Abstract/Summary

My thesis attempts to construct an original non-essentialist theory of gender and the social reproduction of patriarchy by examining Louis Althusser’s theory of interpellation and applying it to feminism. My aim is to provide the best possible account of Althusser for feminist purposes. With the translation and publication into English of formerly unpublished manuscripts, those interested in Althusser’s thought have been given an opportunity to use his ideas in the context of social critique outside of the rigid Marxist problematic of which they originate. Attention is subsequently drawn to the thought of Judith Butler, who like Althusser sought to develop a non-essentialist theory of the subject. I examine Butler’s specific interpretation of Althusser in the development in her own theory of gender as performative, arguing that her understanding of Althusser does not emphasise the non-essentialist tenets of his ideas. By extension Butler can be read to commit the very essentialism she sought to distance herself, where Althusser does not. In order to illustrate my argument that Althusser achieves a non-essentialist theory of gendered subjectivity, I examine the memoirs of the 19th Century French hermaphrodite Herculine Barbin from both an Althusserian and Butlerian perspective. Herculine’s unique position in a world which rigidly defines us according to a sexed binary provides us with an interesting case study by which to examine how sex is constructed and whether, and to what extent, that binary can be contested.