Abstract

In her book. Gender Trouble, Judith Butler reinforces the conception held by many feminist philosophers that gender identity is not natural but rather culturally-constructed. Butler supports this conception of gender mainly by reading Freud. I will undertake a critical reconstruction of Butler's claims about gender identity which are based on Freud. In order to complete this project, I will outline currents of feminism leading us to this question of the constructedness of gender, Freud's theories, especially his account of sexual development and two of Butler's main criticisms of Freud. Through this exploration, I will explain Butler's use of Freud in constructing a theory ofgender identity