FEMST 182 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Michel Foucault, Feminist Theory, Medicalization
Document Summary
Integrate disability into feminist theory in context of civil rights. 4 fundamental and interpenetrating domains of feminist theory: representation, 2) the body, 3) identity, and 4) activism, representation. Women are assigned as the other much like disabled folks. Freaks & monsters portrayed in media actually represent bodies of disabled people: the body. discipline (michel foucault): gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, and ability systems exert social pressures to shape, regulate, and normalize subjugated bodies thru medicine & appearance. Women & disabled seen as medically abnormal, plastic surgery, corset; correct flaws to improve psychological well-being of the patient. Beauty dictates corporeal standards that create conformity to a bland look that is unachievable. Women & disabled folks can use medicine to fix not police their lives & bodies. Emphasis on cure reduces cultural tolerance for human variation. & vulnerability by portraying disability in bodies as flawed rather than social systems in need of fixing.
