Gender studies

"Gender theory" redirects here. For the term used by critics of gender studies, see Anti-gender movement.
"Sexuality studies" redirects here. For the scientific study of sexuality, see Sexology.

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Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics.[1][2] The field now overlaps with queer studies and men's studies. Its rise to prominence, especially in Western universities after 1990, coincided with the rise of deconstruction.[3]

Disciplines that frequently contribute to gender studies include the fields of literature, linguistics, human geography, history, political science, archaeology, economics, sociology, psychology, anthropology, cinema, musicology, media studies,[4] human development, law, public health, and medicine.[5] Gender studies also analyzes how race, ethnicity, location, social class, nationality, and disability intersect with the categories of gender and sexuality.[6][7] In gender studies, the term "gender" is often used to refer to the social and cultural constructions of masculinity and femininity, rather than biological aspects of the male or female sex;[8] however, this view is not held by all gender scholars.

Gender is pertinent to many disciplines, such as literary theory, drama studies, film theory, performance theory, contemporary art history, anthropology, sociology, sociolinguistics and psychology. These disciplines sometimes differ in their approaches to how and why gender is studied. In politics, gender can be viewed as a foundational discourse that political actors employ in order to position themselves on a variety of issues.[9] Gender studies is also a discipline in itself, incorporating methods and approaches from a wide range of disciplines.[10]

Many fields came to regard "gender" as a practice, sometimes referred to as something that is performative.[11] Feminist theory of psychoanalysis, articulated mainly by Julia Kristeva and Bracha L. Ettinger,[12][13] and informed both by Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan and the object relations theory, is very influential in gender studies.[14][15][16][17]

  1. ^ Wiesner-Hanks, Merry (2019). Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe (4 ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–22. ISBN 9781108683524. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  2. ^ "Gender Studies". Whitman College. Archived from the original on 12 December 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  3. ^ Gottschall, Marilyn (2002). "The Ethical Implications of the Deconstruction of Gender". Journal of the American Academy of Religion. 70 (2): 279–99. doi:10.1093/jaar/70.2.279. JSTOR 1466463 – via JSTOR.
  4. ^ Krijnen, Tonny; van Bauwel, Sofie (2015). Gender and Media: Representing, Producing, Consuming. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-69540-4.
  5. ^ "About – Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality (CSGS)". University of Chicago. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  6. ^ Healey, J. F. (2003). Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Class: The Sociology of Group Conflict and Change.
  7. ^ "Department of Gender Studies". Indiana University (IU Bloomington). Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  8. ^ Garrett, S. (1992). "Gender", p. vii.
  9. ^ Salime, Zakia. Between Feminism and Islam: Human Rights and Sharia Law in Morocco. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2011.
  10. ^ Essed, Philomena; Goldberg, David Theo; Kobayashi, Audrey (2009). A Companion to Gender Studies. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-8808-1. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference performativity of gender was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Anne-Marie Smith, Julia Kristeva: Speaking the Unspeakable (Pluto Press, 1988).
  13. ^ Griselda Pollock, "Inscriptions in the Feminine" and "Introduction" to "The With-In-Visible Screen", in: Inside the Visible edited by Catherine de Zegher. MIT Press, 1996.
  14. ^ Pollock, Griselda (2013). Art in the Time-Space of Memory and Migration: Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud and Bracha L. Ettinger in the Freud Museum. Leeds, London: Wild Pansy Press & Freud Museum.
  15. ^ Gutierrez-Albilla, Julian (2017). Aesthetics, Ethics and Trauma in the Cinema of Pedro Almodovar. Edinburgh UP.
  16. ^ Škof, Lenart (2021). Antigone's Sisters: On the Matrix of Love. SUNY Press.
  17. ^ de Zegher, Catherine, ed. (1996). Inside the Visible. MIT Press.