Gender Studies

The analyses of ethnicity, race, location and sexuality are the main focus of the General studies. The very term gender refers to social perception and the constructions of femininities and masculinities and not just to the existence of the physical being like male or female. There are many theories and works of feminist which have brought to the emergence of Gender studies.  Of all the theories the theories of Jaques Lacan and the works of Judith Butler hold higher importance.

Theory of Psychoanalysis:

Julia Kristeva holds the major importance in the articulation of the feminist’s theory of psychoanalysis which focuses on the abjection and the semiotic. Of the other people who influenced gender studies to a great extent, Freud, Lacan and Bracha Ettinger hold an important place. 

In various disciplines, gender holds major importance namely, film theory, drama studies, anthropology, psychology, contemporary art history, and performance theory. There are certain difference in how and why they approach gender.

Freud Vs Feminism:

While most of the feminist dismissing the work of Freud due to the view of depicting women as mutilated, there are some feminist like Nancy Chodorow, Jane Gallop and Griselda Pollock who acknowledge the importance of the psychoanalytic theory. They advised that the psychoanalytic theories should be accepted by women to free themselves from the vestiges of sexism. Freudianism: The Misguided Feminism argues that the Freudianism is accurate and should be accepted completely expect the word “penis” which can be alternated with the word “power”.

Followed by Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan , Julia Kristeva,and Mark Blechner. The French feminism on the other hand many focused on the literary and the visual theory.  The latter part of gender studies was affected by the emergence of the post-feminism which had resulted in a movement against the identity theories.

The history of the gender theory goes way back to the Men’s and the Women’s studies. The women’s studies have included the history of women suffrage, the social history, women’s health and feminist theory. On the other hand, men’s studies were mainly concerned with the politics, masculinism and gender.  Judith Butler works revolved round the gender performativity. The power in society is greatly influenced by the sex, gender and sexuality.

Criticism of Gender Studies:

In the criticism of Gender Studies, the works of Katherine K. Young and Paul Nathanson play a vital role. They felt that gender studies mainly theorizes and philosophizes the characteristics of the female gender to the extent of excluding the male gender. In extreme cases they argued that the term gender studies has been used as an synonym for the word women.