Sex, Race and ‘Unnatural’ Difference: Tracking the Chiastic Logic of Menopause-Related Discourses.

Roberts,, Celia (2004) Sex, Race and ‘Unnatural’ Difference: Tracking the Chiastic Logic of Menopause-Related Discourses. European Journal of Women's Studies, 11 (1). pp. 27-44. ISSN 1461-7420

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Abstract

Theorizing interconnections of sexual and racial differences remains a core problematic within feminist theory. In this article the author argues that these connections might in some cases usefully be understood as constituting a chiasmas. The term ‘chiasmas’ is taken from MichËle Le Doeuff’s analysis of the writings of 18th-century physiologist Pierre Roussel. Le Doeuff argues that Roussel’s understanding of sexual difference is chiastic. An examination of contemporary medical and scientific discourses around the menopause and its treatment through hormone replacement therapy (HRT) takes the argument onto new ground. The author argues here that menopause-related discourses rely on a chiastic logic that connects sexual difference with racial differences. Identification of such logics may prove useful to feminist analyses of specific entanglements of the logics of sexual and racial differences, in contemporary and historical instances.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
European Journal of Women's Studies
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300/3318
Subjects:
?? biological body • chiasmas • hormone replacement therapy • le doeuff • menopause • race • sex hormones • sexual differencegender studieshm sociology ??
ID Code:
11044
Deposited By:
Users 810 not found.
Deposited On:
30 Jul 2008 12:52
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
15 Jul 2024 09:20