Toward a sociology of (gendered) disgust Perceptions of the organic body and the organization of care work

Toward a sociology of (gendered) disgust

Perceptions of the organic body and the organization of care work

Isaksen

Lisa Widding

Isaksen, Lisa Widding

Author

University of California, Berkeley

Center for Working Families

University of California, Berkeley. Center for Working Families

Sponsor

text

working paper

Berkeley, CA Center for Working Families, University of California, Berkeley 2000 2000 monographic

Berkeley, CA

Center for Working Families, University of California, Berkeley

2000

monographic

English eng

English

eng

electronic application/pdf 29 p. born digital

electronic

application/pdf

29 p.

born digital

Based on a reinterpretation of a study of 105 relationships between homebound dependent fathers and mothers and their adult sons and daughters, this article discusses incontinence as a social and cultural phenomenon. Care work has other people's bodies as its working field. The social norms and cultural symbols that surround the intimate parts of the body affect the way care work is organized, gendered, culturally understood, and socially stratified. To lose bodily control and the capacity to keep the disgust related to bodily fluids hidden from the eyes of others, seems to put the individual's identity and human dignity at risk. The disturbing presence of odors, sights, and textures seem to have a disruptive effect on close relationships. The article further discusses how bodily dimensions of care add new burdens to modern family life in different social contexts, and contribute to expand the gap between men and women in different cultures of care. This seems to be related to how ideas of individualism structure are structured by the economic and social conditions in which people live their everyday lives.

Lise Widding Isaksen is a Ph.D. at the University of Norway, Bergen, and was a visiting scholar at the Center for Working Families during 1999-2000.

[Berkeley Center for Working Families Occasional Paper]

Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons "Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States" (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/)

wfn_bwpaper_32.pdf

MChB English eng

MChB

English eng

English

eng