Relationship between the Human Body and Society - Essay Example

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE HUMAN BODY AND SOCIETY By Introduction The relationship between the human bodyand the society is a complex area of study that calls for critical application of different ideologies and theories. It is these theories that help one to conceptualize the facts behind the association of the two entities. Among the theories that have been stipulated, is the social theory which forms a frame work of evidence used to study and interpret various phenomena in the society. According to Anthony Elliot (2009:101) Contemporary Social Theory,” sociology theory is only useful as far as helping us understand the social world”. Its articulation and development are of no value and those who disagree are equally appreciated. This essay therefore critically evaluates and outlines Judith Butler’s ideas on the relationship between the human body and society. Anthony Elliot (2009:99) in the new edition further quotes, “social theory is vitally engaged with the repression, oppression and indignity of unequal social relation” The discussion will revolve around traditional assumptions about gender in relation to the contemporary society. Contemporary Social Theory In this context, contemporary social theory is the systematic analysis of broad development contours of the modern world as opposed to the traditional society. These contours revolve around multidisplinary reconstruction of terms like those concerned with the broad areas of study. It also revolves around issues affecting the society which include political, economical and spiritual affairs. Finally, it reflects on problems concerned with social sciences such as intersubjectivity, social structure and society. This clearly implies that contemporary social theory is not a province of any one scientific discipline, but rather it is an organ of various disciplines. Hence it has been highly professionalized and institutionalized in most disciplines such as political sciences (Anthony, 2009, p. 375). This theory further seeks to find out more about other social aspects of life. It focuses on issues of role of culture in the society, private life of sexuality, intimacy, eroticism and it further looks at performativity of human social life. In addition, it establishes the impacts of human social thoughts about the future which include conceptual perspectives such structuralism, postmodernism and functionalism. Consequently it poses the question whether it is possible to change the world. In this regard, the theory is concerned with assessment of the place of the world today. This is due to the changes occurring in the modern world today. It also critiques all the forces that are responsible for driving all the common social changes around the globe. To conclude, the theory seeks to discover more about the rapid social transformation in the world which is attributed to emergency of new post industrial and post modernism. Gender Trouble; Feminism According to Judith Butler, gender trouble is a central assumption that is based on feminist theory. This is one of the major contemporary sociological theories that analyses the status of both men and women in the society with the purpose of using knowledge meant to make the lives of women better. In this theory, questions about class, race, ethnicity and age are seemed to intersect with gender. In fact this theory gives much concern to women by highlighting the various ways that women have contributed to the society (Chambers & Samuel, 2007, p. 47). This is contrary to the traditional way of looking at gender issues where women in the society were not regarded as important in nation building. In the traditional society, the concept of female subject was not understood in abiding and stable terms. On the other hand, representation of women in political process lacked because it was assumed to distort what was true about women. Recently this prevailing perception of the relation between feminist theory and politics has been known to come under challenge from within feminist discourse. It is true to point out that some pervasive traditional cultural situations subjected women to total misrepresentation (Salih, 2002,p.154). Indeed, the issue of women as the subject of feminism raises concern that there may not be enough subjects who stand bold before the law to await representation. This implies that there is the need to establish patriarchy as a way of strengthening the feminism appearance. This is because the old notion of a generally shared conception about women as the weaker gender has been completely difficult to displace. In her book, Butler begins her critique of gender and identity by challenging her reader’s assumptions about the disparity created between gender and sex. In her book Judith Butler (1990: 154) written by Sara Salih, she quotes that” One’s sex is performatively constituted when one’s body when one is categorised as either male or female” In this case, she tries to show a distinction between biology and culture where sex is attributed to biological control while gender is seen to fall under culture. In her, argument she suggests that sexed bodies cannot be signified without gender. This is so because both sex and gender are constructed (Heyes & Cressida, 2006, p. 573). This suggestion brings a central idea that gender is per formative. This means that there are no identity existing activities that are supposedly seen to express gender. Instead, these acts are illusions of stable gender identity. More so, if the gender appearance is an effect of culture, then there exists no universal gender that is solid. As a challenge, she calls for a subversive action for all people in the society to trouble these categories of gender through performance. This essay further focuses on theories behind societal differences between both men and women. Firstly, there is the issue of gender differences which examines how women’s experience, location and social situations differ from those of men. For example, some cultural feminists view women as objects and deny them the opportunity