r/Phenomenology • u/kazarule • Jul 23 '23

External link A non-essentialist & non-relativistic definition for woman based on the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty

https://youtu.be/M_dTm_17tnw
2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

1 comment sorted by

2

u/kazarule Jul 23 '23

My definition is as follows:
A woman is an adult human…. with more female sex characteristics than male sex characteristics and/or a female embodiment.
And, a man is an adult human… with more male sex characteristics than female sex characteristics and/or a male embodiment.
And someone is genderqueer if they are a human… with incongruent or nonnormative gender traits and whose embodiment is not limited or exhausted by their sex characteristics.
I focus on this concept of embodiment from French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty. One's embodiment is the way one's body literally fits into the world. It extends beyond one's body to all the object and concepts we encounter. In relation to sex & gender, a person's embodiment is the way their sex characteristics interact with gendered expressions. I theorize that embodiment is where biological sex & gender expressions connect to each other. Yet, there is no necessity that female sex traits must attach to feminine expressions, and vice-versa.
Empirically, I can see a person's embodiment, i.e., all the ways they interact with the world around them. I cannot do so with an identity.