Forum: Feminism in German Studies

From Professor Wallach\u27s contribution entitled Jews and Gender : To consider Jews and gender within German Studies is to explore the evolution of German‐Jewish Studies with respect to feminist and gender studies. At times this involves looking beyond German Studies to other scholarship in Jewish gender studies, an interdisciplinary subfield in its own right. Over the past few decades, the focus on gender within German‐Jewish Studies has experienced several shifts in line with broader trends: an initial focus on the history of Jewish women and feminist movements gradually expanded to encompass the study of gender identity, masculinity, and sexuality. Historical and literary scholarly approaches now operate alongside and in dialogue with interdisciplinary scholarship in cultural studies, film and visual studies, performance studies, and other fields. [excerpt

“Let’s Call Painful Sex Disorders Sexual Disabilities Instead”: A Feminist Disability Critique of Feminist Representations and Medical Representations of Sexual Disorders of Pain

Historically, gender and sexuality have been privileged sites of analysis in feminist theory. Critical feminist engagements with “sexual dysfunction” employ gendered analysis’ of medical and pharmaceutical interventions to sexuality in capitalist modernity in order to underscore the ideological dimensions of modern sexuality. Although sexual disorders of pain received little attention from feminist academics until recently, contemporary feminist work on sexual pain disorders mimic the previous work on sexual dysfunctions in terms of analysis. Analysing recent major feminist contributions employing different epistemological orientations to the study sexual disorders of pain, I show that gender continues to be the privileged common category of analysis in studying sexuality and sexual disorders with major weaknesses. On the one hand, these feminists are able to present a critique of gendered sexual oppression reminiscent of second-wave feminist interrogations of sexual oppression and heterosexuality in what is considered a post-feminist era of sex. On the other hand, they use sexual disabilities as a shortcut, sacrificing its difference as a specific form of embodiment/oppression, along with its potential for producing a productive and transformative politics. I use a feminist/queer disability studies perspective to discuss these shortcomings and to suggest a different way to conceptualize sexual politics. Keywords: Chronic Sexual Pain, Genito-Pelvic Pain Disorder/ Penetration Disorder, Vaginismus, Feminist Disability Studies, Crip Studies, Sexual Oppressio

Purity in Seclusion: Exploring the Anchoritic Lifestyle through an Archaeological Lens

This paper uses both archaeological and ethno-historical data to cross-examine theoretical explanations for understanding the anchoritic lifestyle, which are grounded in gender and feminist theory, sexuality and queer theory, as well as theories of personhood and permeability. For interpretations related to gender and feminist theory, I will crossexamine case studies involving other circumstances of ordained seclusion in Christianity. These case studies include the monjeríos, or the separate living quarters built for unmarried indigenous women of Spanish colonial California, as well as seclusion of “wayward women” by the Magdalen Society of Philadelphia. In addition, I examine archaeological studies conducted by Roberta Gilchirst and Michelle Sauer, who interpret aspects of the anchoress’ worldview through the lens of sexuality and queer theory. I offer a critique of these various theoretical frameworks and also consider theories of personhood, particularly the notion of permeability, as a more productive theoretical approach for understanding the lifestyle and choices of the medieval anchoress. The physical remains of the anchoress’ lifestyle and archaeological analysis provide a new lens with which to imagine the anchoritic worldview, a subject which has only been explored using literature written by men from this time. By exploring the anchoritic lifestyle in this way, we can let the anchoresses, who wrote very little, speak a little more for themselves

Making it Safe it Think Differently About Sex in the Academy

First paragraph: How do we create a space in the Academy in which it is safe for our students to think differently about issues of gender and sexuality that are foundational to their existence in the world? Culture, Gender and Sexuality is an interdisciplinary module open to second and third year undergraduates at the Westminster Institute of Education at Oxford Brookes University. The Institute takes as its remit the promotion of study in the area of human development and learning, and is keen to promote interdisciplinary work. The explicit remit of the Culture, Gender and Sexuality module is "to critique traditional and static understandings of gender and sexuality, drawing on a diversity of disciplines, including those of gender studies, critical theory, queer theory, feminist theology and feminist criticism" (emphasis mine). It was developed to be taught in the fields of Theology and Religious Studies which, from 2006, will be amalgamated under the title Religion, Culture and Ethics, but given its inter-disciplinary nature it was made acceptable to students in the field of Communication, Media and Culture - many of whom (as evidenced by choice of assignment topics in other modules) have an interest in the subject area. The module sets out to destabilize notions of biological sex, 'trouble' gender (Butler: 1990) and open up debate around sexualities. In doing so the module (which runs for 12 weeks) seeks to challenge some of the most fundamental assumptions that govern our identities

