The Vital Dimension of Femininity in the Era of Metamodern Social Crises

Abstract

The purpose of the study is a philosophical rethinking of the phenomenon of femininity in the conditions of social crises of Metamodern, in particular in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war, through the prism of its vital dimension. The task is to distinguish the concepts of “gender” and “femininity”, substantiate vitality as a leading characteristic of femininity in crisis periods, analyze the risks of its distortion and form a model of vital resilience. The methodological basis is phenomenological, hermeneutic, archetypal and cultural-philosophical approaches. The principle of metamodern oscillation is applied to integrate Modern and Postmodern interpretations of femininity, as well as a comparative analysis of the concepts of “gender” and “femininity” with the involvement of the archetypal theory and philosophy of corporeality. Results. It is proven that femininity is not reduced to a social role, but appears as a phenomenologically experienced and culturally ontological way of being, associated with corporeality, empathy and the ability to recover. Vitality is identified as a key characteristic of femininity in times of upheaval, as it ensures the transformation of traumatic experience into new forms of meaning and solidarity and actualizes mythological consciousness as an integrative resource. The risks of distorting vitality are identified: romanticization of the victim, bodily objectification, emotional exhaustion, hypertrophy of care and a model of vital resilience with existential, psychoemotional, bodily, sociocultural, and spiritual components is proposed. Conclusions. In the metamodern paradigm, femininity appears as a dynamic principle of integration of opposites between corporeality and spirituality, trauma and hope, private and public. Its vital dimension is an ontologically significant culture-making force that ensures the vitality of the individual and the community and forms a metamodern model of resilience.