It wasn't possible just to rid oneself, simply, of the norms through which one is constituted.
Judith ButlerIf Lacan presumes that female homosexuality issues from a disappointed heterosexuality, as observation is said to show, could it not be equally clear to the observer that heterosexuality issues from a disappointed homosexuality?
Judith ButlerThere is no original or primary gender a drag imitates, but gender is a kind of imitation for which there is no original.
Judith ButlerThe question is whether NGOs that bring protection or aid or reparation therapies are furthering the possibility of self-determination or extending a form of managerial power and paternalism.
Judith ButlerIf you look at some of the language in the basic writings of Hamas, there is that famous call to push the Israelis into the sea. Now, I would say that most Palestinian politicians on the ground say, of course that's not what we want, and even within Hamas there is some published debate about that claim, but until the claim is removed, it's still noxious.
Judith Butler