One of the most talked-about scholarly works of the past fifty years, Judith Butler’s _Gender Trouble_ is as celebrated as it is controversial. Arguing that traditional feminism is wrong to look to a natural, 'essential' notion of the female, or indeed of sex or gender, Butler starts by questioning the category 'woman' and continues in this vein with examinations of 'the masculine' and 'the feminine'. Best known however, but also most often misinterpreted, is Butler's concept of gender as a reiterated (...) social _performance _rather than the expression of a prior reality. Thrilling and provocative, few other academic works have roused passions to the same extent. (shrink)

One of the most talked-about scholarly works of the past fifty years, Judith Butler’s _Gender Trouble_ is as celebrated as it is controversial. Arguing that traditional feminism is wrong to look to a natural, 'essential' notion of the female, or indeed of sex or gender, Butler starts by questioning the category 'woman' and continues in this vein with examinations of 'the masculine' and 'the feminine'. Best known however, but also most often misinterpreted, is Butler's concept of gender as a reiterated (...) social _performance _rather than the expression of a prior reality. Thrilling and provocative, few other academic works have roused passions to the same extent. (shrink)

Author very well known - leading writer on women and law provides major new critique of law in controversial areas such as rape, pornography, child custody 2 way promotion - criminology, women's studies.

Ever since feminist theory introduced the distinction between sex and gender, the question of what it means to be a woman has preoccupied feminist thought. In ____Gender__ ____Trouble ____ Judith Butler questions whether it is possible to "be" a woman at all or, for that matter, any gender.

First published in 1999, this volume explores the nature of adjudication in the common law tradition from a feminist postmodernist perspective. The author accepts and celebrates the 'choices' open to the judge and argues that without choice, judgment cannot be properly judicial. The first full length feminist exploration of the role of the judge and the nature of law and legality, To Speak as a Judge is grounded in the process of adjudication and its rhetorical nature. It draws upon significant (...) contemporary cases to explore the narrativity of law and the ways in which rhetoric and judicial understandings of the nature of law determine narrative style. (shrink)