Gender operations: the film XXY (2007) and the constitution of the body and sex as “natural”.

Abstract

Based on Foucault’s concept of the body as the surface of inscription of history, and on the work of Judith Butler, this article questions the way that binary and normative conceptions of gender operate in the constitution of a field of intelligibility for subjects and their bodies. We analyse the film XXY (2007) that tells the story of Alex, an intersexual adolescent. We use the main character's story to see how gender norms act to shape bodies and limit their pleasures. We argue that subjects and bodies that do not correspond to the normative ideal are seen as “abject bodies”, following Butler’s definition. The argument is that gender norms operate on all bodies: the normal and the abject.