“One can see the terrain of the dilemma here: on the one hand, living without norms of recognition…”

“One can see the terrain of the dilemma here: on the one hand, living without norms of recognition can result in significant suffering and forms of disenfranchisement that confound the very distinctions among psychic, cultural, and material consequences. On the other hand, the demand to be recognized, which is a very powerful political demand, can lead to new and invidious forms of social hierarchy, to a precipitous foreclosure of that sexual field, and to new ways of supporting and extending state power if it does not institute a critical challenge to the very norms of recognition supplied and required by state legitimation. Indeed, in making a bid to the state for recognition, we effectively restrict the domain of what will become recognizable as legitimate sexual arrangements, thus fortifying the state as the source for norms of recognition and eclipsing other possibilities within civil society and cultural life. (26-27)”

Judith Butler, “Is Kinship Always Already Heterosexual?” differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies 13.1 (2002): 14-44.

This entry was posted in Tumblr. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *