January 2010
LY2009
Embodiment
and
Feminist Theory
Dr Pam Lowe
Dr Pam Lowe
Room NW922
Email p.k.lowe@aston.ac.uk
Telephone 0121-204-3807 (Ext 3807)
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LY2009
EMBODIMENT AND FEMINIST THEORY
Timetable
Week 14
Week 15
Week 16
Week 17
Week 18
Week 19
Week 20
Week 21
Week 22
Week 23
Week 24
Introduction to the module
Is the body natural? The impact of culture
Embodying class, race, gender
‘Imperfect bodies?’ The politics of disability and ageing
Medical power and surveillance
Independent Study
‘What’s love got to do with it?’: emotional bodies
Dressing up: Fashion and beauty fascism?
Vulnerable Bodies-gendered violence
The rise of the cyborg
Revision classes
Module Content
This module helps develop an understanding of feminist theories by focussing on the debates
surrounding the body. It introduces a number of key feminist theorists and draws on empirical
studies to explain and explore theoretical issues
Through this module, you are encouraged to think about the topic of embodiment in its
broadest context. To this end, you are encouraged to collect current examples that relate to the
material from the course. This could be a news story, extract from a contemporary film, TV
programme or book. You are encouraged to mention these where relevant in classes.
These are general texts that will be useful through the module. You might like to buy one of
these.
Evans, M. and Lee, E. (eds). (2002) Real Bodies. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Fraser, M. and Greco, M. (eds.) (2005) The Body: A Reader. London: Routledge.
Howson, A.(2004) The Body in Society. Cambridge: Polity Press
You will also find the following books useful for reference throughout the module:
Andermahr S, Lovell T and Wolkowitz C (1997) A concise glossary of feminist theory,
London, Arnold,
Pilcher J (2004) 50 Key Concepts in Gender Studies London, Sage
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Method of Learning and Teaching:
The lectures are every week. These will cover the core course material, delivered in a
standard lecture format. The tutorials are fortnightly, and will vary in their design. They are
likely to include case study material, presentations and group debates. It is essential that you
have done the reading before you attend the class. You should read at least 2 articles, the key
reading and one from the secondary reading list. The key reading has often been chosen to
interest you in the topic under consideration. It will not give you an overview of that week's
topic. Overviews are more likely to be found in general textbooks rather than journal articles
or monographs.
The reading list for each week is quite long to make sure that everyone can find something in
the library. Whilst you are not expected to read all of the secondary reading, the more you
read the more you make will progress on this module and in sociology in general. You will
need to read more than 2 articles per topic to pass the exam. The secondary reading list also
allows you to choose particular articles that may be of interest to you. Many of the articles
listed are relevant in more than one week. However do not feel constrained by the reading
list. You may find items not on the list that may be useful to you.
 Get into the habit of noticing what books are housed under the same catalogue number in
the library as the one you are looking for
 Get into the habit of following up references in the texts you are reading- they might be
more interesting that the ones on the list
 Notice the name of the journals you turn to. Read the titles and/or abstracts of the volume
you are looking at and follow your own interests.
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1.
Module Learning Outcomes:
a) Knowledge and Understanding: students will
 be able to demonstrate familiarity with a range of feminist theories
 acquire knowledge of some of empirical debates around the sociology of the body
 understand how gender relations impact on all areas of social life
b) cognitive and intellectual skills: Students will be able to
 reflect critically upon various theoretical approaches to the study of embodiment
 create linkages between feminist theory and case studies.
 work within the often ambiguous and contradictory nature of the topics
c) Professional/Subject Specific skills
 ability to read and understand sociological texts
 ability to use theory to help understand case studies, events portrayed in the media
and personal experiences
 ability to bring the issue of gender to bear on other areas of study
d) Transferable skills
 gathering, organisation and deployment of information and evidence
 communicate their ideas in a coherent and sensible form
 using fluent and effective analytical writing skills
Method & Type of Assessment:
The assessment is a two-hour closed book exam (100%).
The exam will critically assess the understanding of the module.
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Week 14
Introduction to the Module
This week gives a brief overview of the module and introduces the different ways in which
the body has been a central theme in feminist thinking. There is no required reading this week
but you may like to follow up the discussion by looking at the following texts.
Howson, A.(2004) The Body in Society. Cambridge: Polity Press. Introduction
Birke, L. (1999) Feminism and the Biological Body. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Chapter 1
Fraser, M. and Greco, M. (eds.) (2005) The Body: A Reader. London: Routledge.
