His career
They studied one year at the University of Heidelberg (in Germany) in 1978. Then, they got their philosophical doctorate in 1984 at the University of Yale, thanks to their thesis called “subjects of desires : hegelian reflections in the 20 century in France”. After that, they teach in many universities, such as the private university in Wesleyenne (in Connecticut), in the George Washington university (in Washington DC) and then in the Johns Hopkins university (in Maryland). Nowadays, they are a teacher in a university in California, in Berkeley to be more specific, but they hold the Maxine Elliott Chair in the departments of rhetoric and comparative literature as well. They also teach in the European Graduate School of Saas-Fee in Switzerland.
Her subjects of working
His work topic is mainly on gender, queers and queer theory. She published in 1990 in the United States her major work, Trouble in the Gender; Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. It was published in France in 2005. His theorization of the «performativity of gender», based on the Austinian theory of language acts, French feminism and deconstruction, was a major contribution in the field of feminist and queer studies. Her work, which challenges “traditional” gender and sex issues, has led to much debate on gender education, homoparenting and the depathologization of transidentity. Pope Benedict XVI also had to address this subject after that. This work is recognized by many people such as academics, political activists or feminists. But it is also heavily criticized by other feminists.
Judith Butler also works on other topics such as war, mourning, and refugees. She will not hesitate to criticize the American government’s foreign policy following the attacks of September 11, 2001, and she also intervenes on political issues such as gay rights and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.