A man for all seasons: Derrida-cum-‘queer theory’ or the limits of ‘performativity’

Abstract

This piece is a critical and polemical discussion of the concept of performativity as used in some quarters of ‘queer studies’. It shows that the usage Judith Butler and her followers make of this concept relies heavily on the work of Jacques Derrida but fails to do justice to it. Such lack of rigour manifests itself in a lack of philosophical originality and thus leaves ‘queer studies’ in a rather precarious position.