In Undoing Gender by Judith Butler she examines normative conceptions of sexuality and gender, in doing so she also suggests that these conceptions can then be undone. Butler's loss is an ethical argument that attempts to appeal to the reader's conscience. With this understanding, can Butler's loss hold up when argued in a religious context? To better contextualize the defeat in religion, it is Mary Daly's work, The Church and the Second Sex, which can offer some clarity. Ultimately, the intention of this article is to explore the unmaking of gender within religion. In Butler's work, gender is essentially independent of biological sex and is recognized as an act of doing. This doing is the performance of these gender roles (Butler, 2). Gender dictates that value should be placed on one's ability to adhere to predetermined roles. For a gendered society to function, there must be a hierarchical structure based on each person's ability to maintain and fulfill prescribed gender roles. Those who fit the gender mold retain their full humanity while those who do not become less human. Fear of displacement in hierarchy and gender roles causes humans to desire recognition of their stability in their gender role and as a legitimate social being. Those whose chosen gender roles or sexuality leave them outside of the gender binary are considered less than human. Being deprived of one's humanity and being deprived of recognition makes life "unlivable", as Butler puts it. “…Without a certain recognizability, I cannot live. But I can also feel that the terms by which I am recognized make life unlivable. (Butler, 4) Mary Daly, a feminist philosopher and Catholic theologian, wrote The Church and the Second Sex as a critique of the Catholic Church...... middle of article ......x en 1968, decades before Butler's defeat. Gender. The Church and the Second Sex is being written in the midst of the re-emergence of the feminist movement. Still relatively early in her career, Daly considered herself – at this time – to be a Christian feminist or someone who was critical of the Church within the faith. The Church and the Second Sex, when complemented by Butler's contemporary language in Undoing Gender, allows Daly's ideas to be useful. in current gender policy. Butler's loss can in turn be understood in the context of religion. Daly essentially rejects many of the same Christian feminist beliefs that once guided her work. However, Daly's arc from Christian feminism to a more radical feminism that, in essence, views Christianity as irredeemably sexist, does not detract from its usefulness as a tool in which one can contextualize Butler's destruction of gender.