As an undergraduate in the 1990s, the 'feminist theory', as it was called back then, which I studied was tied up with post-structuralist theories of language. We looked at difficult-to-read French theorists such as Lacan, Derrida, and Kristeva and came to the conclusion that the oppression of women and patriarchy were basically a linguistic problems. What I wasn't aware of was another approach to issues of gender which, focusing on the body, used Merleau-Ponty's ideas of phenomenology.
In this blog, we consider here two theorists, both writing in the 1980s, who have focused on the phenomenology of women's bodies. Young and Butler demonstrate--in different ways--how the experience of body connects with issues of gender.
Butler goes further than Young. Simply put, Butler does not say "women act like women", but rather "there is no such thing as a woman to start with".
What does this mean? For Butler woman is only constituted through acts. There is no being a woman without acts. These include:
In this blog, we consider here two theorists, both writing in the 1980s, who have focused on the phenomenology of women's bodies. Young and Butler demonstrate--in different ways--how the experience of body connects with issues of gender.
Young: throwing like a girl [are my notes written on the article print out?
Analysing 1960s female bodies also demonstrates how embodiment (as envisaged by Merleau-Ponty) operates with regard to gender. In her "Throwing like a Girl" article, anthropologist Iris Marion Young (1980) shows how female bodies are 'limited' in three ways. First, ambiguous transcendence [two sentences]. Second, inhibited intentionality... [write two sentences]. Finally, discontinuous unity...[two sentences]. As useful as Young may be, she overlooks of class habitus (Bourdieu 199?) and race (Bourgios & Schoenberg 201?). Providing we keep this in mind, we could say that Young's three 'modalities' demonstrate how gender becomes embodied.
Butler and acting
Butler's "Performative Acts"Butler goes further than Young. Simply put, Butler does not say "women act like women", but rather "there is no such thing as a woman to start with".
What does this mean? For Butler woman is only constituted through acts. There is no being a woman without acts. These include:
- the doctor says "it will be a boy"
- a few days later, the parents enact a gender reveal after this news
- a few months later, relatives buy blue clothes and toys
- 20 years later the person speaks with lower voice is encouraged to be assertive
For more, see these blogs
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