Gender a výzkum / Gender and Research 2023, 24 (2): 26-52 | DOI: 10.13060/gav.2023.014  

The article deals with the document ‘Male and Female He Created Them: Toward a Path of Dialogue on the Question of Gender Theory in Education’, published by the Congregation for Catholic Education in June 2019. The document is a guideline for Catholic schools, which they can apply to control and moderate the discussion on gender issues at the level of local churches and educational institutions. The article presents several worldwide responses to the document chiefly in the Catholic media, and then provides a rhetorical analysis and critique of its content. The analysis reveals some of the text’s rhetorical devices, including labelling,...

Gender a výzkum / Gender and Research 2023, 24 (2): 53-82 | DOI: 10.13060/gav.2023.016  

The paper explores the topic of the Jewish religious spatial practice of a mechitza – the physical separation of women and men in synagogues. At first glance, the mechitza appears to be an indisputable given as a normal part of Orthodox Judaism. At second glance, however, it poses a problem: through the mechitza, women tend to be marginalised not only within the space itself but also on a symbolic level as subjects of religious practice. Using a feminist post-structuralist discourse analysis, the paper investigates how the practice of mechitza is negotiated and what meanings and symbolism it takes on for its religiously gendered subjects. The...

Gender a výzkum / Gender and Research 2023, 24 (2): 83-96 | DOI: 10.13060/gav.2023.017  

In the following paper on the ecofeminist dimension of the considerable work of the feminist theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether, I will limit myself to questions and themes that are not purely theological, but which at the same time resonate with the themes and questions addressed in contemporary (eco)feminist philosophy, which revolve around issues of structural inequality and structural or systemic violence on the one hand, and the interdependence of lives, precariousness, and vulnerability on the other. Of the classic questions of systematic theology, two seem to me particularly relevant in this regard, namely the question of structural sin and...

Gender a výzkum / Gender and Research 2023, 24 (2): 97-118 | DOI: 10.13060/gav.2023.020  

This work of constructive Jewish ecofeminism argues for an expanded category of the poor to include nature, as both nature and the poor have similar states: they are in need. After a survey of the Torah and the tannaim, the author concludes that both sources do not define the category of the poor as anything more than those in need, thus we are well within our means to make the change. In addition, the current state of the environment, detailed by the most recent IPCC report, illustrates just how much the environment is in need. In this expansion of the category of the poor, the author also critiques traditional Jewish models of what constitutes care...

Gender a výzkum / Gender and Research 2023, 24 (2): 119-145 | DOI: 10.13060/gav.2023.019  

The article explores the concept of gender and gender roles in a spiritual book titled Jak si uvařit (vlastní) vesmír (How to cook up (your own) universe) by Kamila ‘Kamu’ Chadimová, a famous Czech chef and Instagram influencer. As the book is based on the worldview of Alternative (New Age) Spirituality, a full understanding of its concept of gender and gender roles needs to be put in the context of Alternative Spirituality’s core doctrinal traits. The article emphasizes the importance of the concepts of (spiritual) energy and (spiritual) holism as two of the most important traits of Alternative Spirituality and examines them in the...

Gender a výzkum / Gender and Research 2023, 24 (2): 146-170 | DOI: 10.13060/gav.2023.018  

The article deals with a feminist critique of the secular notion of autonomy as a normative basis for the emancipation of the subject. It does so on the basis of discussions related to the so-called post-secular turn in feminist thought. The text is based on a comparison and interpretation of the theoretical insights of Saba Mahmood and Judith Butler. According to Mahmood, the poststructuralist critique of the Enlightenment conception of the subject, as seen in Butler, still places too much emphasis on secular detachment from tradition. In contrast, Saba Mahmood’s approach seeks to rehabilitate a ‚consolidationist‘ conception of the...