Introduction
Howson A (2005) Embodying Gender London, Sage chapter 1
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Week 15
Is the body natural? The impact of culture
This week we will consider to what extent bodies are shaped by society. We will look at areas
such as identity, sexuality, norms and taboos, and the extent to which they shape our
understanding of bodies and, in some cases, the physical body itself.
Key Reading
Saugeres L (2003) ‘‘She’s Not Really a Woman, She’s Half A Man’’: Gendered
Discourses of Embodiment in a French Farming Community’ Women’s Studies
International Forum, Vol. 25, No. 6, pp. 641 – 650
Also read one of these
Butler, J. (1993) Body that Matter: The Discursive Limits of 'Sex'. London: Routledge Part 1
Section 1 Bodies that Matter
Butler J (1999) Gender trouble London, Routledge London: RKP Part 1 Section 1: ‘Women’ as
the subject of Feminism
Creed B (2005) ‘Lesbian Bodies’ In Fraser, M. and Greco, M. (eds.) The Body: A Reader.
London: Routledge.
Douglas M. (1966) Purity and Danger London, Routledge chapter 7
Evans, M (2002) ‘Introduction’ in Evans, M. and Lee, E. (eds). Real Bodies. Basingstoke:
Palgrave
Grosz, E. (1994) Volatile Bodies: Toward a Corporeal Feminism. Indianna University Press
chapter 1
Howson, A.(2004) The Body in Society. Cambridge: Polity Press chapter 2
Howson A (2005) Embodying Gender London, Sage chapter 2
Kissling E (2006) Capitalising on the Curse: The business of menstruation Rienner chapter 2
Morgan D (2002) ‘You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine’ In Jackson, S and Scott, S (eds)
Gender: A Sociological Reader London Routledge
Poovey M (1990) ‘Speaking of the Body’ in Jacobus M, Keller E.F. and Shuttleworth S. (eds)
Body/Politics: Women and the Discourse of Science. London: Routledge
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Week 16
Embodying class, race, gender
Building on an understanding of how bodies are re/constructed through culture we will look
in more depth on the impact pf key social divisions. We will consider how the society’s
values of different bodies become not just part of our identity, but also shape the physicality
of body development.
Key Reading
Hart E (2005) ‘Anthropology, class and the 'big heads': an ethnography of distinctions
between 'rough' and 'posh' amongst women workers in the UK pottery industry’
Sociological Review 53 (4): 710-728
Also read one of these
Ahmed S (2002) ‘Racialized Bodies ’ in Evans, M. and Lee, E. (eds). Real Bodies. Basingstoke:
Palgrave
Ford, K (2008) Gazing into a Distorted Looking Glass: Masculinity, Femininity, Appearance
Ideals, and the Black Body Sociology Compass 2 (3) 1096-1114
Gilroy P (2005) ‘Race Ends Here’ In Fraser, M. and Greco, M. (eds.) The Body: A Reader.
London: Routledge
Lawler S (2005) ‘Disgusted subjects: the making of middle-class identities’ Sociological
Review 53 (3): 429-446
Mclintock A (2005) ‘Soft-Soaping Empires:Commodity Racism and Imperial Advertising’ In
Fraser, M. and Greco, M. (eds.) The Body: A Reader. London: Routledge.
Reay D (2004) 'Mostly roughs and toughs': Social class, race and representation in inner city
schooling’. Sociology 38 (5): 1005-1023 Dec 2004
Skeggs B (2001) ‘The Toilet Paper: Femininity, Class and Mis-Recognition’ Women’s
Studies International Forum, Vol. 24, No. 3/4, pp. 295–307
Skeggs B (2002) Formations of Class and Gender London Sage Chapter 6 Ambivalent
Femininities (Also reprinted in Fraser, M. and Greco, M. (eds.) The Body: A Reader.
London: Routledge.)
Swain J (2003) ‘How young schoolboys become somebody: the role of the body in the
construction of masculinity’ British Journal of Sociology of Education 24 (3): 299-314
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Week 17
‘Imperfect bodies?’ The politics of disability and ageing
This week we are going to consider how the social divisions of disability and age re/construct
bodies gendered bodies. The social model of disability will be outlined which argues that it is
society which disables bodies not physical differences. We will also consider the extent to
which the cultural association of imperfect bodies with mental inabilities shapes the
experiences and therefore the identity of older people and those with disabilities.
