An Alternative to Gender Complementarity: The Body as Existential Category in the Catholic Tradition

Abstract

This article reevaluates the concept of “woman” in the Christian tradition by arguing that the body is shaped ontologically not by binary sex (gender essentialism), but by history. While there have been many theological critiques of gender essentialism and complementarity, there have been few attempts to offer an alternative, bodily ontology in the Catholic tradition. I argue for an understanding of the body that reveals it as an existential category, a category that implies complicity, interruption, hope, and holiness. I conclude that when we experience our bodies as structured primarily by our histories, it facilitates the freedom to be in full relationship with each other and with God.