Facetten des Konzeptes „Gender” – Ratlosigkeit eines Mitteleuropäers
Facets of the „gender” concept – puzzlement of a Central European

Summary/Abstract: The word gender is considered a campaign slogan in Central Europe. It is a term loaded with a great number of misunderstandings. The article seeks to find the reason for this distrust towards the concept, and to clarify its fundamental importance for ethics. The distrust towards the term is explained as a consequence of the historical experience of the „State feminism” from the times of socialism. In Hungarian society the emancipation of women was seen as an external constraint which resulted in suspicion towards any gender politics. The second part of the article discusses the question of the relationship between biological and social sex on the example of the sworn virgins in Albania and the case „David Reimer”. It will be shown that gender is not to be interpreted as concrete and well-established interpretation of sexuality, but rather as a category of analysis that allows us to see how far our lives are determined by the category of gender. As a category of analysis the term shows a critical nature, however, it does not necessarily entail a negative view of our gender roles, but may also show our contentment of our gendered reality.

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