Gomez 1 David Gomez John Kubler English 114B 25 April 2014 Argument Proposal and Annotated Bibliography A person

deciding to be male or female is determined by their gender identity. Some may say that a persons gender identity is determined by performance rather than biologically. One person who believes in this theory on how one chooses gender is American philosopher and gender theorist, Judith Butler. She believes that our gender is controlled through a series of acts and performances, rather than how we are biologically born. Her argument closely relates to the topic of drag queens; males who dress up and behave as if they are women. Drag queens put on a series of acts daily by performing like they are female when in reality they are males. Some people may look at the idea of someone switching genders as unusual or out of the norm. Society wants people to stick to how they are biologically born, but Judith Butler has an argument to counter that. For my project I would like to focus on the issue on how our gender identity is determined. I will use Judith Butlers articles on performative identity to back up the Nature vs. Nurture argument to answer the research question: To what extent is a persons gender identity either a flexible social construction/performance, or, on the other hand, biologically determined and fixed? I will focus on looking closely at what determines gender identity and how the idea relates back to drag queens. I will also relate Persepolis 2 to the idea of how our body gives off the image that translates back to ones gender. After I hope to have learned if a persons gender is more influenced by a performance of acts or just biologically. By the end of my essay I would like to learn more about gender identity and what is the determining factor.

Gomez 2 Sources Judith, Butler. "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory." Theatre Journal 40.4 (1988): 519-31. JSTOR. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3207893 In this essay Butler claims that gender identity is determined by a series of perfomative acts then what we are born with biologically. She argues that gender is something that is constantly changing through acts used by our body. I can use this perspective to mainly answer the question on how gender is determined; performance/acts or biologically. Butler argues that our gender is determined through continuous acts that a person can show by using their body. Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return. New York: Pantheon, 2004. Print. In this book a teenage girl, Marjane, is sent by her parents from Iran to Vienna to escape the warinfested country of Iran. She ends up going through many changes, which include her physical appearance and her mental approach at life. This story follows Marjane and her journey from becoming a little girl into a grown woman. I can use this book to show how a persons gender can be changed overtime. I can relate this Judith Butlers article on performative acts and gender constitution because through the story Marjanes gives off many acts with her body. Kidron, Beeban. To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. Universal Studios, 1995. Film. This is movie is about three drag queens who travel across the country to perform in the Drag Queen USA pageant. There journey is put on hold when there beat about car breaks down in a small town. They are forced to keep their secret from the citizens of the town but they live in fear that someone will find out there secret. I can use this movie to back up the argument that gender identity is determined by a series of acts. This movie supports Judith Butlers argument that biology has nothing to do with gender; rather gender is decided by some using their body for continuous acts.

Gomez 3 Butler, Judith. Judith Butler: Your Behavior Creates Your Gender. YouTube. Web. 24 March 2014 This video is about Judith Butler going into deeper detail about how she feels that gender is performative. Butler feels that the way we talk and act reflects to the world whether we are male or female. Just because someone is born a male does not mean they have to be male for the rest of their life. They could act in a way where they give of the impression that they are female; for example drag queens. I can use this video as evidence that gender is determined by acts and performances. This video can be used as more support for my main thesis and will support the idea that gender is performative.