Reading Butler backwards: On what one becomes, what one is included in and what one is not

Abstract

This essay studies the argument of Judith Butler on the concepts of sex and gender. It analyses the change towards a position of rejecting the Hegelian dialectic and argues that this change in the logical structure of Butler's work weakens her critique of the politics of identity. It suggests that a reading of Butler's work which incorporates themes from Adorno's Negative Dialectics could strengthen critical reasoning on this question.