Episode 17: Lady Parts and Resistance

This is Episode 17 of the State of the Theory Podcast. Politics. Power. Popular Culture. And other stuff, probably. In this series, we’re like super nerdy philosophical DJs: mashing up Serious Academic Questions with the most topical news and trends in pop culture. Each week, we’ll tackle a new topic and collide it with ‘critical theory’ (we’re pretty loose with our definitions, though, so expect the unexpected). Our aim is to destroy the stuff we know, explore the stuff we don’t and unsettle everything we think we know about the world. We take the obvious, the commonsensical, the certain, and then we rip it all to shreds. We are your theory doctors and we are always on call. In this episode, we look at some recent stories about the way women’s bodies are regulated and policed in different ways. Using this as an example, we explore the possibilities of resistance. The texts we refer to are: “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” by Louis Althusser (https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1970/ideology.htm) "Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy" by Nancy Fraser (http://www.jstor.org/stable/466240?seq=4#fndtn-page_scan_tab_contents) “How Feminism became Capitalism’s Handmaiden – and how to reclaim it” by Nancy Fraser (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/14/feminism-capitalist-handmaiden-neoliberal) "The Politics of the Veil" by Joan P. Scott (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Politics-Veil-Public-Square/dp/0691147981) You can read about Nicola Thorp and high heels here: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/may/11/receptionist-sent-home-pwc-not-wearing-high-heels-pwc-nicola-thorp You can read about the man who tore off the woman’s hijab on the plane: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/13/man-pleads-guilty-removes-muslim-woman-hijab You can read about the Liberte Chan and her cardigan here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/weather-presenter-liberte-chan-made-to-wear-cardigan-on-air-after-viewers-complained-about-her-dress-a7031446.html You can watch the Niqabitch video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-SvxEYLFTM You can read about the police removing a lesbian woman from a woman’s toilet here: http://jezebel.com/police-refuse-to-believe-lesbian-is-a-woman-force-her-1773733431 You can read about the “helpful man” patrolling the women’s toilet here: http://jezebel.com/helpful-man-patrols-texas-ladies-room-tells-woman-your-1773882994 Our theme music is "The Face of God" by The Agrarians (freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Agra…he_Face_of_God) State of the Theory is brought to you by Hannah Fitzpatrick (@drhfitz) and Anindya Raychaudhuri (@DrAnindyaR) Find us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/stateofthetheorypodcast) or Tweet us @TheoryDoctors