CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2019
| Author | Mdzeluri, Mariana |
|---|---|
| Title | From an Autonomous Self to the Merger with Other: Architecture of a Modern Gendered Subject And Its Decomposition in BDSM plays |
| Summary | BDSM practitioners often mention that there is a change to their selves in BDSM plays. Sometimes it is described as a shift from mundane self to a play persona or, vice versa, from hypocritical persona of normal life to a true self in BDSM. In my thesis, I explore this shift focusing on the narratives of self in BDSM. Drawing on the performativity theory and, in particular, on the concept of the space of uptake, I analyzed interviews of English-speaking BDSM practitioners I met in Budapest. I found out that these narratives of shift allow to see that subjectivity works as a spatial phenomenon, as an environment with certain architecture. Its structure is based on particular elements which are disassembled in BDSM plays. Through the analysis of what is disassembled or transgressed in BDSM, I sketch down the architecture of a modern gendered subject, and explore why dismantling it in BDSM is so pleasurable for practitioners. I consider a subject as a mold for carving out individual units from the social matter, with shame and the sense of dignity as main framing elements. These elements prevent a subject from dissolution in the passionate attachment to others, and an autonomous subject is a basis of the democratic society. BDSM plays, through temporary and consensual dismantle of this structure, allow uninterrupted pleasure of the merger with the Other. My research, and, in particular, the spatial perspective on the issue contributes to the discussion on what is a subject in performativity studies. It helps to challenge the heteronormative framework of an autonomous self as an inherent natural phenomenon. |
| Supervisor | Timár Eszter; Renkin, Hadley Z. |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2019/mdzeluri_mariana.pdf |
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