Key Reading
Zitzelsberger, H (2005) (In)visibility: accounts of embodiment of women with physical
disabilities and differences Disability & Society Vol. 20, No. 4, June 2005, pp. 389–403
Also read one of these
Biggs H (2002) ‘The Ageing Body’ in Evans, M. and Lee, E. (eds). Real Bodies. Basingstoke:
Palgrave
Charmaz K and Rosenfeld D (2006) ‘Reflections of the Body, Images of Self: Visibility and
Invisibility in Chronic Illness and Disability’ In Waskul D & Vannini P (eds)
Body/Embodiment: Symbolic Interaction and the Sociology of the Body Ashgate
Freund P (2005) ‘Bodies, Disability and Spaces’ In Fraser, M. and Greco, M. (eds.) The
Body: A Reader. London: Routledge
Gilleard C and Higgs P (2005) ‘Ageing and its Embodiment’ In Fraser, M. and Greco, M.
(eds.) The Body: A Reader. London: Routledge
Howson, A.(2004) The Body in Society. Cambridge: Polity Press chapter 6
Ingrisch I (1995) ‘Conformity and Resistance as Women Age’ In Arber, S. and Ginn, J. (eds.)
Connecting Gender and Ageing: a Sociological Approach. Buckingham: Open University
Press.
Keith L (1996) ‘Encounters with Strangers’ In Morris, J (ed) Encounters with Strangers:
Feminism and Disability, The Women's Press
McMullin J (1995) ‘Theorizing Age and Gender Relations’ In Arber, S. and Ginn, J. (eds.)
Connecting Gender and Ageing: a Sociological Approach. Buckingham: Open University
Press.
Morell C (2003) ‘Empowerment and long-living women: return to the rejected body’ Journal
of Aging Studies 17 pp69–85
Morris, J (1996) ‘Introduction’ In Morris, J (ed) Encounters with Strangers: Feminism and
Disability, The Women's Press
Thomas C (2002) ‘The Disabled Body’ in Evans, M. and Lee, E. (eds). Real Bodies.
Basingstoke: Palgrave
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Week 18
Medical power and surveillance
This week we are examining the ways in which bodies are re/constructed through medical
power and knowledge. We will look at how women’s ‘natural’ bodily cycles are defined
through medicalisation, and the extent of surveillance over women bodies.
Key Reading
Lorentzen J (2008) `I Know My Own Body': Power and Resistance in Women's
Experiences of Medical Interactions Body and Society 14 (3) 49-80
Also read one of these
Barker K (1998) ‘A ship upon a stormy sea: The medicalization of pregnancy’ Social Science
& Medicine Volume 47, Issue 8 , October 1998, Pages 1067-1076
Bordo S. (1993) Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body. Berkeley
California: University of California Press Section ‘Are Mother’s Persons’
Westfall R (2006) ‘The Pregnant/Birthing Body: Negotiations of Personal Autonomy’ In
Waskul D & Vannini P (eds) Body/Embodiment: Symbolic Interaction and the Sociology of
the Body Ashgate
Dalsgaard Reventlowa S, Hvasa L, Malterud K (2006) ‘Making the invisible body visible.
Bone scans, osteoporosis and women’s bodily experiences’ Social Science & Medicine Vol
62 pp2720–2731
Ettore E (2002) Reproductive Genetics, Gender and the Body London Routledge chapter 1
Franklin, S. (1997) Embodied Progress: A Cultural Account of Assisted Conception. London:
Routledge chapter 3
Hartley, H (2006) The 'Pinking' of Viagra Culture: Drug Industry Efforts to Create and
Repackage Sex Drugs for Women Sexualities 9 (3) 363-378
Howson, A.(2004) The Body in Society. Cambridge: Polity Press chapter 5
Laws S (2002) ‘Seeing Red’ In Jackson, S and Scott, S (eds) Gender: A Sociological Reader
London Routledge.
Martin E. (1987) The Woman in the Body. Milton Keynes: OUP chapter 3 or 4
Oakley A (2005) The Ann Oakley Reader Bristol Policy Press Part 3 chapter 3
Ussher, J. (2005) Managing the Monstrous Feminine London Routledge chapters 1, 2 or 3.
Williams, S.J. and Bendelow, G. (1998) The Lived Body: Sociological Themes, Embodied
Issues. London: Routledge chapter 6
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Week 20
‘What’s love got to do with it?’: Emotional bodies
This week we will consider to what extent our emotions as well as our physical bodies are
socially constructed. We will consider how emotional labour shapes both the world of work
and intimate heterosexual relationships.
Key Reading
Johnson P and Lawler S (2005) ‘Coming Home to Love and Class’ Sociological
Research Online, Volume 10, Issue 3,
<http://www.socresonline.org.uk/10/3/johnson.html>.
Also read one of these
Duncombe J and Marsden D (1998) ‘Stepford wives and hollow men’ In Bendelow, G. and
Williams S.J. (eds) Emotions and Social Life: Critical Themes, Contemporary Issues.
