Feminist ethics in Jeanette Winterson's written on the body

The aim of this study is to examine Jeanette Winterson's Written on the Body (1992) in the light of feminist ethics, which has become a significant theory in the late twentieth century. Feminist ethics mainly deals with the male-biased Western ethical societies. As a result of these male-biased ethical theories and moral practices, the experiences, values, thoughts, and virtues of women are confined to a patriarchal space. While women are conventionally associated with domestic spaces, dependency on relational roles, care, compassion, and docile characteristics, they are excluded from patriarchal definitions of "rational thinking". Therefore, feminist ethics sets out to alter the biased assumptions of male-dominant theories and unequal representations of women in moral theory. Written on the Body is based on the story of a genderless and nameless narrator, who deals with the deep feeling of regret due to her/his moral failures in her/his previous relationships and the pain of the loss of Louise, her/his fatally ill beloved. The study analyses the novel in the context of feminist ethical values and the moral development of the narrator. As Winterson aims to reveal non-binary ethics through a genderless and nameless narrator, the novel closes with a focus on common humane values. This study aims to analyse Winterson's Written on the Body by referring to ethical notions such as virtue, love, care, autonomy, and free-will. Keywords: Feminist Ethics, Care, Virtue, Genderless Ethics, Jeannette Winterson, Written on the Body