This paper revisits Butler's argument on body discussed in Gender Trouble by first highlighting three important dimensions of her approach to body: the redefinition of “gender,” the paradigmatic shift from “The Body” as one entity to individual “Bodies,” and her argument concerning the vague boundary between “Inner” and “Outer.”
Next, reviewing contemporary views on body in feminism/gender theories, this paper describes Butler's critical arguments. For example, Butler first criticized Beauvoir's approach through the mind and body dichotomy and challenged Irigaray's biological accounts of binary sex. According to Butler, this dualistic approach must be reexamined in discussions of gender practice.
This paper concludes with Butler's contribution: her redefinition of gender by pointing out the level of the gender phenomenon seen as ordinary sexuality produced and normalized on a heterosexual basis. Moreover, this paper discusses the importance of examining and describing the “bodies” and “actions” constructed in everyday life in order to demonstrate gender practice, which is necessary for the advancement of the sociology of gender.