London: Routledge
Evans M (2002) Love: an unromantic discussion Cambridge Polity Press chapter 1
Hochschild A. (1983) The Managed Heart: The Commercialization of Human Feeling.
Berkeley: UCLA Press chapter 6
Jackson S (1999) Heterosexuality in Question London Sage Part 3
Jamieson L (1999) ‘Intimacy Transformed? A Critical Look at the Pure Relationship’
Sociology Vol33 No 3 pp477-494
Johnson, P (2004) 'Haunting Heterosexuality: The Homo/Het Binary and Intimate Love'.
Sexualities , Vol 7.No 2, pp.183-200
Lupton D. (1998) An Emotional Self: A Sociocultural Exploration London: Sage chapter 4
Mcrobbie, A., (2000) Feminism and youth culture Basingstoke, Macmillan chapter 4
Warr D (2001) ‘The Importance Of Love And Understanding: Speculation On Romance In
Safe Sex Health Promotion’ Women’s Studies International Forum Vol. 24, No. 2, Pp. 241–
252, 2001
Williams, S.J. and Bendelow, G. (1998) The Lived Body: Sociological Themes, Embodied
Issues. London: Routledge chapter 7
Williams S.J. (eds) (2001) Emotions and Social Theory London: Sage chapters 6 or 7
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Week 21
Dressing up: Fashion and beauty fascism?
This week we will look at the presentation of self impacts our social relationships. We will
consider how the fashion and beauty industry re/constructs bodies. We will also consider the
feminist debates over cosmetic surgery. Does it symbolise the extent of patriarchal power or
lead to women’s empowerment.
Key Reading
Toerien M and Wilkinson S (2003) ‘Gender and Body Hair: Constructing The Feminine
Woman’ Women’s Studies International Forum, Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 333 – 344
Also read one of these
Atkinson M (2006) ‘Masks of Masculinity: (Sur)passing Narratives and Cosmetic Surgery’ In
Waskul D & Vannini P (eds) Body/Embodiment: Symbolic Interaction and the Sociology of
the Body Ashgate
Black P, Sharma U (2001) ‘Men are real, Women are 'made up': beauty therapy and the
construction of femininity’ Sociological Review 49 (1): 100-116
Bordo S. (1993) Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body. Berkeley
California: University of California Press Section ‘Reading the Slender Body’ also found in
Davis, K. (1994): Reshaping the Female Body: the Dilemmas of Cosmetic Surgery. London:
Routledge especially chapter 4 ‘From Objectified Body to Embodied Subject also found in
Davis K’ In Jackson, S and Scott, S (eds) (2002) Gender: A Sociological Reader London
Routledge
Entwistle J (2002) ‘The Dressed Body’ in Evans, M. and Lee, E. (eds). Real Bodies.
Basingstoke, Palgrave
Howson, A.(2004) The Body in Society. Cambridge: Polity Press chapter 4
Millsted R and Frith H (2003) ‘Being Large-Breasted: Women Negotiating Embodiment’
Women’s Studies International Forum, Vol. 26, No. 5, pp. 455
Rozario, S. (2006). "The new burqa in Bangladesh: Empowerment or violation of women's
rights?" Women's Studies International Forum 29(4): 368-380.
Sassatelli R (2005) ‘The Commercialization of Discipline: Keep- Fit Culture and its values’’.
In Fraser, M. and Greco, M. (eds.) The Body: A Reader. London: Routledge
Swain J (2002) ‘The right stuff: fashioning an identify through clothing in a junior school’
Gender and Education 14 (1): 53-69
Scott L (2005) Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism Basingstoke Palgrave
especially chapter 10
Wolf N (1991) The Beauty Myth London Vintage section Violence
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Week 22
Vulnerable Bodies-Gendered Violence
This week we will look at the issues of gendered violence, particularly focusing on domestic
violence and rape. We will consider the extent to which ideas about women’s ‘natural’ place
shapes the risks of violent attack and how it is considered within the criminal justice system.
