ABSTRACT
Women are often pressured, especially in regard to pregnancy and birth. This chapter deals with the more fundamental issue that sexually differentiated bodies necessitate interpretation and formative activity. It examines conflicts on the level of acting—for instance, conflicts arising when certain groups insist on a monopoly of interpretation and try to enforce their concept of an order of the sexes by denouncing other orientations as "deviant" and imposing sanctions. Feminist investigations of patriarchy engage precisely this dimension of freedom. In the shaping of the relations of the sexes natural conditions are an issue of freedom. Problems like sexual oppression and exploitation as well as conceptions of mutual recognition are topics that arise at this point. The chapter explores reservations about understanding of the relation between freedom and sexually differentiated corporality that may come up with special reference to the sex/gender dyad.
