A critique of Judith Butler’s definitions of gender

Judith Butler proposes a conception of gender that includes sex in both Gender Trouble and Undoing Gender, though this inclusion is more strongly stated in the latter work. Despite what their analyses claim, sex is a mind-independent phenomenon that is not part of socially constructed gender. Sex’s independence from gender is maintained when sex is understood with either of two prominent definitions which I will highlight. Not only is maintaining the distinction between sex and gender more accurate, but it is also necessary for feminism. In this essay, I will argue that Butler’s conceptions of gender in Gender Trouble and Undoing Gender are inaccurate and anti-feminist.