Abstract
ABSTRACTSince the theoretical frameworks and conceptual tools we employ shape research outcomes by guiding research pathways, it is important that we subject them to ongoing critical reflection. A thoroughgoing analysis of the global production of women’s health inequality calls for a comprehensive theorization of how social relations of gender and the biological body mutually interact in local contexts in a nexus with women’s health. However, to date, the predominant concern of research has been to identify the biological effects of social relations of gender on the body, to the relative neglect of the co-constitutive role that these biological changes themselves may play in ongoing cycles of gendered health oppressions. Drawing on feminist and gender theoretical approaches, and with the health of women and girls as our focus, we seek to extend our understanding of this recursive process by discussing what we call the ‘shaping processes’ of the ‘gender-biology nexus’ which call attention to not only the ‘gender-shaping of biology’ but also the ‘biologic-shaping of gender’. We consider female genital mutilation/cutting as an illustration of this process and conclude by proposing that a framework which attends to both the ‘gender-shaping of biology’ and the ‘biologic-shaping of gender’ as interweaving processes provides a fruitful approach to theorising the wider health inequalities experienced by women and girls.
Highlights
As Raewyn Connell recently explains, ‘in an ontological sense, gender is the way human reproductive bodies enter history, and the way that social process, unfolding through time, deals with biological continuity’ [1, p. 341]
Possible epigenetic effects reveal that the ‘gender-shaping of biology’ appears to entangle with neuroendocrinological changes which ‘biologically-shape’ the health of girls and women exposed to female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), which can be conceptualised as a form of gendered health inequality
A recommendation made here, which accords more generally with those made in the wider context of women’s health [e.g. 80,81], is that research funding bodies and institutions recognise the value of interdisciplinary theoretical and empirical research in the field commonly known as ‘gender and health’ that addresses the ‘gender-shaping of biology’ and the ‘biologic-shaping of gender’ and which avoids essentialist and reductivist thinking. In this theoretical paper we have sought to explore how social relations of gender interrelate with the biological body to shape the experience of health in ways that may generate inequality for women and girls
Summary
As Raewyn Connell recently explains, ‘in an ontological sense, gender is the way human reproductive bodies enter history, and the way that social process, unfolding through time, deals with biological continuity’ [1, p. 341]. Possible epigenetic effects reveal that the ‘gender-shaping of biology’ (taking FGM/C to be the effect of women’s environmental and social inequality) appears to entangle with neuroendocrinological changes which ‘biologically-shape’ (but do not determine) the health of girls and women exposed to FGM/C, which can be conceptualised as a form of gendered health inequality To explore this ‘biologicshaping of gender’ in relation to FGM/C further, we draw on the work of Gillian Einstein [71,72], a biologist with a doctorate in neuroanatomy, who explores the neurobiological repercussions of FGM/C from a feminist perspective. A recommendation made here, which accords more generally with those made in the wider context of women’s health [e.g. 80,81], is that research funding bodies and institutions recognise the value of interdisciplinary theoretical and empirical research in the field commonly known as ‘gender and health’ that addresses the ‘gender-shaping of biology’ and the ‘biologic-shaping of gender’ and which avoids essentialist and reductivist thinking
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
