On Female Body Experience

Written over a span of more than two decades, the essays by Iris Marion Young collected in this volume describe diverse aspects of women''s lived body experience in modern Western societies. Drawing on the ideas of several twentieth century continental philosophers--including Simone de Beauvoir, Martin Heidegger, Luce Irigaray, Julia Kristeva, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty--Young constructs rigorous analytic categories for interpreting embodied subjectivity. The essays combine theoretical description of experience with normative evaluation of the unjust constraints on their freedom and opportunity that continue to burden many women. The lead essay rethinks the purpose of the category of "gender" for feminist theory, after important debates have questioned its usefulness. Young''s classic essay, "Throwing Like a Girl," is reprinted here, along with a comment of the impact of that essay twenty years later. Newer essays include reflection on the meaning of being at home, and the need for priv