Butler, writing in the late 1980s, was active during the transition from second to third wave feminism. The second pushed for equal rights both in public life and the home, some key successes being an acknowledgment of domestic violence and sexual harassment, availability of birth control, reproductive rights, and the prohibition of sex-based discrimination in any federally funded educational institution. Criticism of the second wave focused on its tendency to homogenize the interests of women, ignore the needs of women of color and other minority groups, and view pornography and sex work as forms of oppression rather than expressions of women’s autonomy.

The third wave focused on intersectionality, included trans issues, and aimed to destabilize the norms of patriarchy. Butler’s work addresses the thinking behind this transition and cautions against considering the category “woman” as inherently meaningful. A particular concern of Butler’s is defining women based on their status as oppressed. Though this tactic can be useful for creating solidarity, it can also become self-fulfilling. 

Butler’s work depends heavily on the French philosophical traditions of existentialism and phenomenology, particularly the ideas of Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and