New Feminist Perspectives on Embodiment

Despite several decades of feminist activism and scholarship, women’s bodies continue to be sites of control and contention both materially and symbolically. Issues such as reproductive technologies, sexual violence, objectification, motherhood, and sex trafficking, among others, constitute ongoing, pressing concerns for women’s bodies in our contemporary milieu, arguably exacerbated in a neoliberal world where bodies are instrumentalized as sites of human capital. This book engages with these themes by building on the strong tradition of feminist thought focused on women’s bodies, and by making novel contributions that reflect feminists’ concerns—both theoretically and empirically—about gender and embodiment in the present context and beyond. The collection brings together essays from a variety of feminist scholars who deploy diverse theoretical approaches, including phenomenology, pragmatism, and new materialisms, in order to examine philosophically the question of the current status of gendered bodies through cutting-edge feminist theory.

“This collection contains a number of insightful essays, some of which are suitable for inclusion in undergraduate feminist philosophy courses and may be of interest to scholars researching related topics. Each essay reveals different ways that ‘women's embodiment still constitutes contested terrain.’” (Erinn Gilson, Hypatia Reviews Online, hypatiareviews.org, April, 2020)

“Reading this collection of chapters is a rewarding and moving experience; the latter a signal that what is being addressed here is about relationship and shared (and differing) humanity and suffering. … what we are dealing with here is a critical and sincere discussion (not the pursuit of mastery); a collective pursuit of both making visible and making a difference, pushing against the tide of crass right-wing and neoliberal ‘rationality’ and rabid patriarchy that so taints our current world.” (Clifford van Ommen, Feminism & Psychology, January 23, 2020)

“If corporeal feminism is one of the new frontiers of feminism, this volume is on the frontiers of that frontier. It includes some stimulating work on vulnerability, developing the idea that there are positives as well as negatives that emerge from this (necessary!) aspect of our embodiment. And it situates this and other facets of embodiment within wider modern/post-modern techno-culture, globalisation, and the neoliberalism which characterises a good deal of Western society at this time. The essays in this volume will rapidly become required reading in many women’s studies, gender studies and feminist studies courses.” (Katherine Morris, Oxford University, United Kingdom)

“In building on an existing reservoir of feminist scholarship and activism engaging with the question of embodiment, New Feminist Perspectives on Embodiment takes the themes and analyses further to tease out the location and significance of such work in the contemporary neoliberal and globalised world. This innovative collection brings together established scholars with emerging voices across a diverse range of concerns that develop concepts like vulnerability as being central to feminist thought in both theory and practice. The result is a well-balanced yet provocative set of essays that challenge readers to rethink their own assumptions.” (Margrit Shildrick, Linkoping University, Sweden)

Clara Fischer is an EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the Centre for Gender, Feminisms, and Sexualities, and Co-director of the John Dewey Research Project at University College Dublin, Ireland.

Luna Dolezal is a Lecturer in Medical Humanities and Philosophy at the University of Exeter, UK.