Costantinus Fatlolon Reading Protocol - 2 Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory Judith Butler’s article 1 gives me a new understanding of doing philosophy of woman. I discover the novelty of that understanding in the way Butler translates the concept of “acts” commonly used in the philosophy of language and phenomenology. As a philosopher, Butler observes that the concept of acts in the philosophy of language and phenomenology emphasizes only the social agent as the “object” of act rather than the “subject of constituting act.” 2 As a feminist, Butler also observes that this phenomenological approach was used by Beauvoir’s The Second Sex. Using this method, the acts are seen only as the object of gender. The novelty of Butler is that the act not merely “constituting the identity of the actor, but as constituting that identity as compelling illusion, an object of belief.” 3 This statement indicates that a person’s body is not only a material fact or a self- identical materiality that can be manipulated by others, but an integral whole of human dignity. Butler says that the body is “fundamentally dramatic.” 4 As something dramatic, the body can have and produce a unique history in one’s life. But at the same time a person’s body can be dramatized by history only as a material fact. What is interesting here is Butler’s explanation of the history of human body. For example, I have a skinny posture. This fact shows the uniqueness of myself as a person compared to others who have a fat body. Historically my body may have been such because of the inadequate background of family conditions. At the same time, a person’s body can be dramatized by history only as a material fact. A real example to mention is the practice of facial surgery performed by some modern people. This modern practice can happen because of the performative demands to look beautiful and handsome, whether for the sake of a job or for the sake of self-satisfaction. Foucault called this act “a stylistic of existence.” However, 1 Judith Butler, “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay Phenomenology and Feminist Theory,” Theatre Journal Vol. 40, No. 40 (Dec., 1988), 519-531, http://links.jstor.org/sici? sici=01922882%28198812%2940%3A4%3C519%3APAAGCA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-C, accessed 15- 09-2017. 2 Ibid., 519. 3 Ibid., 520. 4 Ibid., 521.