Der Erscheinungsraum der Geschlechter. Macht, Diskurs und Indentität bei Michel Foucault und deren Relevanz für die feministische Kritik am Geschlechterbegriff

The thesis aims at the theoretical foundation of deconstructivist strategies in contemporary feminism with reference to the work of French philosopher Michel Foucault. The feminist tradition of distinguishing between the conceptions of "gender" as a culturally coded form of identity and "sex" as its supposed biological foundation has been criticized by younger feminist thinkers, such as Judith Butler, whose work is related to contemporary postmodern thinking. The work of Butler, for example, can be described by its intention to deconstruct the conception of sex as such, trying to show that it can be traced back to social power relations and cultural practices rather than to any alleged biological essence. The notion of sex does not make any sense if detached from that of gender. If sex, however, is inherently related to gender, it is in the same way subject to ideology. Proceeding from Michel Foucault's work - especially his works on the history of sexuality - and its central conceptions of power, discourse and identity the thesis is trying to trace back the assumptions of contemporary feminist deconstruction to some of its most influental theoretical roots which, however, remain an unspoken precondition in many of these texts.