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A phenomenology of gender

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Abstract

The article asks how phenomenology, understood as a philosophical method of investigation, can account for gender. Despite the fact that it has provided useful tools for feminist inquiry, the question remains how gender can be studied within the paradigm of a philosophy of a subject. The article explicates four different understandings of phenomenology and assesses their respective potential in terms of theorizing gender: a classical reading, a corporeal reading, an intersubjective reading and a post-phenomenological reading. It concludes by arguing that phenomenology can extend its analysis to the question of gender only if its method is radically revised.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 9, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Johanna Oksala

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  1. Johanna Oksala
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Correspondence to Johanna Oksala.

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Oksala, J. A phenomenology of gender. Cont Philos Rev 39, 229–244 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11007-006-9025-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11007-006-9025-2

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