to what degree is gender embodied?

lecture 3

gendered bodies

historical context

‘essentialism’ and feminism

is there a ‘natural’ body?

social constructionism and bodies?

men’s bodies

‘woman as body’

gendered bodies women reclaim their bodies?

disciplining and techniques of the body

doing/disciplining bodies

resist gendered bodily norms?

final comments

historical context feminism, biology and sexual difference

the (reproductive) body – is crucial to this debate

what status does ‘the body’ have in Western thought?

Plato and ‘somatophobia’(Spelman 1982: 118)

‘Cartesian dualism’: mind/body – gendered split:

men/culture women/nature

essentialism and feminism (1)

(see e.g. Evans 1995; Fuss 1989; Moi in Kemp & Squires 1997 )

e.g. cultural feminism and ecofeminism

- celebrate femaleness regard it as morally superior to maleness

- invert patriarchal values – e.g. motherhood revalued?

- women closer to nature

‘belief in a given female nature’ –

women's characteristics and qualities innate, static and universal

‘essentialism’ and feminism (2)

(see Fuss in Kemp & Squires 1997: 250-251)

notion of ‘female essence’

‘female voice’ – e.g. language is masculine – feminine language so women can express

themselves in non-patriarchal way (e.g. Irigaray)

feminist discourse and universal oppression of women – political project - draw on the idea of

biological woman

e.g. notion of ‘sisterhood’ problematic – differences amongst women?

‘belief in the real, true essences of things’

(Fuss 1989: xi)

is there a ‘natural’ body?

the ‘natural’ or real bodyunderlies gender

‘woman’ or ‘man’ is born not made

but ‘real’ femininity and women’s bodies are repressed or unrepresentable in

patriarchy?(e.g. Irigaray)

women’s bodily experiences – source of rich culture – essentialist?

social constructionism and bodies?

other feminists keen to break the link between women and nature – sex/gender distinction (e.g. Oakley)

‘One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman’ (de Beauvoir)

‘natural’ socially produced

focus on the ‘production and organization of differences’ – dismiss the notion of a given nature that

is pre-social

bodies inscribed and shaped by social factors/meanings

acknowledges cultural and social diversity - shift from singular body to plural bodies

3 main perspectives(see e.g. Pilcher & Whelehan 2004: 6-10; Davis

1997)

1. body as nature – biological material object

2. body as socially constructed – continuum?

- sex/gender distinction – gender socialisation– gender mapped on to male and female

bodies – body a blank slate (tabula rasa) waiting to be inscribed

- critique of sex/gender distinction – is the body a ‘coat - rack’?

- Butler – ‘sex’ – socially constructed – ‘gender performativity’ – discuss later in the

course

3. embodiment – the lived body – ‘we are bodies’

men’s bodies

men seen as disembodied - mind reigns

- men can transcend their bodies

- male bodies not problematic – privileged position – marginalised groups - changing?

- construction of masculinity (hegemonic) – physical bodily performance – injured?

e.g. male labourers; high risk sports; war

men seen as disembodied - mind reigns

- men can transcend their bodies

- male bodies not problematic – privileged position – marginalised groups - changing?

- construction of masculinity (hegemonic) – physical bodily performance – injured?

e.g. male labourers; high risk sports; war

‘woman as body’ (1)

women historically associated more with nature and disordered (reproductive) bodies

de Beauvoir – ‘anatomy is not destiny’

‘body in trouble’ – (Moi in Hughes & Witz 1997)

dualistic account of the female body - positive and negative?

‘reproductive body’ - bodily-related crises - source of alienation?

‘woman as body’ (2)

de Beauvoir’s analysis is not gender-neutral

reinforce patriarchal understanding of women’s bodies as disgusting and repulsive?

body as source of woman’s alienation – crises – do women have to reject their (reproductive)

bodies to become free?

