Episode 5: From Parody to Politics—Undoing Gender Norms cover art

Episode 5: From Parody to Politics—Undoing Gender Norms

Episode 5: From Parody to Politics—Undoing Gender Norms

Listen for free

View show details

About this listen

In this episode, we turn to the conclusion of the book: From Parody to Politics (pp. 181–190). Here, Butler draws together the major threads of her argument to show how subversive performances—particularly parody and drag—can reveal the artificiality of gender norms and open space for political transformation.


We explore how parody is not merely mockery, but a powerful strategy to expose the performative nature of identity. By troubling the assumed coherence of sex, gender, and desire, Butler argues for a politics that resists the compulsion to normalize—and instead embraces the instability and multiplicity of gendered life.

Join us as we close our exploration of Gender Trouble by asking: What happens when we stop trying to define gender—and start performing it on our own terms?

No reviews yet