Theorizing Embodied Subjectivity: Feminist Approaches and Debates

In this chapter, various feminist approaches to theorizing the role played by the body in the construction of gendered selves are reviewed before examining how these have informed feminist studies of young women. The discussion focuses on a shift in emphasis away from young women as passive victims of various forms of cultural determinism to approaches which seek to complicate the relationship of gendered bodies to their cultural representation. The extensive research on the impact of young women’s social media usage is then examined drawing upon these contrasting theoretical approaches.