CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2016
| Author | Barkardottir, Freyja |
|---|---|
| Title | Hope of Failure: Subverting Disgust, Shame and the Abject in Feminist Performances with Menstrual Blood |
| Summary | The menstruating body has served as topic for feminist exploration regarding the systematic gendered governing of bodies and feminist embodiment theory that re-centres the body as site of analysis. Scholarship on menstrual activism has explored the diverse range of political projects focused on challenging dominant discourses and practices aimed at regulating and concealing menstruating bodies and menstrual blood. The aim of this thesis is to provide an in-depth analysis of two examples of artistic intervention into menstrual activism. This is achieved by exploring the political potential of material menstrual blood within two Danish feminist performances: Miriam Wistreich’s project moistsomoist.org, a research blog dedicated to locating the agency of material menstrual blood, and Bjørk Grue Lidin’s performance “Fuck Consent”, performed in Berlin in May of 2015 as part of the opening of feminist menstruation art exhibition. The analysis is informed by a mixed-media approach to research where I employ interviews, participant observation and analysis of texts and discourse. In both cases, the ability of material menstrual blood to provoke abjection and invoke affect is the focus of exploration. In relation to the moistsomoist.org project, I argue that the abject character of the performance is found in the way the menstrual blood the performer works with escapes representation. Furthermore, in the “Fuck Consent” performance, I read the performer’s dismissal of the notion of consent as an example of terrorist performance, whose goal is to invoke disgust, thereby exposing the limits of some liberalist feminist politics. Finally, by identifying moments where both performances fail to accomplish an intended purpose, I suggest a queer feminist political potential in failure and negative affect. |
| Supervisor | Yoon, Hyaesin; Olivieri, Domitilla |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2016/barkardottir_freyja.pdf |
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