Dr Stephanie Clare on “Beauvoir’s Nonbinary Structure of Feeling”

Dr Stephanie Clare (University of Washington, Seattle) presented a paper entitled “Beauvoir’s Nonbinary Structure of Feeling” and discussed their new book, Nonbinary: A Feminist Autotheory (Cambridge UP).

This paper argues that a nonbinary structure of feeling characterized by discomfort in white, female embodiment and a longing for a non-sexually differentiated form of human embodiment infuses Simone de Beauvoir’s writing. This structure of feeling need not be read as antifeminist but rather as gesturing toward a desire for sexed transitivity while also seeking to transform gender. That is to say, the authorial voice that emerges across The Second Sex and Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter develops both a feminist and trans position, a dual position whose feelings in the world, both past and present, too often have been dismissed.