Judith Butler

Biography: Judith Butler FBA is an American philosopher and gender theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics and the fields of third-wave feminist, queer and literary theory. She has taught at the University of California, Berkeley since 1993. Butler is best known for her books Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990) and Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex (1993), in which she challenges conventional notions of gender and develops her theory of gender performativity. Butler has actively supported lesbian and gay rights movements and has spoken out on many contemporary political issues. She is a vocal critic of Zionism, Israeli politics and its effect on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.