Key Reading
Gavey N and Gow V (2001) ‘‘Cry Wolf’, Cried the Wolf: Constructing the issue of False
Rape Allegations in New Zealand Media Texts’ Feminism and Psychology Vol 11 No 3
pp341-360
Also read one of these
Chung D (2005) ‘Violence, control, romance and gender equality: Young women
and heterosexual relationships’ Women’s Studies International Forum Vol 28 445–455
Jewkesa, R et al (2005) ‘‘If they rape me, I can’t blame them’’: Reflections on gender in
the social context of child rape in South Africa and Namibia’ Social Science & Medicine Vol
61 pp1809–1820
Karner T (1998) ‘Engendering Violent Men Oral Histories of Military Masculinity’ In
Bowker L (ed) Masculinities and violence London, Sage (other chapters also useful)
Hague G and Wilson C (1996) The Silenced pain, domestic violence 1945-1970 Bristol,
Policy Press (small text worth reading in full)
Hatty, S (2000) Masculinities, violence and culture London, Sage chapter 1
Hearn J (1996) ‘Men's Violence to Known Women: Historical, Everyday and Theoretical
Constructions by Men’ In Fawcett B (ed) Violence and gender relations, theories and
interventions London, Sage,
Hynes P (2004) ‘On the battlefield of women’s bodies: An overview of the harm of war to
women’ Women’s Studies International Forum Vol 27 431– 445
Kelly L et al (2005) A gap or a chasm?, attrition in reported rape cases: London, Home
Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate. Copy in the library and available
online at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/hors293.pdf
Morgan K Thapar Björkert S (2006) ‘I'd rather you'd lay me on the floor and start kicking
me': Understanding symbolic violence in everyday life Women’s Studies International Forum
Vol 29 Issue 5 pp441-452
Stanko, B et al (2002) Taking stock, what do we know about interpersonal violence? Egham,
ESRC (pamphlet with useful statistics)
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Week 23
The rise of the cyborg?
In this final week we will consider how new technologies can be said to be changing bodies.
We will consider both the metaphor of the cyborg, (the human/machine hybrid) but also
consider the ways in which body parts are increasingly becoming commodities in a global
marketplace.
Key reading
Pitts V (2005) ‘ Feminism, Technology And Body Projects’. Women’s Studies, Vol 34
pp229–247
Also read one of these
Berman R (1989) ‘From Aristotle’s dualism to materialist dialectics: Feminist Transformations
of Science and Society’ In Jaggar A. and Bordo S. (eds.) Gender/Knowledge/Body: Feminist
Reconstructions of Being and Knowing. New Brunswick/London: Rutgers University Press.
Gough A (2005) ‘Body/Mine: A Chaos Narrative Of Cyborg Subjectivities And Liminal
Experiences’ Women’s Studies, Vol 34 249–264
Lock M (2002) ‘The Alienation of Body Tissue and the Biopolitics of Immortalized Cell
Lines’ In Scheper-Hughes N and Waquant L (eds) Commodifying Bodies London: Sage
Haraway, D. (1997) Modest Witness@Second_Millennium: Femaleman_Meets OncoMouse.
London: Routledge chapter 5
Robson K (1998) ‘‘Meat’ in the Machine: the centrality of the body in internet interactions’ In
Richardson J and Shaw A (eds) The Body in Qualitative Research Aldershot Ashgate
Scheper-Hughes N (2002) ‘Commodity Fetishism in Organ Trafficking’ In Scheper-Hughes N
and Waquant L (eds) Commodifying Bodies London: Sage
Scheper-Hughes N (2005) ‘The Global Traffic in Human Organs’ In Fraser, M. and Greco,
M. (eds.) The Body: A Reader. London: Routledge
Seale, C., D. Cavers, et al. (2006). "Commodification of Body Parts: By Medicine or by
Media?" Body and Society 12(1): 25-42
Shilling, C. (2004) The Body in Culture, Technology and Society. London: Sage. chapter 8
Waldby C (2005) ‘Iatrogenesis: The Visible Human Project and reproduction of life’. In
Fraser, M. and Greco, M. (eds.) The Body: A Reader. London: Routledge
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Support and Advice
Some of the topics we cover on this module are sensitive. If you want any support or advice
about any of the areas the following contacts may be able to help you:
At the University
Pam Lowe (Module Convenor)
contact details on the front
Your Personal Tutor
University Counselling Service
Ground Floor of the Main Building
0121 204 4711
counselling@aston.ac.uk
Student Advice Centre
First Floor Aston Students Guild
0121 204 4848
sac@aston.ac.uk
Local/National Support
Birmingham Women’s Aid
(domestic violence)
0121 685 8519
http://www.bhamwa.org
Brook Advisory Service
(Sexual health advice)
0121 643 5341
http://www.brook.org.uk (national website)
Crisis Point
(Rape and child sexual abuse survivors)
0800 73 111 62
http://www.crisispoint.org.uk/
Eating Disorders Association
0845 634 1414
http://www.edauk.com/young_home.htm
Gay and Lesbian Helpline
0121 622 6589
http://gaymidlands.org
Terrance Higgins Trust (HIV/AIDS)
0845 12 21 200
http://www.tht.org.uk
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