생태위기와 에코페미니즘의 ‘젠더’론 ― 젠더의 저항성 회복을 위한 모색

Abstract

This essay clarifies the concept of gender of Ecofeminism, a theory of combination of ecological and feminist approaches with a strong emphasis on the connections between women and nature. Ecofeminism insists on bringing feminism and ecology together because it views the domination of women and the degradation of nature as the same consequences of both patriarchy and capitalism. However, Ecofeminism is charged as essentialism and discredited by many feminists due to of its idea of women’s closeness to nature. The idea of affinity of women and nature in Ecofeminism is regarded to be of the same logic of patriarchy, in which men predominate all the privileges while women are treated as being inferior to men. Also the idea of a single category of women in Ecofeminism excludes many different gender identities, just as the same exclusion principle of the patriarchy system. The criticisms on the essentialism, however, can be rebuked by examining the social strength what Maria Mies asserts as a foundation of the third world indigenous women’s activism against the dominance of the transnational capitalism. Their communal gender culture can be a powerful alternative for the sustainable future of the Earth. For promoting political activism that this communal culture traditionally has, this essay examines Mies’s concept of gender in comparison with Judith Butler’s concept of performitivity of gender identity.