‘cannot think beyond the body of woman … because she cannot think through it’ (Hughes &

Witz 1997: 198)

women reclaim their bodies?

women’s bodies – source of oppression – victims?

feminist body politics – challenge (male) medical ‘expert’ knowledge/discourses

female body – object of ‘expert’ scrutiny

reclaim control over their bodies

e.g. women’s health movement

Our Bodies, Our Selves (1971)

‘techniques of the body (1934)’

Marcel Mauss (1973) Economy and Society, 2(1): 70-88Crossley, N (2005) Mapping Reflexive Body Techniques, Body & Society

11(1)

‘ways in which from society to society men [sic] know how to use their bodies’

provides a detailed catalogue of a wide range of bodily techniques

routine bodily movements and activities are socially controlled – biological preconditions?

e.g. walking – assumes upright and bipedal

bodily movements - acquired not natural - ‘practical and embodied forms of knowledge

and understanding’

disciplining/techniques of the body

techniques involve surveillance and discipline of our bodies in effort to fit with social norms – docile

bodies – self-modification – ‘body work’ (e.g. Foucault)

disciplinary regimes/techniques - reinforce gender opposition/norms?

e.g. ‘hegemonic masculinity’ and ‘emphasised femininity’

‘reflexive body techniques’ and different ‘zones’: core, intermediate and marginal – distinction?

(e.g. see Crossley 2005)

techniques involve surveillance and discipline of our bodies in effort to fit with social norms – docile

bodies – self-modification – ‘body work’ (e.g. Foucault)

disciplinary regimes/techniques - reinforce gender opposition/norms?

e.g. ‘hegemonic masculinity’ and ‘emphasised femininity’

‘reflexive body techniques’ and different ‘zones’: core, intermediate and marginal – distinction?

(e.g. see Crossley 2005)

‘throwing like a girl’ (1)(e.g. Young 1990; Howson 2004)

phenomenology and Merleau-Ponty - critique of Cartesian dualism

(mind/body split) – ‘being-in-the-world’

‘lived body’- the body is not a object – we are our bodies

Young questions Merleau-Ponty’s assumption of a neutral body

‘gendered modalities’ - distinctive feminine bodily movement and use of

space

‘bodily timidity’?

‘throwing like a girl’ (2)(Young 1990; Howson 2004)

women less confident when using their bodies especially physically – less

opportunities?

‘imaginary space’ – restrict bodily movement?

‘male gaze’ – disciplinary effect - self conscious – female body objectified?

women’s bodies -‘lived as a thing’?

feminine bodily existence – both subject and object?

doing/disciplining bodies

‘doing gender’ means bodily doing, display, performance and conduct (e.g. West & Zimmerman; Goffman)

e.g. gender embodiment and work/public contexts:

e.g. Tyler & Abbott (1998) ‘Chocs Away’: make-up/weight (airline industry) – ‘body work’ – ‘panoptic management’ – gendered bodily work – not recognised as work – part of

‘being a woman’?

e.g. Pink (1996) ‘Breasts in the Bullring: female physiology, female bullfighters and competing femininities’, Body and

Society, 2(1): 45-64

resist gendered bodily norms?e.g. Mansfield & McGinn in Morgan (1993) ‘pumping irony’

film – Pumping Iron II: The Women

judging women body builders

e.g. Bev Francis – well developed muscles – too masculine?

transgress gendered embodiment norms?

‘get feminine or get out of women’s bodybuilding’

what constitutes a ‘naturally’ feminine and masculine body?

work on bodily physique – does nature become culture?

final comments are men becoming more embodied? -

increasingly subject to disciplinary processes previously aimed at women?

social constructionist accounts criticised for assuming that there is a natural sexed body on which gendered meanings are ‘written’

is the body a tabula rasa (blank slate)?

is it possible for the body not to be gendered?

resist and challenge gendered embodiment?

are women’s bodies a problem to be gone beyond or something to think through?

next week

key approaches to understanding gender

‘cultural turn’ – shift from ‘things’ to ‘words’

homework!