This paper addresses the theoretical distinction between "sex" and "gender" by analyzing the work of American feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman, specifically her utopian novel Herland and her sociological treatise Women and Economics, in relation to evolutionary discourses. Recent difficulties in feminist theory concerning "gender" as the privileged category of analysis occur because as a term it is dislocated from the body and "nature." In Gilman's work, "sex" is an inclusive analytic category, signifying the inextricability of nature and culture. Examining the meanings of "sex" in Gilman's work allows feminists to reconsider problems with "gender," as well as to recognize that her theoretical paradigm cannot be understood accurately from a "sex vs. gender" perspective. Ultimately, Gilman's feminist utopian vision perpetuates certain racist and homophobic assumptions that she borrows from evolutionism. However, her example is instructive for those seeking to (re)conceptualize the body in feminist theory. Gilman put forth a compelling critique of the representation of "sex" in evolutionary theory, and in so doing, suggested that rather than separate "biology" and "society," feminists need to reconfigure the social realm to incorporate women's embodied experiences.

Back to Bernice's homepage.