for self realization. This implies that the reason why men and women experience social differences is because of different values associated with womanhood and feminity. Secondly, gender inequality further explains that women’s location, experience and social situations are different and unequal to those of their male counterparts. This is exemplified in some ancient cultures whereby women are historically denied to express their reasoning. Women become isolated to the private spheres of the house hold and thus they are left without a voice in the public sphere. According to liberal feminists the division of labour that is sexually based should be altered in order to achieve equality. Thirdly, there is gender oppression which argues that women are actively oppressed, subordinated and even abused by men. In this case, psycho analytic feminists attempt to explain relations of power between men and women by sensitizing the need to incorporate conscious and subconscious human emotions in childhood development at a tender age. Finally, there is the structural oppression which reflects on women oppression as a result of patriarchy, racism or capitalism. This theory expresses concern that not all women experience expression in the same way. Black and white women for instance face different types of oppression at their place of work. This makes women to view the world from a shared standpoint of commonality. Subversion of Identity Under this context, it for culture and assumed that there is a paternal symbolic order and even a repression of the feminine required culture and language. This is taken to imply that, maternity and poetic writing are the only way for women to return to the maternal boy that bore them. This further suggests that homosexuality is impossibility in women (Thurer, 2013, p. 110). Butler and associate authors take on from here and speculate that insistence on maternal issues is not a solution. This is because culture and language as a way to return to maternal body is a mere essentialist trap. The reason behind this argument is that it is conceptualized that maternal instinct has an ontological status prior to paternal rules and laws. As a result, this law fails to consider the possibility of desires it is said to have a repression for. Butler perceives the notion of maternity as a tradition of lost haven by clearly suggesting that the paternal law only acts to invent a notion of feminine and that it does not displace it (Butler, 1990, p.154). She further puts it that the maternity precedes women is a product of discourse. On the same note, when Foucault’s Journal on the demise of hermaphrodite Herculine Barbin was published. Foucult depicts the late as one who lived his or her gender until he/she committed suicide after being force to live like a man by awful authorities. On the contrary, Butler takes such statements as romanticism. She suggests that such a proclamation was blissful identity prior to cultural inscriptions and that it contradicted her work The History of Sexuality where sexual identity is depicted as a mere illusion. This in her brilliance was meant to explain the idea that sexuality of an individual is not the solution to suppressive systems of power, but it is part of power itself (Stewart, 2011, p. 54). In another section, lesbianism is assumed to designate a loss of one self and this carries some psychoanalytical truth about the necessary repression for individuation. Fear of such regression would be assumed to mean losing one’s own cultural privilege and sanction altogether. On the contrary, Butler argues that such assumptions are only outdated and old-fashioned. She suggests that lesbianism is recourse to the reconstructed notion of sex. She further suggests that the notion of sex is always coded as female thereby absolving the males (Cooke & Vassallo, 2009,p.34). Finally, Butler focuses on bodily inscriptions as a way of per formative subversions. She looks at the human body as a natural entity. She claims that the boundaries of the human body are clearly drawn to instate taboos, limits and possibilities of exchange. This by extension means that the pollution of the body by homosexual activities is crossing those forbidden perineum boundaries. In her conclusion, she stipulates that all gender is rehearsed, scripted and performed. In the book by Judith Butler and Sarah Sahil (2002:183), she states that” The self is both finitude and infinitude” Conclusion Going by the above assumptions it is evident that Butler’s idea on relationship between human body and society is arguably based on assumptions, theories, fictions and facts. More so, it was reflected on this essay that there is a clear cut distinction between the traditional and contemporary theories of preceding gender issues related to the society. In fact, essay brings to light an attempt to construct a feminism from which the gender pronoun has been removed. In this respect women in the contemporary society should be seen as subjects and not objects. This can be possible through repetition and practice of signification. In fact, Butler offers an ideal solution to invisible assumptions about gender inhabitability and identity. Butler believes that through continued appreciation of gender difference and minimization of gender parity it is possible to fight the gender differences. Similarly, through exposure and redeployment of identity practices, it is possible to have positive transformative politics about gender. References Anthony, E. (2009). Contemporary social theory (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble, feminism and the Subverion of Identity . New York: Routlege. Chambers, & Samuel. (2007). Sex and the Problem of the Body. Body & Society, 13(4), 47. Cooke, P., & Vassallo, H. (2009). Alienation and Alterity. London: Reutledge. Heyes, & Cressida. (2006). Gender, Bodies, Freedom. Constellations, 13(4), 573. Salih, S. (2002). Judith Butler. New York: Psychology Press. Stewart, J. B. (2011). Kierkegaards Influence on Social-political Thought (Vol. 29). London: Ashgate Publishing. Thurer, S. L. (2013). The End of Gender. London: Routledge. Read More