of being a Kantian formalist because, in his view, gender performativity is an empty formalist structure which is filled out by contingent cultural practices. Lacanian Sexual Difference. Following the psychoanalytic theory of Lacan, Žižek claims that sexual difference functions as an "empty" difference onto which all other subsequent differences are projected. Thus, during infancy, a child only enters the semiotic world of language once it has accepted the existence of sexual difference (which remains an "empty" difference because the pre-lingual infant cannot fill it out with any positive content). Against this view (and in defence of their thesis that gender is performatively enacted), Butler argues that, in order to be approached this way, the concept of sexual difference in Lacanian theory must be "emptied out" of positive content, such as the biological difference between males and females. Bibliographical information Butler, J. Laclau, E. and Žižek, S. Contingency, Hegemony, Universality: Contemporary Dialogues On The Left (London and New York: Verso, 2000). 2000 non-fiction books Books about cultural hegemony Books by Ernesto Laclau Books by Judith Butler Books by Slavoj Žižek English-language books Collaborative non-fiction books Political philosophy literature Verso Books books