Abstract

Merleau-Ponty often compares intersubjectivity to pregnancy and birth; either the other is reproduced from me like a child, or self and other are born together through a process of mutual divergence from a common flesh. In either case, Merleau-Ponty invokes birth as a metaphor without acknowledging the role of sexual difference; and when he examines birth as a concrete process, it is from the perspective of the embryo rather than the pregnant woman. This paper addresses the blind spot of sexual difference in Merleau-Ponty's work by developing suggestions in his own texts in dialogue with feminist philosophers of birth.

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