Approaches to Penetration — Theoretical Difference in Practice

Abstract

This article questions the sometimes over-polarized debates about theoretical perspectives within feminist academia. What differing effects do apparently conflicting theoretical approaches have on the empirical analysis of cultural phenomena and on our understanding of sexual politics or possibilities for change? The author gives an account of two contrasting understandings of the (bodily) symbolic, and applies these differing perspectives to the often problematical analysis of sexual penetration. One approach could be seen as the classical semiotic one, as found in the work of the Norwegian anthropologist, Jorun Solheim, the other, understood as poststructuralist or queer, is exemplified in the work of the American philosopher, Judith Butler. Both are feminists working for changes in traditional gender symbolism, but they otherwise start from seemingly quite separate theoretical premises.