French Literature Reviews - 2026
É. Lépinard, M. Lieber, Gender Studies Theories
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics
Gender Studies Theories
Éléonore LÉPINARD, Marylène LIEBER
La Découverte éditions
Series: Repères no. 737
Published: June 2020
ISBN: 9782348046223
Number of pages: 128
Digital ISBN: 9782348059155
Format: EPUB
What is gender? How has it been conceptualized? Is it defined in the same way by anthropologists, sociologists, philosophers, historians, and scholars of cultural studies? What epistemological ruptures has this concept provoked?
This book traces the various genealogies of the notion of gender and the theoretical debates it has sparked. It presents the variety of perspectives and developments produced by over fifty years of research on gender and sexualities, both in terms of knowledge and scholarship, and in terms of recognition and resistance.
This book aims to familiarize readers with the major approaches in gender studies, some of which are less well-known in the Francophone context. It also highlights the intersection of gender with other social relations, which remains at the heart of numerous theoretical developments, both past and present.
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Éléonore Lépinard is a sociologist and professor at the University of Lausanne. Her research focuses on feminist movements and theories, intersectionality, and law. She is the author of Feminist Trouble. Intersectional Politics in Post-Secular Times (2020).
Marylène Lieber is a sociologist and professor at the University of Geneva. Her research focuses on violence, public space, and migration. She is the author of Genre, violences et espaces publics. La vulnérabilité des femmes en question (2008).
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Table of Contents
Introduction / Theorizing Gender
Gender: One Concept, Multiple Theories
Theories in Gender Studies: Nomadism and Contexts of Reception
I/ From Sex to Gender: The Invention of a Concept
Temperaments and Cultural Creations: The Denaturalization of Sex Stereotypes
Gender: From Psychological State to a Critique of Gendered Norms
Biological Sex and Social Gender?
Christine Delphy: "Thinking Gender"
Reception Processes of the Concept of Gender in France
Conclusion: Towards a Diversification of Theories in Gender Studies
II/ Epistemological Ruptures and New Knowledges
Standpoint Epistemologies: Starting from the Lived Experience of Subaltern Groups
Materialist Feminist Epistemology – Black Feminist Standpoint Epistemology
Situated Knowledges and Scientific Objectivity
Situated Knowledges: Feminist Critique Stemming from Science and Technology Studies – Donna Haraway: Feminism and the Cyborg – Standpoint Epistemology and the Critique of Scientific Objectivity
New Concepts for Rethinking the World
Ethics and Politics of Care – Ecofeminism(s) – From Social Contract to Sexual Contract
Conclusion
III/ Materialist Theories of Gender
Patriarchy as a System of Oppression
Exploitation and Appropriation of Women's Labor
Sexual Division of Labor – Beyond Labor: The Material Exploitation of Women
Bodies, Sexualities, and Heteronormativity
The Economic-Sexual Exchange – The Role of Sexuality in the Exploitation of Women: A Matter of Theoretical Debate – Monique Wittig, The Straight Mind – Deconstruction of the "Women" Category or Dominated Consciousness?
New Materialist Perspectives
Women's Bodies and the Renewal of Capitalist Critique – New Materialisms, Post-Humanism, and Feminist Theory
Conclusion
IV/ Interactions, Institutions, and Gender Regimes
Ethnomethodology and Interactionism: Passing, Genderism, and Doing Gender
Passing: Gender as an Accomplishment – Harold Garfinkel: The "Agnes Case" – The Arrangement between the Sexes – Erving Goffman: Differences Guaranteeing the Arrangements between the Sexes – Doing Gender: Creating and Fixing Differences – Doing Difference: Thinking the Simultaneity of Power Relations
Organizations and Gender Regimes
Masculinities and the Gender Order
Conclusion
V/ Rethinking the Subject and Identity: Post-Structuralist Theories of Gender
Discursive Turn(s)
Gender Always to Be Interpreted – Technology(ies) of Gender – Gender Performativity – Judith Butler: Gender Trouble
Queer Theorizations
Theorizing Sexualities – Queer as an Analyzer of Power Relations – Trans Perspectives – Paul B. Preciado: Technologies of Gender and Sex, and Queer Biopolitics
Conclusion
VI/ Towards an Intersectional Theory of Gender
Concepts for Thinking the Articulation of Social Relations and the Formation of Identities
From Addition to Interlocking – A Concept to Designate a Field of Research: Intersectionality – Kimberlé W. Crenshaw: Structural and Political Intersectionality
What Subjects and Categorizations for Intersectionality?
A Theory for Specific Subjects or a Transversal Theory? – Categorizations and Contexts of Analysis
Conclusion: What Intersectionality Does to Gender
Conclusion / Fifty Years of Research on Gender
Bibliography
Gender studies emerged as an interdisciplinary field, drawing from sociology, anthropology, history, and philosophy to challenge biological determinism. By investigating how social relations construct identity, this academic tradition seeks to understand the mechanisms of power and inequality. The field has evolved through various epistemological shifts, moving from early critiques of sex-based stereotypes to complex analyses of intersectionality and performativity. These developments reflect a broader intellectual movement that questions traditional scientific objectivity, emphasizing instead the importance of situated knowledges and the lived experiences of diverse social groups in shaping contemporary academic inquiry.
Gender Studies Theories traces the genealogies of the notion of gender and the theoretical debates it has sparked. It presents the variety of perspectives produced by over fifty years of research, including materialist theories, interactionist approaches, and post-structuralist theories. It highlights the intersection of gender with other social relations. Readers interested in the history of feminist theory and the development of gender-related research may find this synthesis of diverse international perspectives particularly relevant for understanding current academic discussions.