to what degree is gender embodied?

1. to what degree is gender embodied? lecture 3

2. gendered bodies historical context ‘essentialism’ and feminism is there a ‘natural’ body? social constructionism and bodies? men’s bodies ‘woman as body’

3. gendered bodies women reclaim their bodies? disciplining and techniques of the body doing/disciplining bodies resist gendered bodily norms? final comments

4. 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

5. 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

6. ‘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)

7. is there a ‘natural’ body? • the ‘natural’ or real body underlies 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?

8. 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

9. 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’

10. 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

11. ‘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?

12. ‘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 thinkthrough it’ (Hughes & Witz 1997: 198)

13. 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)

14. ‘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’

15. 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)

16. ‘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’?

17. ‘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?

18. 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

19. 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?

20. 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?

21. next week • key approaches to understanding gender • ‘cultural turn’ – shift from ‘things’ to ‘words’ • homework!