know the pronunciation of some of the newer terms introduced to me in the text and because Judith Butler's voice is very calming and is another entry into the "queer elder tucking me into bed at night" audiobook collection.