In Butler 's 1999 preface of Gender Trouble she claims that part of her analysis is seeing how certain sexual practice calls into question the "dominant heterosexual framework" which in turn can cause one "to lose something of one's sense of place in gender," and in doing so can cause "terror and anxiety. " Butler states, "I sought to understand some of the terror and anxiety that some people suffer in "becoming gay," the fear of losing one's place in gender or of not knowing who one will be if one sleeps with someone of the ostensibly "same" gender." (Butler, xi) In trying to look at my term from as many different angles as possible I see this part of Butler's analysis as speaking to the consequences of the hetero-normative matrix of sex/gender/sexuality that we've discussed in class. Although I feel there are many consequences of this matrix I think this part speaks directly to a psychological one that calls one's vision of oneself into question and how it is so restrictive and excluding that it can cause some individuals to "fear losing one's place in gender or of not knowing who one will be."
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