Judith Butler at The Brattle Theatre

Harvard Book Store welcomes Judith Butler—global icon and author of several books, including Gender Trouble; Bodies That Matter; The Psychic Life of Power; and The Force of Nonviolence—to celebrate the paperback release of their book Who's Afraid of Gender?, a bold, essential account of how a fear of gender is fueling reactionary politics around the world.

There are two ticket options for this event.

1. Book-Included Tickets: Includes admission for one and one paperback copy of Who's Afraid of Gender? pre-signed by the author.
2. Admission-Only Tickets: Includes admission for one.

Judith Butler, the groundbreaking thinker whose book Gender Trouble redefined how we think about gender and sexuality, confronts the attacks on “gender” that have become central to right-wing movements today. Global networks have formed “anti-gender ideology” movements that depict gender as a threat to families, cultures, and even “man” himself. Inflamed by public figures, this movement has sought to nullify reproductive justice, undermine protections against sexual and gender violence, and strip trans and queer people of safety.
The aim of Who’s Afraid of Gender? is to examine how “gender” has become a phantasm for authoritarian regimes, fascist formations, and trans-exclusionary feminists. In their courageous new book, Butler illuminates the concrete ways that this phantasm of “gender” collects and displaces fears of destruction. Operating alongside deceptive accounts of “critical race theory” and xenophobic panics about migration, the anti-gender movement demonizes struggles for equality, fuels aggressive nationalism, and leaves millions of people vulnerable to subjugation.
An essential intervention into one of the most fraught issues of our moment, Who’s Afraid of Gender? is a bold call for coalition building between all of those struggling against injustice. Butler offers us a hopeful work of social and political analysis that is both timely and timeless.

Judith Butler is the author of several books, including Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity; Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex”; The Psychic Life of Power: Theories in Subjection; and The Force of Nonviolence. In addition to their numerous academic honors and publications, Butler has published editorials and reviews in a wide range of journals and newspapers, including The New York Times, Time, and the London Review of Books, and has been featured on radio programs and podcasts throughout the world. They live in Berkeley, California.

Masks are encouraged but not required for this event.

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