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Humility, Autonomy, and Birth as a Site of Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2015

Sara Rushing
Sara Rushing*
Affiliation:
Montana State University
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Extract

Western political thought, from the classical Greek era to our own time, is notorious for its relegation of bodily and family matters to the private sphere. Contemporary feminist and critical political theorists have taken measures to counter this impulse. Yet even as these discourses acknowledge the centrality of the body, vulnerability, and relationality for social and political theory, they continue to functionally disavow giving birth as an important cultural institution in which to engage political and ethical questions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , September 2015 , pp. 522 - 549
Copyright
Copyright © The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2015 

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