Cressida J. Heyes
Heyes' monograph in feminist philosophy is on the connection between the idea of "normalization"--which per Foucault is a mode or force of control that homogenizes a population--and the gendered body. Drawing on Foucault and Wittgenstein, she argues that the predominant picture of the self--a
picture that presupposes an "inner" core of the self that is expressed, accurately or not, by the outer body--obscures the connection between contemporary discourses and practices of self-transformation and the forces of normalization. In other words, pictures of the self can hold us captive when
they are being read from the outer self--the body--rather than the inner self, and we can express our inner self by working on our outer body to conform. Articulating this idea with a mix of the theoretical and the practical, she looks at case studies involving transgender people, weight-loss
dieting, and cosmetic surgery. Her concluding chapters look at the difficult issue of how to distinguish non-normalizing practices of the self from normalizing ones, and makes suggestions about how feminists might conceive of subjects as embodied and enmeshed in power relations yet also capable of
self-transformation.
The subject of normalization and its relationship to sex/gender is a major one in feminist theory; Heyes' book is unique in her masterful use of Foucault; its clarity, and its sophisticated mix of the theoretical and the anecdotal. It will appeal to feminist
philosophers and theorists.
Chapter 1: Pictures of the Self: Wittgenstein and Foucault on Thinking Ourselves Differently
Chapter 2: Feminist Solidarity after Queer Theory: The Case of the Transgender
Chapter 3: Foucault Goes to Weight Watchers (Redux)
Chapter 4: Aesthetic Surgery, Aesthetic Ethics
Chapter 5:
Somaesthetics for the Normalized Body
Conclusion: Life Style?
Notes
Bibliography
Index
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Cressida J. Heyes is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Alberta.
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