How Has Feminism Used Foucault to Explore Notions of Femininity - Case Study Example

How has Feminism used Foucault to explore notions of femininity? Feminism, as a major branch of the modern philosophy and new born social paradigm, has become a subject of great attention for the modern socialists and post modern philosophers across the world. A great deal of debate, arguments and counter arguments has been made over this particular stream of social philosophy. Many intellectuals and philosophers since 19th and 20th century have tried their level best to encompass all the aspects of feminism within the scope of their definition. In order to it at the perfect level, they have attempted to approach the subject from various perspectives but it has not yet been possible to comprehend the total conceptual foundation of Feminism. In this context Rebecca West, once famously remarked, “‘I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is. I only know that people call me feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.’” (Walters, 2005, 1) It is clear from her statement that though feminism contains certain basic structure but since last two centuries it has encompassed such a wide range of activism that both conception and approach of common people towards it has changed to a great extent. Apart from its basic elements, feminism as a theory also includes different approaches and outlook of life from common people. In this context we can refer to certain reflections that have been provided by certain scholars, who have been regarded as great figures of philosophic orientation in this field. Barbara Smith, in the year 1979, tried to define Feminism as, “…the political theory and practice to free all women; women of color, working-class women, physically challenged women, lesbians, old women, as well as white economically privileged women.” (Smith; Dawson, 2003, p. 144) On the other hand, Cherrie Moraga in 1983 expressed her opinion that in “Third World feminism is all about feeding people in all their hungers.” (Moraga; Saldívar-Hull, 2000, p. 51) These two statements are clearly indicative of the fact that to which degree approach of people, including, intellectual, scholars and philosophers vary from each other. On the one hand, feminism includes racism, sexism, cast differentiation and color discrimination and on the other it encompasses social, political and cultural approaches. Thus, it can be concisely said that feminism is a particular philosophical approach, which conveys the theme of women liberty from any forms of social oppression. Since the post Great War II era, as a drastic change occurred at the level of individual perception, philosophical discourses regarding feminism and its interpretation also has changed to a great extent. The Foucauldian approach, with its dynamic novelty, has changed interpretation and understanding about feminism to a great extent as he has interpreted the basic conceptions about feminism from the perspective of power politics and altering the general notions about femininity and sexuality from deconstructionist perspective. The main area of feminist discussion in the Western context was, “That women are sex, that they represent the body side of the mind/body dualism ….” (Hekman, 1996, p. 4) “Foucault’s approach deconstructs this dualism, redefining sexuality and its truth….Foucauldian-inspired feminists have not, however, tried to move “woman” to the other side of the dichotomy by claiming that women are just as rational as men. Rather they have attempted to subvert the categories that define women inferiority.” (Hekman, 1996, p. 4) Since time immemorial women have been assigned with certain specific or typical roles that they were compelled to fulfill, being pressurized by the patriarchy. Such particular types of roles played by women were actually created certain archetypical images at the psychical level of human beings from every section of the society and even women are not exceptions to all these boundaries. These boundaries finally emerged as myths and people lack sufficient intellectual capacities to go beyond these myths to interpret females as human beings rather than feminine creatures. Foucault stressed over all those aspects that can deconstruct the social myths about women and take them out of the realm of the roles that society has imposed over them. Various aspects about sexism and interpretation of women, depending entirely over their physical identity have repeatedly been emphasized in the Foucauldian philosophical discourse. Foucault, being one of the major poststructuralist and deconstructionist in the field has attempted to destroy all the myths that were actually centered at female body politic. Due to such novel philosophical cultivation Jana Sawicki has suggested, “Feminist appropriations of Foucault have resulted in path-breaking and provocative social and cultural criticism. Original analyses of anorexia nervosa, the social construction of femininity, female sexual desire, sexual liberation, the politics of needs and the politics of differences have changed the landscape of feminist theory.” (Sawicki, 1991, p. 95) The scope of Foucault’s interpretation about Feminism has enhanced dynamically mainly due to the reason that in his discourse he incorporated the post modern social elements like, power elements, disciplinary practices and novel philosophical discourse. Inclusion of all these