ABSTRACT
In terms of bodies that matter in the two-fold sense that Butler intends this phrase/title, where bodies both materialize and mean something,2 there is a sense in which Ruether’s work can be read through the lens of uncovering how bodies matter and are mattered. Without using post-modern vocabulary, her whole corpus is about paying deep attention to the various bodily expressions of life on the planet. As such, her critique has grown over the years to be more and more inclusive of identity markers of exclusion: religion, gender, sex, race, class, nationality, family, sexuality – all of these identity xers are placed under the critical lens of Ruether’s analysis. Finally, the basic Foucauldian understanding of the relationship between power and knowledge taken up by queer theorists is central to Ruether’s work and her activism.
