Judith Butler — Questions and answers

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What big idea does Judith Butler challenge right at the beginning of her speech?

Choices

  1. The idea that gender is a fixed attribute. ✓
  2. The importance of Simone de Beauvoir's writings.
  3. How scholars and thinkers get together.
  4. The sound of her voice at the podium.

Answer: The idea that gender is a fixed attribute.

From page 1

What new question does Dr. David Chen suggest Butler's work makes them ask about 'sex'?

Choices

  1. If 'sex' is purely anatomical.
  2. If 'sex' is also socially constructed. ✓
  3. If 'sex' determines gender.
  4. If 'sex' is the same as gender.

Answer: If 'sex' is also socially constructed.

From page 2

What does Butler's work suggest about "sex" itself, according to David?

Choices

  1. That sex doesn't exist at all.
  2. That sex is purely biological and fixed.
  3. That the categories we use to define it are culturally and historically created. ✓
  4. That sex is determined solely by gender.

Answer: That the categories we use to define it are culturally and historically created.

From page 4

Where does David say resistance to gender norms comes from, according to Butler?

Choices

  1. By perfectly copying gender norms.
  2. By escaping all norms completely.
  3. In the gaps and failures of repeated performances. ✓
  4. By always doing things the same way.

Answer: In the gaps and failures of repeated performances.

From page 6

What is one way Butler's ideas have impacted things outside of academics, according to the text?

Choices

  1. Making everyone agree on dress codes.
  2. Changing how we cook dinner.
  3. Profoundly impacting queer activism and challenging rigid social norms. ✓
  4. Making all laws the same around the world.

Answer: Profoundly impacting queer activism and challenging rigid social norms.

From page 9

What does Anya say is Butler's enduring contribution?

Choices

  1. To offer easy answers for everyone.
  2. To prescribe a single way of being.
  3. To show that what seems most natural is often the most constructed, opening possibilities for freedom. ✓
  4. To convince everyone to be exactly the same.

Answer: To show that what seems most natural is often the most constructed, opening possibilities for freedom.

From page 10