Love at the Heart of Feminist Epistemology: On the Interconnectedness between Love and Gender

In this thesis, I investigate the concept of love in relation to feminist epistemology. Through a theoretical analysis and assessment, the aim has been to first of all examine ontological tensions between feminist works theorizing on love; secondly, to analyse which role the concept of love has in the works; and thirdly to contextualize the different ontological assumptions made within the basic tension in feminist epistemology, i.e. that which concerns the enabling of collective solidarity or the deconstruction of gender itself. The literature analysed I position in the relatively new field of feminist love studies, and it has been selected according to what I define as the field’s meta-theoretical epistemic doxa: (1) love serves as a key concept and is assigned a relatively independent social, political and/or ethical significance; (2) the theorization of love is carried out explicitly in relation to feminist theory that articulates a particular relationship between gender, sexuality, power and resistance (Simone de Beauvoir’s existentialist feminism, radical feminism(s) and/or queer theories). From a materialist-realist vantage point, I argue that collective solidarity is a prerequisite for an effective deconstruction of gender. Secondly, I stipulate a sociological notion of love as possibly transcendent given particular socio-material conditions. Thirdly, I argue that feminist theory needs to articulate a basic ontology of gender that emphasizes its socio-historically contingent materiality. I conclude that feminism needs to define love as a potential, socially transformative site for women and queers, and generate spaces based upon collective solidarity where love transcends patriarchal contradictions.In this thesis, I have assessed and investigated tensions in feminist literature which theorizes on love. The most basic tension in feminist theorizing and activism in general is whether the categories of ‘women’ and ‘men’ are accurate in describing gendered relations of power, or whether one should reject such a categorization, as it is inherently exclusionary. Love has also historically rendered problematic within feminist theorizing and research, often understood as deeply interconnected with patriarchal power relations and heteronormative discourses. The feminist literature on love has been selected according to what I argue are defining aspects of feminist love studies; first of all, love serves as a key concept and is understood to be particularly significant in understanding gendered power relations; second of all, one applies feminist theories on sexuality. The second point, here, deserves some further elaboration. I argue that gender is deeply embedded with sexuality, in the sense that without sexuality, there would be no gender. Therefore, I believe that the best way to get an understanding of gendered relations of power is to particularly investigate notions that specify a relationship between gender and sexuality. Such theories include Simone de Beauvoir’s philosophy of the second sex, radical feminism(s) and queer theories. Queer theories differ from the former ones as they reject a binary (‘women’ versus ‘men’) understanding of gender. When assessing the literature, I have done so through the lenses of critical realism and Marxist historical-materialism. Such philosophies recognize that there are aspects of reality, such as social structures, that are not directly observable but nonetheless affect our lives. Therefore, there will always be variances in how gendered relations of power take their expressions. As such, I argue that the concepts of ‘women’ and ‘men’ are not so exclusionary as they for example appear to be in queer theories, and that they in fact are necessary for feminist theory. Second of all, I argue that love should be recognized as potentially liberating for women and queers, given that one creates spaces where love generates a sense of agency and confidence. Thirdly, I argue for a concept of gender in which one departs from the fact that sexuality is necessary for the human existence, and thus that gender is the arbitrary, social organization of sexuality. I conclude that feminist theories on love should emphasize love’s liberating potential, and that this is most fruitfully done if one can create loving spaces through explicit, collective solidarity between those exposed to patriarchal oppression; in particular, women