Since its publication in 1990, Gender Trouble has become one of the key works of contemporary feminist theory, and an essential work for anyone interested in the study of gender, queer theory, or the politics of sexuality in culture. This is the text where Judith Butler began to advance the ideas that would go on to take life as "performativity theory," as well as some of the first articulations of the possibility for subversive gender practices, and she writes in her preface to the 10th anniversary edition released in 1999 that one point of Gender Trouble was "not to prescribe a new gendered way of life [...] but to open up the field of possibility for gender [...]" Widely taught, and widely debated, Gender Trouble continues to offer a powerful critique of heteronormativity and of the function of gender in the modern world.

In "Bodies That Matter," Judith Butler further develops her distinctive theory of gender by examining the workings of power at the most "material" dimensions of sex and sexuality. Deepening the inquiries she began in "Gender" "Trouble," Butler offers an original reformulation of the materiality of bodies, examining how the power of heterosexual hegemony forms the "matter" of bodies, sex, and gender. Butler argues that power operates to constrain "sex" from the start, delimiting what counts as a viable sex. She offers a clarification of the notion of "performativity" introduced in "Gender Trouble" and explores the meaning of a citational politics. The text includes readings of Plato, Irigaray, Lacan, and Freud on the formation of materiality and bodily boundaries; "Paris is Burning," Nella Larsen's "Passing," and short stories by Willa Cather; along with a reconsideration of "performativity" and politics in feminist, queer, and radical democratic theory.

《当代中国女性主义文学批评二十年》对20世纪80年代以来当代中国的女性主义文学批评进行了详尽深入的梳理与分析，从中概括和提升出了四个主题：女性意识、女性主体性、女性文学传统和身体写作，并对这些主题的特定历史内涵、具体实践及其所引发的文化冲突等，进行了有条不紊的分析。 《当代中国女性主义文学批评二十年》不仅系统梳理了中国女性主义文学批评的发展、实践过程，更对其中的一些敏感问题提出了自己独到的见解。比如在评述身体写作现象时，指出女性写作中的身体写作不仅是对女性身体镜像的自我关照，也是女性视域中男性身体审美意象的生成和发现，这显示了女性文化权力的提升和文化视野的拓展。