- Title
- The (im)possibility of love : women and the problem of the feminine
- Creator
- Clements, Eileen
- Date
- 2015
- Type
- Text; Book chapter
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/197910
- Identifier
- vital:18937
- Identifier
-
https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848883918_013
- Identifier
- ISBN:9781848883918 (ISBN); 9789004370807 (ISBN)
- Abstract
- In the west, patriarchal thinking from the Ancient Greeks to the Early Christians to Descartes has separated the mind from the body, with mind and reason aligned with the masculine and men, while body and emotion are aligned with the feminine and women. This dualistic thinking hierarchically positions the masculine over the feminine, with the masculine valorised as capable of transcendence, while the feminine is devalued as immanence. I argue that the devaluation and oppression of the body-the feminine-hinders love of self and loving relations between self and other. For women, love of self is particularly difficult, as women face the challenge of overcoming dislike, even disgust, of themselves as the feminine, while at the same time trying to adhere to gendered cultural ideals of femininity which hold the promise of acceptance, belonging and love. Martha C. Nussbaum in her book, Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions (2001), posits that hatred of the body leads to an inability to love others because we cannot love ourselves. According to Nussbaum, this inability to love underpins social problems such as misogyny and racism. While the feminine remains devalued in the consciousness of individuals and society as a whole, love of the self as embodied, emotional, sexual being remains out of reach for most, while love for others is an impossibility. Instead, domination of the feminine fosters hatred of self and of others. This paper will explore how love is intricately tied to the feminine, and argue that a revaluing of the feminine needs to occur in order for truly loving, ethical relations between people. Further to this, an understanding of cultural ideals of femininity as oppressive may encourage women to reconceptualise the feminine, and indeed themselves, nurturing a love of self and as a result, love of others. © Inter-Disciplinary Press 2015.
- Publisher
- Inter-Disciplinary Press
- Relation
- Past and Present: Perspectives on Gender and Love p. 131-139
- Rights
- All metadata describing materials held in, or linked to, the repository is freely available under a CC0 licence
- Rights
- Copyright © Inter-Disciplinary Press 2015
- Subject
- Acceptance; Body; Eros; Feminine; Femininity; Irigaray; Love; Self; Shame; Women
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