My mother gave me my name in hopes that the dreaming embers I began with would ignite into a roaring fire. A powerful fire that he could stand aside and admire; a fire he helped light and one he hoped would never waver. He longed for me to be an individual and hoped that I would explore every avenue that could give me that spark we all so desperately seek to fulfill our lives. However, society gave me limits. They passed down a series of unwritten and prescribed rules. They informed me that I am a girl, made up of feminine traits and feminine tendencies. I have been given the female version of the script and am expected to follow it to the letter if I want to stay in comedy. Imagine if I wanted..."You are there! Take this script. This here is your stereotype, below is your gender role and on the last page with further clarification is the social norm. This is what is expected of you, take the time to memorize it in full. Sounds pretty strict and restrictive, doesn't it? In Judith Butler's essay Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, she examines the restrictions placed on men and women by the socialization process. He makes an important distinction between sex and gender and argues that both sex and gender are culturally constructed. A key term in Butler fashion is gender performativity. He says there is no identity behind the show we put on. We are taught to wear a mask that supposedly expresses the gender that society has arranged for us. Those people who alter their masks or try on the mask of the opposite sex are socially marginalized or at least frowned upon. These masks establish the roles we must play rather than convey the illusion of an unshakable, traditional… middle of paper… because it directly opposes the norm and challenges separate heterosexual genders. Ideal genders are not allowed to experiment with roles by playing or swapping without being targeted in some way. However, it is positive that some individuals deviate from regular forms of expression because it is a step towards changing gender norms and binary understandings of masculinity and femininity. Butler invokes gender issues, which essentially means confusing these roles so that they aren't as important or no longer exist. It is essential to regaining the individuality we all so desperately seek. Works Cited Butler, Judith. (1990). “Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire”. In gender problems. Feminism and the subversion of identity”, pp. 1-34. Philosophy in all genre. Paolo Zajdermann. 2006.