aspects, perhaps, are main reasons that Foucauldian approach towards femininity has becomes a subject of great interest for most of the feminists. “Foucault’s attention to the productive nature of power, and his emphasis on the body as a target and vehicle of modern disciplinary practices were compatible with already developing feminist insights about the politics of personal life, the ambiguous nature of so-called “sexual revolution”…the power of internalized oppression, and the seeming intractability of gender as a key to personal indentify.” (Sawicki, 1991, p. 95) Now, compared to the conventional approach of the society towards interpretation of femininity has imposed over a female entity certain types of particular roles, such as, a woman is, on most of the occasions is considered only as a mother or daughter or sister of wife. A woman is also an individual both, as an identity and entity, this aspect is often suppressed under the conventional role that the society has imposed over her. Feminists have fought against these conventional roles but at the same time they have focused mainly over those issues only that actually expressed the aspect of feminine vulnerability as the society has also focused. At the same time it has become tougher for the post modern and poststructuralist feminist critics to focus over such role of women that could have established their novel observation about feminism completely from a newer angle. In this context Foucault and his philosophical discourse emerged as a matter of great importance as, he interpreted the aspect of femininity from different dimensions and it actually helped in deconstructing the conventional interpretation of women at the societal plain. Foucault also emphasized over the aspect that no matter how much women have attempted to make up their separate identity but such attempts have always been restricted or limited within the scope as it has been determined by patriarchy. The disciplinary actions performed by women are actually aimed at providing them more vulnerable before the patriarchal section of the society. In this context Foucault’s illustration about a female bodybuilder is a great example, which actually elaborates such picture of femininity that is completely against conventional social norms. Such unconventional form of femininity is considered as a source that would challenge “the accepted, conventional norms of the stereotypical female body,” which also has been referred as “Foucauldian resistance.” (McLaren, 2002, p. 59) It is because of the conventional ideas that a girl child is taught since her very childhood, a woman, as she attains her maturity, attempts to find her identity in the society through performing or emphasizing over the conventional disciplinary performances like, physical grooming or cosmetic surgery to make them more beautiful and adored to the other people. In this context Foucault has focused over the connection that exists between sexuality, power, performing conventional disciplines and subjectivity, “The relationships among power, disciplines, discourse, and subjectivity are complex. Disciplines produce subjects and subjects are the effect of power. In turn, disciplines, discourses, and power are each themselves complex; power is relational, discourses are polyvalent, and disciplines are multifarious.” (McLaren, 2002, p. 59) At the same time it is interesting to see that for Foucault a female body is one of the most important sources that reflect cultural reflection or values of the society: “…the body is the site for cultural inscription or values.” (McLaren, 2002, p. 83) Interplay of mind, body and power is actually the main source that helps a person to develop his conception about his personality, psychical construction and developing his consciousness, “…power operates on the body to produce the soul, and concepts of psyche, subjectivity, personality and consciousness.” (McLaren, 2002, p. 84) Such observation becomes very important in the context that how Feminist philosophers have used this observation in identifying the concept of femininity as a social construction. In case of women, the moment we say that society has compelled them to be what they are, we are actually referring that it is the power or patriarchal oppression that has developed their conceptions since time immemorial, gradually. As both their conception and perception started changing, their understanding about subjectivity, self-consciousness and personality also changed with the due process of time and it is due to this reason, no matter how much a woman try at the superficial level to act in the manner that she is attaining the social power and recognition from the patriarchy but she actually remains a part of the system, fulfilling her roles that the society has imposed over her. It has been one of the common ideas among post structuralists like Jacques Lacan and Jacques Derrida that they have denied “women” as an idea or concept. Though Foucault also belonged among post structuralists but the concept of “women” has been accepted by him and in this context he has differed from other post structuralists and their respective interpretations. As post structuralist form of philosophy always aims at deconstructing the conventional structure that has been formed at the social level, thus, it also denies the conventional acceptance of the psycho-social structure regarding gender norms, such as, man or woman. Foucault’s