Imitation and Gender Insubordination

• The socially constructed aspect of gender performativity is
perhaps most obvious in drag performance, which offers a
rudimentary understanding of gender binaries in its
emphasis on gender performance
• Butler understands drag cannot be regarded as an example
of subjective or singular identity, where “there is a ‘one’
who is prior to gender, a one who goes to the wardrobe of
gender decides with deliberation which gender it will be
today”
• Subsequently, drag should not be considered the honest
expression of its performer’s intent
• Rather, Butler suggests that what is performed “can only be
understood through reference to what is barred from the
signifier within the domain of corporeal legibility.”