The article discusses the issue of autonomy and preferences considering different approaches in feminist political theory. The respect for individual beliefs and preferences has been considered a main feature for democracy within liberal tradition. But even in this tradition there are distinct understandings of how those preferences are defined, how they are connected to individual structural positions and the opportunities that those positions open or constrain. Feminist analysis considers constraints, but also evocations and interpellations, constituting preferences and identities in contexts of social inequalities. The work focuses on the tensions between the value of individual autonomy, taken as an epistemological and a political framework, and the critical understanding of oppression and domination as the basis for socially produced identities.
autonomy; oppression; preferences; feminism; political theory