Who Am I?

Luce Irigaray and Judith Butler are two feminist critics that have write about their points of views on sexism, gender identity and identity. In Irigaray’s piece, “Sexual Difference”, she discusses the ways in which humans relate to the gender they were born into, and how due to the society they live in. She writes, “Who or what the other is, I never know. But this unknowable other is that which differs sexually from me. This feeling of wonder, surprise and astonishment in the face of the knowable ought to be returned to its proper place: the realm of sexual difference” (238). This question of “Who am I,” is one Irigaray is no stranger to, and is in search for in her entire project of the revolution of the different titles. At the end of her piece she simply says, “One sex is never entirely consummated or consumed by another. There is always a residue” (Irigaray, 238).


Judith Butler’s piece, which I found very interesting, was about the battle of being straight or gay. She tackled the ideology of society in defining what makes a person gay or straight. Butler states, “In psychoanalytic terms, the relation between gender and sexuality is in part negotiated through the question of the relationship between identification and desire” (249). Butler say’s that to relate to being a woman or acting feminine is not necessarily to desire a man, but more of what one identifies to. The issues however are what the “norm” heterosexuals must agree to that logic, which has yet been convinced to her. That is most likely Butler’s biggest search, find the answers to such theories.

In terms of gender and identity both of these critics over lap, however, I personally did not see a distinct moment of over lapping.