Theorizing the body: conceptions of disability, gender and normality

Abstract

The present article addresses different perspectives on the body in relation to conceptions of normality. It shows how a body perspective can be taken into account from an individual perspective without losing a structural perspective. This is accomplished using the phenomenological conceptions the lived body and the body as situated. This article is part of a sociological qualitative interview study, focusing on disability, identity, and gender, and specifically on conceptions of the body and gender, as experienced by Swedish young women labeled as having an intellectual impairment.

Keywords:

• personal experiences
• body
• disability
• gender
• normality

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the young women who participated in the study, and two anonymous referees for their comments on a preliminary draft of the paper.