Theorizing change as troubling norms: Judith Butler on change agency. Norwich Business School Research Seminar Series, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK, July 22, 2009.
Current constructions of heterosexual parenthood in western societies seem to be trapped in a change-retention dilemma. Many elements have changed, but many others have stayed the same. Although ‘new fathers' do change diapers, the mother is very often seen as the ‘main parent'. Parenthood is still constructed along the heterosexual gender binary that equates women with mothers and men with fathers. In this article I analyze four different scenarios of parenthood that were discursively constructed in 21 qualitative interviews in Switzerland. I focus on the discursive construction of the subject positions ‘mother' and ‘father', the discourses drawn upon, and their potential to subvert the gendered construction of heterosexual parenthood when justifying certain versions of parenthood. Drawing on Judith Butler's concept of ‘gender trouble', I explore the possibilities for change and the dangers of reifying the gender binary, and critically discuss the possibilities and limitations of gender trouble in this context
