Judith Butler, Feminism, and the Sociology of Sport

Abstract

Judith Butler, a feminist philosopher and the leading cultural theorist of gender, has had a significant influence on the field of sport studies. The concepts and theoretical frameworks she has provided us include an examination of the discursive creation and maintenance of gender as a category, the performativity of gender and sexuality, the signification of the sexed body, and the complex ‘grid of cultural intelligibility’ (2006: 208) that the heterosexual matrix illuminates. This chapter gives an overview of the ways in which Butler’s theories have been taken up and used among scholars of sport. Specific to the literature, Butler’s theories have been most often used to more fully understand the experiences of female athletes, men and masculinity, lesbian athletes, and transgender and intersex athletes.