MICHEL FOUCAULT, info.

Darlene writes:
> > 
> > >Second, I do think that Butler's argument in the first fifty pages of 
> > "Gender
> > >Trouble" reveals the inadequacy of the claim that "sexuality is 
> > discursively
> > >produced, but...we have sexed bodies also."
> 
> 	Which part of this claim seems inadquate to you?
> > 
> 

I assume this question was directed toward me, and not Jeff, since the original 
claim is mine--or at least it's Butler's.  There may be some confusion in the 
formulation, because of the phrase "sexed bodies."  In my original post I 
followed the above quote by saying that, " Butler and Foucault agree that we 
have "sexed bodies," but it is precisely discursive practices that "sex" those 
bodies--and moreover (and this is Butler's real insight) there is no "sexing" 
before the body."  If I interpreted Jeff's position correctly, he claimed to 
accept the idea that gender and sexuality can be discursively constructed while 
still maintaining a body (with a sex) that exists and endures prior to this 
discursive construction.  It is at this originary "before construction" that 
Butler takes direct aim.  I can elaborate on this argument with a passage from 
"Gender Trouble," but I don't have it with me right now.



Sam Chambers
University of Minnesota