Disciplining Foucault Feminism, Power, and the Body

In Disciplining Foucault, Jana Sawicki argues that a Foucauldian feminism is possible. She rejects the view that the power of phallocentric discourse is total. Instead, like Foucault, she sees discourse as ambiguous and plurivocal, a site of conflict and contestation. Women can adapt language to their own ends. They may not have total control over it but neither do men. Emphasizing Foucault's later works Sawicki fleshes out his undeveloped remarks about resistance in order to show how his discourse can be used to support specific liberatory struggles, namely those for sexual and reproductive freedom. Sawicki presents what she believes to be the truly radical dimensions of Foucault's thought so that they can be scrutinized by a feminist audience. The essays reflect her effort to think feminism through Foucault, and where necessary to think beyond him. -- from back cover.