Abstract
Removing, transcending, or otherwise rendering void or absent sex/gender as a central element of selfhood is an aim rarely pursued in theory or in activism concerned with deconstructing sex/gender. Even in queer and transgender theory that imagines alternative models or landscapes of identity or the self, sex/gender is usually merely adjusted, varied, and multiplied rather than rejected or transcended. The few visions of future landscapes of identity and sexuality in Western contexts that dare to imagine a selfhood without sex /gender, or at least without sexual difference, appear to be limited to a strain of 1970s utopian feminist science fiction and more recently among the theory and prefigurative practices of contemporary anarchist-queer communities. This article views the current relationship between self and other as one that, in departing from the assumption of sex/gender, does not allow subjects to define themselves and others outside of it. In its place I propose an alternative way of being (ethics) derived from a social and intersubjective ontological basis that values reciprocal relations between subjects that are not reducible to antagonism or difference.
Original language | English |
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Number of pages | 21 |
Journal | Thirdspace: A Journal of Feminist Theory and Culture |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 2 |
Publication status | Published - 2009 |
Keywords
- gender identity
- queer theory
- transgender people