CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2015
| Author | Anemtoaicei, Ovidiu |
|---|---|
| Title | Masculinities, male bodies and sexual difference: a sketch for an impossible "becoming-man" |
| Summary | In this thesis, I sketch a possible answer to the question of what it means to think about men and masculinities through the philosophy of sexual difference as developed by Luce Irigaray, while employing Gilles Deleuze’s concept of “critique” and arguing, at the same time, for a concept of “becoming-man” as an expression of this answer. First, while examining the nature of the role of male bodies underlying the theorizing of men and masculinities in the field of the Critical Studies of Men and Masculinities, I argue for a turn to sexual difference theory as an answer to the “gap” between the representational thinking about male bodies and their participation in thought and subjective production. Secondly, sharing Irigaray’s critique of Western thought, in both its philosophical and psychoanalytical instantiations, I examine alternative morphological locations for rethinking the male imaginary in relation to male embodiments, on the one hand, and in relation to the maternal and the feminine, on the other hand. Thirdly, I suggest that a phenomenologically-influenced approach towards male bodies might be productive, especially when thought through Irigaray’s sexual difference as a relational and experiential ontology understood in phenomenological terms. Finally, while showing that Irigaray and Deleuze share a similar critique of Western philosophical thought and of the masculine historical subject, I propose a rethinking of the concept of “becoming-man” as an assemblage meeting between Irigaray’s sexual difference and Deleuze and Guattari’s nomadologic project and as a possibility of thinking change in men’s masculine subjective constitution in relation to both women and men. As far as the ethical implications of such rethinking are concerned, the thesis urges for the cultivation of a masculine culture of stepping back so as to make possible the construction of new spaces that would allow for the becoming of at least two subjects based on the respect for their differences. |
| Supervisor | Fisher, Linda |
| Department | Gender Studies PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2015/anemtoaicei_ovidiu.pdf |
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