Relativism, Realism, and Feminism: An analysis of some theoretical tensions in research on gender identity

Recently research on gender has exhibited a preoccupation with gender identity (particularly illustrated by the burgeoning body of work on masculinity). This work has frequently articulated and reflected a convincing attack on established positions in the area, drawing on post-modernist and post-feminist theory in order to challenge the notion of a fixed self, and to problematise the very concept of gender. Such positions present a challenge to the concept of the feminist subject, and to the feminist emancipatory project. This article seeks to re-examine questions integral to feminist theory in light of these challenges. Such issues include the notion of personhood, agency, and emancipatory intentions. The final part of the article argues for a consolidation and re-articulation of feminist values and the worth of the feminist emancipatory project, and suggests that reader-response criticism might provide a theoretical perspective with which to negotiate a path between relativism and realism in feminist research.