Which theorist argued that gender is performed rather than innate?

Which theorist argued that gender is performed rather than innate?

• A. Judith Butler
• B. Simone de Beauvoir
• C. Michel Foucault
• D. Stuart Hall

Answer: (A)

The main concept being tested is that gender is performative rather than innate. Judith Butler argues that gender identities aren’t fixed traits someone is born with; they are produced through repeated acts, gestures, and behaviors that conform to social norms. Through this ongoing performance, gendered ways of being feel natural, even though they are actually the result of culturally organized repetition. That makes Butler the best fit because she specifically links gender to performativity, showing how everyday actions create the sense of a stable gender identity. Simone de Beauvoir, while influential, is focused on the idea that womanhood is something people become under social conditions, not a theory about gender as a continuous performance. Michel Foucault centers on power, discourse, and how knowledge shapes subjectivities, which informs how identities are formed but doesn’t articulate gender as a repeated performative act. Stuart Hall deals with representation and cultural encoding/decoding, not the performative mechanism that constitutively constructs gender through action.

The main concept being tested is that gender is performative rather than innate. Judith Butler argues that gender identities aren’t fixed traits someone is born with; they are produced through repeated acts, gestures, and behaviors that conform to social norms. Through this ongoing performance, gendered ways of being feel natural, even though they are actually the result of culturally organized repetition. That makes Butler the best fit because she specifically links gender to performativity, showing how everyday actions create the sense of a stable gender identity.

Simone de Beauvoir, while influential, is focused on the idea that womanhood is something people become under social conditions, not a theory about gender as a continuous performance. Michel Foucault centers on power, discourse, and how knowledge shapes subjectivities, which informs how identities are formed but doesn’t articulate gender as a repeated performative act. Stuart Hall deals with representation and cultural encoding/decoding, not the performative mechanism that constitutively constructs gender through action.