CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2015
| Author | Scheurich, Stephanie Nicole |
|---|---|
| Title | An Orientation to Love Objects: An Analysis of the Objectum Sexual Community's Campaign for Recognition as Sexual Subjects |
| Summary | In this thesis, I analyze the narrative strategies deployed by objectum sexuals in their campaign to seek recognition as proper sexual subjects within Western, neoliberal societies. I situate the narrative of objectum sexuality within both the framework of neoliberal citizenship and queer critiques of the way in which cultural differences are conceptualized within neoliberal society. This juxtaposition allows me to illuminate the tensions and inconsistencies that arise when marginalized groups seek societal acceptance of their difference by utilizing strategies that emphasize assimilation and sameness. This project considers both the negative portrayal of objectum sexuality perpetuated by mainstream media and the more affirmative readings offered by queer theorists, and I offer my own analysis of objectum sexuality using D.W. Winnicott’s psychoanalytic theory of transitional objects and transitional phenomena combined with Judith Butler’s reading of Freudian psychoanalytic theory in order to postulate that traumatic loss and a subsequent object attachment are fundamental aspects in the formation of both the normative and the deviant sexual subject. Using insights from new materialist and post-humanist theorists, I conclude this project by analyzing to what extent the narrative of object love put forth by objectum sexuals both subverts and reifies the conventionally held understanding of the subject as that which is endowed with agency and the object as that which is without agency and always passive. |
| Supervisor | Timar, Eszter; Ryder, Andrew |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2015/scheurich_stephanie.pdf |
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