A Mind Of One's Own by Louise Antony

A Mind Of One's Own by Louise Antony

Author:Louise Antony [Antony, Louise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Feminism, Philosophy
ISBN: 9780813379388
Goodreads: 998304
Publisher: Westview Press
Published: 1992-01-10T00:00:00+00:00


4. Gender Relations: MacKinnon on Gender

In sketching some of the distinctions that play a role in recent feminist theory, I intentionally skirted controversial issues which now need attention. In particular, if we are to give substantive content to the claim that reason is gendered, we need an account of the social relations that constitute gender. Allowing that the category of gender is contested within feminist theory, is it possible to chart a path through some of the controversies?

There is a growing trend in current feminist research which recommends that although we should employ the concept of gender in our theorizing, we should not treat gender as a unified category.39 On this "pluralistic" approach to gender, we acknowledge that gender is constituted through a variety of social relations, without aiming to specify what these relations have in common (perhaps opting for Wittgensteinian "family resemblances"?). In effect, we take gender relations to comprise an irreducibly disjunctive class.40 Whether or not we accept this as our final conclusion, it is reasonable to grant that, at least at this stage, our theoretical efforts are best spent in exploring the range of relatively determinate relations that constitute gender; farther, we may grant that it is not a criterion of success in our inquiry that gender can be given a unified analysis.

In keeping with this strategy, our emphasis should be on the task of proposing and employing admittedly partial, temporary, and context-sensitive gender distinctions. As a result, the charge that reason is gendered will not have a unique substantive content; its interpretation will depend on what gender relations are at issue. In the discussion that follows I will evaluate one instance of this charge, employing MacKinnon's account of gender as constituted by sexual objectification. To simplify my discussion I will often gloss over these limitations, speaking as if the account offers a definition of the relation that constitutes the social categories of men and women as such. I trust that given the allowances just sketched, we can proceed with an acknowledgment of the relevant qualifications.

Catharine MacKinnon's work on gender and objectivity is part of a large systematic project with broad repercussions for ongoing political and legal debates,41 Her work is deeply grounded in a commitment never to lose sight of the terrible concrete reality of sexual violence against women. MacKinnon's account of gender falls largely within the specific theoretical framework I sketched above: Gender categories are defined relationally—one is a woman (or a man) by virtue of one's position in a system of social relations.42 So one's gender is an extrinsic property, and assuming that we can survive even dramatic changes in our social relations, it is not necessary that we each have the gender we now have, or that we have any gender at all. MacKinnon's account adds to this background three main claims: (1) The relations constituting gender are, by definition, hierarchical. That men dominate women is not a contingent truth; relations of domination constitute the categories of man and woman. (2) Gender relations are defined by and in the interests of men.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.