On Performativity

Dear Angela Davis,

I have been thinking about the concept of performativity lately, in many of the ways the term is applicable. Performative allyship, performative activism, performative being, etc. What particularly concerns me about the concept of performative being is that it seems that there is no feasible way to escape from the guidelines of being, whatever those may be, and formulated by whoever they were initially crafted. That is to say, our behavior and being seems to be reactionary under all circumstances: reactionary, at least, to whatever guidelines of existence are in opposition to one's image.

This is all rather abstract consideration of what it means to exist. Nonetheless, the concepts still had me questioning the sincerity, or lack thereof, of our crafting political ideology and activism. What are your thoughts on the rhetoric of activism, the epistemology of activism, and the methodology of activism? How do we take into consideration existence as a form of resistance, while simultaneously accommodating for assimilation politics, rejection of problematic ideologies, etc.?