Subversions of the genre: Butler, Preciado, Lacan

Abstract

This article aims to reflect on different theoretical strategies that fulfill the objective of destabilizing the understanding of gender as something fixed and stable, referred to a binary system. In addressing Lacan's sexuation theory and some aspects of queer theory, we seek to corroborate the idea that the tension between such fields is extremely fertile. Initially, we highlight Butler's notion of performance and Preciado's dildo theory: two different ways of thinking about gender as an open way of becoming. Finally, we add the Lacanian contribution to the debate. In our view, the emphasis of the sexuation theory is its reference to jouissance, as a singular experience of the sexual in the body, which consequently decentralizes the notion of being. As a result, the theory of sexuation moves away from the theme of gender as it aims to capture what goes beyond the limits of the attribution of social roles.