acceptance of such gender norms show that he does not attempt to deconstruct the social conception about femininity only by refuting it but at the same time he delves deep to the root of the problem analyzes the reasons for development of such conceptions from different perspectives and finally comes up with intellectual discourses to break the conventions. However, there are certain areas of problem between Foucault and feminism, as the philosopher has stressed over deconstruction of representation in the context of femininity. The example of female bodybuilder is one such example. The idea of femininity has entered so deep in the minds of the common people and even of the feminists that they cannot just shade off the idea of women presentation as an individual with tender and amicable physical appearance. It is due to this reason Lisa Featherstone has suggested, “Feminists who appropriate Foucauldian theory need to be wary that feminism does not become merely an endless round of deconstructions, offering no suggestions for transformation, but merely a fragmentary commentary on women as a de-gendered non-subject.” (Featherstone; Burns, 2006, p. 80) In the recent time, feminism is classified into two separate divisions, namely, equal-rights feminism and cultural feminism. Equal-rights feminism emphasizes over the aspect of equality between genders, whereas, cultural feminism stresses over the factor of difference between them. Feminists belonging to the equal-rights feminism group emphasize over the fact that the society must be gender discrimination free. To fulfill that achievement, they always try to abolish the gender discrimination from the society. Men and women both are same and they must be provided with equal level social rights. Feminists belonging to cultural feminist groups believe that the society must be perceived from the perceived from the perspective of a woman. According to them, “female values and culture arising from women’s unique experiences” must receive highest attention. (LeGates, 2001, p. 6) The quality factor between man and women also receive the attention of cultural feminists from economic, political and legal perspective but their main aim is to define feminism in terms of women empowerment, “judging their success by the extent to which women have imposed their values on society.” (LeGates, 2001, p. 6) The greatest flaw associated with such observation is that it rules out all sorts of possibility that a male can be feminist. The Foucauldian philosophical discourse waves off the possibility and at the same time presentation of women in the society takes a new form. It is due to the influence of Foucault that the liberal or equal-rights feminism receives, in the post modern era, a new attention. The modern discipline of feminism focuses over certain facts that would help a woman to receive more legal and political power in the society, whereas the cultural feminism questions if women have made any progress even after privileged to this powers traditionally. In this context, it can be said that argumentative or radical nature of the cultural feminism has not provided much success to the development of feminism since its inception. Cultural feminism as introduced various perspectives in the whole approach but none of them proved to be effective in nature in respect of long term contribution to the process of feminist movement. Introduction of such approaches raised various question. When it comes to answering of such questions, there has been huge dispute among cultural feminists in this process of argument. Maternal feminism is one such approach, introduced by cultural feminism. In this context Marlene LeGates observes, “Was this a subversion or a surrender? Was maternal feminism inherently radical in taking women’s experience as its standard?....” (LeGates, 2001, p.6 ) Henceforth, she puts a series of questions that are left unanswered by the typical approach of cultural feminism. Foucauldian feminist discourse has pointed out to the fact that the post modern feminist approach has received a novel foundation. It is due to his poststructuralist approach that feminism has not only remained as one of the most important philosophical disciplines but at the same time it has helped the women to introduce a drastic change in the interpretation of their social status as well as conception of the society about their femininity. Power, sexuality, body-politic and women subjectivity have been interpreted under a new light that has opened up new dimension towards feminism from every social perspective. References 1. Sawicki, Jana , 1991, Disciplining Foucault: feminism, power, and the body Thinking gender, Routledge (London) 2. Burns, L., 2006, Feminist alliances, Rodopi (Amsterdam) 3. McLaren, M.A., 2002, Feminism, Foucault, and embodied subjectivity, SUNY Press (New York) 4. Walters, M., 2005, Feminism: a very short introduction, Oxford University Press (Oxford) 5. Dawson, M.C., 2003, Black Visions: The Roots of Contemporary African-American Political Ideologies, University of Chicago Press (Chicago) 6. Saldívar-Hull, S., 2000, Feminism on the border: Chicana gender politics and literature, University of California Press (California) 7. Hekman, S.J., 1996, Feminist interpretations of Michel Foucault, Penn State Press (Pennsylvania) 8. LeGates, M., 2001, In their time: a history of feminism in Western society, Routledge (London) Read More