Gender as the historical category: Relations between the medical conception of the body and the notion of gender Cover Image

Płeć kulturowa jako kategoria historyczna. Relacje między medyczną koncepcją ciała a pojęciem płci kulturowej
Gender as the historical category: Relations between the medical conception of the body and the notion of gender

Author(s): Adam Buczkowski
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Sociobiology, Sociology of Culture
Published by: Instytut Slawistyki Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: gender; body; history of medicine

Summary/Abstract: The article touches on the relation between gender and the medical conception of the body in the context of historical changes. The oldest European conception of gender was linked to ontic inequality, which corresponded to one-gender idea of the body in medicine. From the eighteenth century on, the medical conception of the body started to change, and the idea of two-gender body started spreading. The body of women started to be perceived as the different “other.” That change was accompanied by social and cultural shift and one of its consequences was the emergence of women’s group identity. The latest medical idea is personalized medicine, and the body is an element of the culture of individualization. Judging by the recent changes in the medical conception of the body, we are probably witnessing a change in the idea of gender – namely its dispersion.

  • Issue Year: 2017
  • Issue No: 09
  • Page Range: 1-17
  • Page Count: 17
  • Language: Polish