FeminisT Phenomenology

This chapter charts the field-defining contributions to feminist phenomenology made by Simone de Beauvoir, Iris Marion Young, Sandra Lee Bartky, and Judith Butler and discusses how their work has been influenced by, critically intervened in, and transformed traditional phenomenology. Drawing on their work as well as the recent work of contemporary feminist phenomenologists such as Lisa Guenther, Sara Ahmed, Linda Martín Alcoff, Mariana Ortega, and Gayle Salamon, the chapter emphasizes that feminist phenomenology is a critical phenomenology. Not only does it directly engage specific social and political issues, eschewing the alleged universality and value-neutrality of traditional phenomenological accounts, but it is also in dialogue with, and immeasurably enriched by the multi- and interdisciplinary fields of critical race theory, prison studies, trans studies, queer theory, and disability studies.