Rethinking the Secular in Feminist Marriage Debates

Authors

  • Ada S. Jaarsma Sonoma State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26522/ssj.v4i1.1008

Keywords:

feminism, epistemology, same-sex marriage, secularism

Abstract

The religious right often aligns its patriarchal opposition to same-sex marriage with the defence of religious freedom. In this article, I identify resources for confronting such prejudicial religiosity by surveying two predominant feminist approaches to same-sex marriage that are often assumed to be at odds: discourse ethics and queer critical theory. This comparative analysis opens to view commitments that may not be fully recognizable from within either feminist framework: commitments to ideals of selfhood, to specific conceptions of justice, and to particular definitions of secularism. I conclude by examining the "postsecular" turn in feminism, suggesting that we can see the same-sex marriage debate not in terms of an impasse between differing feminist approaches, but in terms of shared existential and ethical affinities.

 

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Published

2010-03-12

Issue

Section

Thematic Articles