Making it Safe to Think Differently About Sex in the Academy

First paragraph: How do we create a space in the Academy in which it is safe for our students to think differently about issues of gender and sexuality that are foundational to their existence in the world? Culture, Gender and Sexuality is an interdisciplinary module open to second and third year undergraduates at the Westminster Institute of Education at Oxford Brookes University. The Institute takes as its remit the promotion of study in the area of human development and learning, and is keen to promote interdisciplinary work. The explicit remit of the Culture, Gender and Sexuality module is "to critique traditional and static understandings of gender and sexuality, drawing on a diversity of disciplines, including those of gender studies, critical theory, queer theory, feminist theology and feminist criticism" (emphasis mine). It was developed to be taught in the fields of Theology and Religious Studies which, from 2006, will be amalgamated under the title Religion, Culture and Ethics, but given its inter-disciplinary nature it was made acceptable to students in the field of Communication, Media and Culture - many of whom (as evidenced by choice of assignment topics in other modules) have an interest in the subject area. The module sets out to destabilize notions of biological sex, 'trouble' gender (Butler: 1990) and open up debate around sexualities. In doing so the module (which runs for 12 weeks) seeks to challenge some of the most fundamental assumptions that govern our identities

Women’s Studies, Gender Studies, and LGBT/Queer Studies: Defining and Debating the Subject of Academic Knowledge in India

Women’s Studies is first introduced in Indian academia in the 1970s. There are now more than 150 centres conducting research on women and gender as well as numerous teaching programmes on these topics in India. Research on sexualities and non-heterosexual identities and practices, while less developed, also emerged in the 1990s. As in any academic field, research on Women’s Studies, gender, and sexuality has been marked by epistemic debates, in particular “terminology debates” (i.e., debates about the proper concepts for discussing gender and sexuality in India). Using a corpus of academic texts, course syllabi, and other academic documents as well as 15 interviews with academics involved in Women’s Studies, Gender Studies, and/or research on sexuality in India, this article examines two of these terminology debates. The first concerns the use of the term “Gender Studies” rather than “Women’s Studies”, and the second looks at the relevance of terms such as LGBT and queer to designate non-heterosexual individuals, groups, and practices. In both debates the question of North/South domination and (post)colonialism are central and are also connected to issues of gender, class, and caste domination. Moreover, both debates question the link between academia and feminist/LGBT/queer activism. This article shows that the process of defining the subject of academic knowledge is highly political and embedded in complex power dynamics that are both localized and globalized. It also highlights the epistemic creativity of the knowledge produced in India to discuss women, gender, and non-heterosexuality

Women, men and power :gender relations in Montserrat

PhD ThesisThis thesis draws on and informs feminist theory and Caribbean studies and is concerned with investigating the particular form of gender relations in Montserrat. Gender relations are conceptualised as power relations between men and women. This argument is derived from an exploration of the possibilities and limitations of a range of feminist literature: marxist feminism, socialist feminism, women's studies, feminist geography, radical feminism and the studies of women and development. The gender relations in Montserrat are explored in four areas of social organisation: the household, the workplace, union patterns and heterosexual behaviour. They are seen as universal features of women's lives and, potentially, the main sites of gender relations. Montserratian gender relations were found to be patriarchal, but varied in strength within the four social areas. The household per se was not a site of patriarchal gender relations unless shared with a male partner. The workplace did not exhibit patriarchal gender relations. Gender relations in marriage and cohabiting unions were strongly patriarchal; those in visiting unions were either egalitarian or weakly patriarchal. Heterosexual behaviour, involving sexuality and biological reproduction, was identified as the main site of the maintenance and reproduction of patriarchal gender relations in Montserrat. Montserratian gender relations are shown to be broadly similar to those of the Caribbean generally; but there are exceptions. Very low levels of marriage and cohabitation mean that household gender relations are less patriarchal than in other islands. In comparison with other Caribbean islands, where MNCs, law wages, strict gender segregation and a lack of employment legislation prevail, Montserratian women experience higher wages, job security and greater employment opportunities. The Montserratian workplace, therefore, cannot be seen as a site of patriarchal gender relations. However, as is commonplace throughout the Caribbean, union patterns, specifically marriage and cohabitation, and heterosexual behaviour are sites of patriarchal gender relations.Economic and Social Research Council

