On Thu, 25 Nov 1999, Katha Pollitt wrote:
> Ah, so asking the question is "a moment of recurrent exasperation." She
> has arguments, her critics just lose their tempers! I see why Prof
> Butler has lately taken up Freud. (btw, shouldn't that be "a recurrent
> moment of exasperation?")
> When Prof B goes to the gynecologist -- which I assume she does -- is
> it because she wants to "perform" being a woman? Or is it that she needs
> a pap smear? If I perform my gender differently, can I trade in
> worrying about breast cancer for worrying about my prostate?
>
> Katha
It seems like you read the first line of the quoted passage and ignored the rest of it! What you're saying above directly supports JB's point: when people make reference to an extradiscursive realm (I would say a realm above and beyond social relations), they are making a discursive argument. In other words, the primacy of the physical difference between men and women is something that is produced and reinforced by comments like the one you made above.
This is like trying to refute idealism by kicking a stone. By the way, if you perform gender differently and engage in various procedures to better meet the criteria of being a man in our society (e.g., breast removal), then your gender performance does influence your chance of breast cancer.
Miles