Media Studies A-Level
Gender performativity
What Gender performativity means in Media Studies A-Level, as defined for AQA.
Definition of Gender performativity
Check what you remember
Read the wording for your board, then hide it and explain Gender performativity in your own words. Rough notes are fine. This is a self-check, with no mark or grade.
Reference: AQA
Gender comes into being through citation of norms rather than through expression of a pre-existing identity, producing the illusion of an inner essence.
Topics that use Gender performativity
- Theories of gender performativity - Butler's ideas and theories on gender performativity (AQA A-Level)
Related terms
- Historical and cultural contingency of gender
- Naturalisation in media representation
- Stylisation and cultural convention
- Constructed versus naturalised gender
- Gender as constructed rather than essential
- Parody and hyperbolic repetition
- Repetition and citation of norms
- Repetition and the production of identity
Using Gender performativity in the exam
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