Körperliche Materialität : Zur Kritik des Geschlechterkonstruktivismus

Abstract

This contribution argues that gender theory is based on constructivist epistemology and thus indebted to a hidden anthropocentrism and predictable schemata. Focusing on feminist materialism, I will show that materiality does not disappear in the sphere of discourse but has achieved a new conceptualization. The debates around this conceptualization are the basis for thinking about a materiality of knowledge whose own logic reveals the points of resistance of feminist criticism. Departing from the posthumanist concept of performativity, I will show that even de/constructivist approaches are based on schemata. With particular attention paid to the history of the sciences, I discuss that the life sciences can be understood au contraire as a reservoir to question gender binaries. An enriched understanding of biological-physical materiality can provide a corrective to current cultural theory and the social sciences. Finally, I will advance perspectives and possibilities of a critical posthumanism. The new materialim of feminist theory is not a fallback to deconstructivist theory approaches but is in serach for the critical potential in current posthumanist theories.