Rethinking the Secular in Feminist Marriage Debates

The religious right often aligns its patriarchal opposition to same-sex marriage with the defence of religious freedom. In this article, I identify resources for confronting such prejudicial religiosity by surveying two predominant feminist approaches to same-sex marriage that are often assumed to b...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ada S. Jaarsma
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Brock University 2010-04-01
Series:Studies in Social Justice
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ojs.uwindsor.ca/ojs/leddy/index.php/SSJ/article/view/2938
Description
Summary:The religious right often aligns its patriarchal opposition to same-sex marriage with the defence of religious freedom. In this article, I identify resources for confronting such prejudicial religiosity by surveying two predominant feminist approaches to same-sex marriage that are often assumed to be at odds: discourse ethics and queer critical theory. This comparative analysis opens to view commitments that may not be fully recognizable from within either feminist framework: commitments to ideals of selfhood, to specific conceptions of justice, and to particular definitions of secularism. I conclude by examining the "postsecular" turn in feminism, suggesting that we can see the same-sex marriage debate not in terms of an impasse between differing feminist approaches, but in terms of shared existential and ethical affinities.<p> </p>
ISSN:1911-4788