Kadın Vücudunun Kadınsılık ile Yıkımı: De Beauvoir, Foucault, Bordo ve Atwood Üzerine Bir Analiz

Abstract

In The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir problematizes the woman’s position in the society by relying on sociological observations. In her famous statement, “one is not born, but rather becomes a woman” (1997: 295), she argues the issue of gender as a social construct and questions the social power relations as a result of which women are turned into feminine creatures subordinate to men. On the contrary, in The History of Sexuality, Foucault conceptualizes sexuality and connects it to his theory of power by challenging the long-established traditions and beliefs on sexuality. Simone de Beauvoir’s sociological analysis is extremely divergent from Foucault’s conceptualizing methodology. Foucault accepts the existence of male and female realms and does not problematize the creation process of gender distinctions as de Beauvoir does. Furthermore, as a self-declared Foucauldian, Susan Bordo questions the woman’s position within the society in terms of Foucault’s theory of power, nonetheless, relies on a similar sociological analysis applied by de Beauvoir. Therefore, in this journal article, de Beauvoir’s existentialist point of view in The Second Sex is contrasted to Michel Foucault’s structuralist theory of power in The History of Sexuality and Susan Bordo’s ideas are used as an intermediary between the two. Their deficiencies and contributions to the feminist literary studies are examined and their manifestations in literary representation is analysed though Margaret Atwood’s The Edible Woman.