Abstract

PENCHANSKY, Maria Celina. Reflections around the property of the body from a feminist perspective. La ventana [online]. 2021, vol.6, n.53, pp.111-146.  Epub Feb 23, 2021. ISSN 1405-9436.

In this paper, I examine a number of feminist theoretical contributions on the notion of “property in the body”, analyzing both critical versions and alternative proposals highlighting the need to retrieve this concept from the liberal paradigm. Firstly, I focus on conceptions of property in the body that different authors elaborate from a feminist theoretical perspective. Secondly, I explore the meanings that this concept acquires at a political level, being present in many of the claims and debates of the feminist movement, such as the right to abortion or the freedom to exercise sex work. The hypothesis that guides this article is that feminist theory resignifies this concept, identifying its limitations and formulating new approaches. Nevertheless, when emplaced in political arenas, this notion has direct implications on women’s bodies by being framed within hegemonic neoliberal paradigms, whose property lexicon is often coupled with commercial logics. Consequently, feminist vindications on the self-control of women’s bodies faces the burdens of conceiving the body as of a private property and absolute right to be unlimited used in any activity, even lucrative, neglecting the contextual subordinations these activities unfold. In this manner, feminist demands addressing the self-appropriation of women’s bodies are commonly aligned with theoretical and political understandings of the neo-liberal paradigm.

Keywords : Feminist theory; feminism; property in the body; liberalism; neoliberalism.