Feminism, Foucault, and Embodied Subjectivity

CONTENTS

CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii Chapter 1. The Feminism and Foucault Debate: Stakes, Issues, Positions 1 Chapter 2. Foucault, Feminism, and Norms 19 Postmodernism and Politics 20 Feminist Critics 23 Genealogy As Critique 30 Problems With Power 36 Foucault’s Skepticism 41 Conclusion: Foucault and Feminist Resistance 48 Chapter 3. Foucault and the Subject of Feminism 53 Feminist Critics 54 Foucault’s Challenge to Subjectivity 56 Foucault’s Refusal 60 Foucault’s Genealogy of the Subject 64 Aesthetics of Existence: Life as a Work of Art 68 The Relational Feminist Subject 74 Conclusion 79 Chapter 4. Foucault and the Body: A Feminist Reappraisal 81 Foucault’s Body 83 Feminist Extenders: Disciplinary Practices and the Feminine Body 91 A Foucauldian Feminist Criticism of Foucault’s Body 99 v Feminist Resistance to the Deployment of Sexuality 110 Conclusion 114 Chapter 5. Identity Politics: Sex, Gender, and Sexuality 117 Identity Politics 118 Foucault on Identity 122 Postmodern Criticisms of Identity Politics 124 Herculine Barbin and the Sexed Body 127 Bisexuality: Identity and Politics 135 Conclusion 142 Chapter 6. Practices of the Self: From Self-transformation to Social Transformation 145 Foucault’s Technologies of the Self 146 Self-Writing 148 Parrhesia (Truth telling) 152 Consciousness-Raising 155 Conclusion 162 Conclusion 165 Notes 175 Bibliography 209 Index 225 vi CONTENTS ...