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Faced with the seemingly enormous difficulty of representing 'others', many theorists working in Cultural Studies have been turning to themselves as a way of speaking about the personal. In Sexing the Self Elspeth Probyn tackles this question of the sex of the self, an issue of vital importance to feminists and yet neglected by feminist theory until now, to suggest that there are ways of using our gendered selves in order to speak and theorize non-essential but embodied selves. Arguing for 'feminisms with attitude', Sexing the Self ranges across a wide range of theoretical strands, drawing upon a body of literature from early Cultural Studies to Anglo-American feminist literary criticism, from 'identity debates' to Foucault's 'care of the self'.
This work investigates how the gendered self can be utilized as a legitimate site for theoretical inquiry within the framework of cultural studies. Elspeth Probyn, a scholar in cultural studies and gender theory, addresses the historical neglect of the 'sexed self' in feminist discourse. By synthesizing diverse theoretical traditions, she proposes a methodology for theorizing embodied identities that avoids the pitfalls of essentialism while maintaining a critical, engaged perspective.
What You Will Find
Scholars in the field of gender studies frequently cite this text for its contribution to the debate on subjectivity and embodiment. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which requires familiarity with post-structuralist and feminist theoretical traditions.
Page Count:
200
Publication Date:
2003-01-01
Publisher:
Routledge
ISBN-10:
0203167856
ISBN-13:
9780203167854
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