Judith ButlerThinkers

Agency (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a struggle within the unchosen conditions of one's life. It is located within the possibility of a variation. When we pick out clothes each morning we either reinforce or subvert a norm.

Agency (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠an effect of the subject located in the idea of resistance.

Agency (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠an exercise in spotting the loophole, spotting the possibility that is not among those encouraged but that still remains possible. It is a divergence within power relations that exposes how such relations are set up.

Agency (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not a capacity for reflexive mediation that remains intact regardless of its cultural embeddedness, rather, it is always and only a political prerogative... and it is crucial to question the conditions of its possibility.

Agency (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not a universal attribute that all humans possess by virtue of their reason... neither is it a 'capacity for reflexive mediation that remains intact regardless of its cultural embeddedness.

Agency (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not about trying to work outside of racism or sexism. The paradox is that within those oppressions, one is enabled and resist them. So agency comes from being within social categories.

Agency (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not related to a theory of the self but is an effect of the operations of discourse-power through which subjects are produced.

Agency (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not the possession of the subject but a phenomenon that exist in its operation. It is located at the site where discourses are renewed.

Agency (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not the sovereign subject's voluntarist assertion of political will against normative power... it is, rather, the constrained and adamantly nonsubjective space opened up by the historical and cultural processes whereby subjects are interpellated through the modern regime of sexuality.

Agency (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not voluntarist, subjective, or expressive... rather, it marks the ambivalent and messy field of operation sexuality opens to us by requiring us to take the strategies and effects of sexual discipline as the sites and signs of our most private and cherished sexual selves.

Agency (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠performative. It is a political praxis aimed at unsettling dominant discourses of gender and sexuality.

Agency (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠radically different from the western liberal concept of agency that sees an agent intend to accomplish something and then do so. Rather, it exists when a repetition of the subject mutates or deforms subversively, (like a drag queen does to femininity) thus exposing its construction.

Agency (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠to be located within the possibility of a variation on that repetition.

The Body (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a directional force and mode of desire. As a condition of access to the world, it is a being comported beyond itself, referring to the world and thereby revealing its own ontological status as a referential reality.

The Body (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a key site of social and sexual subversion rather than being a taken-for-granted base and indicator of sexual preference.

The Body (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a manifestation of political regulation. The true gender of the body emerges in a retroactive loop in that it internalizes and incorporates cultural constructions of masculinity and femininity and rematerializes it on the body as natural.

The Body (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠always preceded by discourse such that: The body posited as prior to the sign is always posited or signified as prior. And yet, the body cannot be reduced to discourse and always exceeds it.