The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE recommends an impressive impersonation of Bob Dylan
The prisoners of gender
CAL MCBRIDE recommends an accessible and erudite study that aims to link the struggle for gender rights with the wider critique of neoliberal capitalism
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Here, Vermiglio, William Tell and Wolf Man
New releases from Thorpe and Morrison, Daria Kulesh, and Will Finn and Rosie Calvert
RINA ARYA confronts the brutal operation of Francis Bacon’s approach to portraiture
Emphasising his continuous engagement in labour movement struggles, ALISTAIR FINDLAY salutes John Foster’s contribution as activist, strategist, intellectual and defender of the Morning Star
ANDY MIAH advocates the use of AI to assist people by expanding access to global literature and culture
EWAN KOTZ relishes a veteran Glasgow band that have lost none of their verve for live performance
Who’s Afraid of Gender
Judith Butler
Allen Lane, £25
ANYONE dipping even the most tentative toe into the currently tempestuous waters of gender discourse won’t be able to venture too far without encountering the name Judith Butler.
Works like Gender Trouble and Bodies That Matter have become key texts in global gender studies, even as many of their theories have been misinterpreted, or just plain misunderstood over the years. That being so, it’s useful that rather than taking another deep dive into the intricacies of gender-oriented cultural philosophy, this book instead confronts head-on the current and heated so-called culture war that has sprung up in public discourse around gender.
Butler has a not wholly undeserved reputation for writing in dense academese but they’ve thankfully reined in that tendency for the most part here to produce a largely reader-friendly text.
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