Intersectionality queer studies and hybridity: methodological frameworks for social research

This article seeks to draw links between intersectionality and queer studies as epistemological strands by examining their common methodological tasks and by tracing some similar difficulties of translating theory into research methods. Intersectionality is the systematic study of the ways in which differences such as race, gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity and other sociopolitical and cultural identities interrelate. Queer theory, when applied as a distinct methodological approach to the study of gender and sexuality, has sought to denaturalise categories of analysis and make normativity visible. By examining existing research projects framed as 'queer' alongside ones that use intersectionality, I consider the importance of positionality in research accounts. I revisit Judith Halberstam's (1998) 'Female Masculinity' and Gloria Anzaldua's (1987) 'Borderlands' and discuss the tension between the act of naming and the critical strategical adoption of categorical thinking. Finally, I suggest hybridity as one possible complementary methodological approach to those of intersectionality and queer studies. Hybridity can facilitate an understanding of shifting textual and material borders and can operate as a creative and political mode of destabilising not only complex social locations, but also research frameworks

Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Religion in North America

The history of religion in the United States cannot be understood without attending to histories of race, gender, and sexuality. Since the 1960s, social and political movements for civil rights have ignited interest in the politics of identity, especially those tied to movements for racial justice, women’s rights, and LGBT rights. These movements have in turn informed scholarly practice, not least by prompting the formation of new academic fields, such as Women’s Studies and African American studies, and new forms of analysis, such as intersectionality, critical race theory, and feminist and queer theory. These movements have transformed how scholars of religion in colonial North America and the United States approach intersections of race, gender, and sexuality. From the colonial period to the present, these discourses of difference have shaped religious practice and belief. Religion has likewise shaped how people understand race, gender, and sexuality. The way that most people in the United States think about identity, especially in terms of race, gender, or sexuality, has a longer history forged out of encounters among European Christians, Native Americans, and people of African descent in the colonial world. European Christians brought with them a number of assumptions about the connection between civilization and Christian ideals of gender and sexuality. Many saw their role in the Americas as one of Christianization, a process that included not only religious but also sexual and cultural conversion, as these went hand in hand. Assumptions about religion and sexuality proved central to how European colonists understood the people they encountered as “heathens” or “pagans.” Religion likewise informed how they interpreted the enslavement of Africans, which was often justified through theological readings of the Bible. Native Americans and African Americans also drew upon religion to understand and to resist the violence of European colonialism and enslavement. In the modern United States, languages of religion, race, gender, and sexuality continue to inform one another as they define the boundaries of normative “modernity,” including the role of religion in politics and the relationship between religious versus secular arguments about race, gender, and sexuality

What really matters? The elusive quality of the material in feminist thought

The concept of the 'material' was the focus of much feminist work in the 1970s. It has always been a deeply contested one, even for feminists working within a broadly materialist paradigm of the social. Materialist feminists stretched the concept of the material beyond the narrowly economic in their attempts to develop a social ontology of gender and sexuality. Nonetheless, the quality of the social asserted by an expanded sense of the material - its 'materiality' - remains ambiguous. New terminologies of materiality and materialization have been developed within post-structuralist feminist thought and the literature on embodiment. The quality of 'materiality' is no longer asserted - as in materialist feminisms - but is problematized through an implicit deferral of ontology in these more contemporary usages, forcing us to interrogate the limits of both materialist and post-structuralist forms of constructionism. What really matters is how these newer terminologies of 'materiality' and 'materialization' induce us to develop a fuller social ontology of gender and sexuality; one that weaves together social, cultural, experiential and embodied practices