Project: The self as the spectacle

The body has exerted great fascination in various areas of the human and social
sciences. Philosophy, anthropology, sociology, visual arts and literature have all cast their
eyes on this which is the most obvious (but, most paradoxical) scope of our human
existence: after all, the body is what we have as most intimate, but it is also what we have
as most public. "A body gives rise to an existence" (NANCY: 2015, p.7) at the same time
that it shelters it. In this scenario, we have followed Espinoza: what can a body do/be? The
answers, of course, are as multiple as the body itself: breathe, move, run, eat, blink, see,
pant, sweat, perish, love, orgasm.
Political contemporary identities are essentially constructed based on gender
(KRAUSE; RENWICK, 1996). When gender is liquid, it becomes impossible to be
contained in one or two receptacles, giving birth to new identities which are as fluid as they
are interchangeable. Since a neoliberal politics aiming at inclusive societies would be a
contradiction, as the differences which defy the universalization of consumption patterns
constitute one of neoliberalism’s most dreaded nightmares, such identities pose as a threat
to the maximization of profit, creating new groups of consumption directed at the
ratification of such newborn identities. In other words, what Ruth Benedict foresaw
becomes reality: the market depends on marginalized groups to form new areas of
consumption which, by their turn, will demand new products aimed at what it expects to be
an inclusive social tool, at the same time that said products solidify the marginal aspect of
such groups and demands.
Nevertheless, having operated for ages on the assumption of the existence of two
genders and multiple sexualities, we now face a plurality of genders being presented not as
complementary or secondary identities, but as the core for a large number of groups and
consumers without any hint of the system of punishment and reward expected to be found
in stereotypes which are reproduced and repeated. No longer does being “different” mean
remaining unknown, secluded, made mute by normative expectations; nor is it to be
celebrated as a “positive” mark of difference which, nonetheless, still keeps the different at
bay. On the contrary, it is to be dealt with as if there was no difference at all. This plural
identitarian normatization happens not as a result of mainstream oppression, but as a true
form of inclusion: by eradicating differentiation strategies, it has become possible to
promote “alternative” gender identifications inside contemporary culture and market it not
as different, but as same. The neoliberal dilemma, thus, is solved: these new fluid identities
have found a loophole in the system and returned to society a product which society is
unable to refute as marginal.
Moreover, the basic concepts of “femininity” and “masculinity” have been
questioned by contemporaneity. Social construction of the subject implies a constellation
of ideologies: I am what I can think of, and what I can think of is relatively determined by
the ideologies under which I operate. But how much of the multiple discursive ideologies
that surround the new gender identities influence the solidified notions of femininity and
masculinity?
Touched by the peculiarities of our contemporary society, this project investigates
precisely the relationship of subjects with bodies in the displaying of new gendered
identities that happen inside an incessant search for new ecstasies, sensations, and ways of
being in a spectacularized society. The scenario to be studied could not be broader: the
semiotic and pictorial stylizations of the subject, of their bodies, their strategies in the
search for the satisfaction of their desires, and in the constant desire for the other subjects’
gaze of appreciation. These are practices without which these subjects would not exist,
would not condense in the mesh of discourse, would not be made subjects, given that “out
of sight, out of mind”.
Such research proposal, which unfolds in contemporary times, makes us look at our
historical moment not only as context, as stage for the philosophical debate here
undertaken, but as its own object of investigation. Therefore, I choose as a point of
observation some processes of construction of subjectivity, through the stylization of the
body in what I call spectacular performances of the self/other. Such a context where
performances of identification are practiced enables a privileged space of social
observation, since "human existence is at least as much about fantasy and desire as it is
about truth and reason " (EAGLETON: 2011, p. 17).
It would not be possible to study these performances without discussing the macro
context of their insertion, without placing them in contemporary times and without thinking
about the "perplexities with which the present day confronts us" (SOUZA SANTOS, 1999
[1994]). One of the greatest perplexities that contemporaneity presents is the intense
consideration of the present, the maintenance of the now as a permanent point of reflection.
The "reflexive modernity," about which Anthony Giddens, Ülrich Beck and Scott Lash
(BECK et al, 1997) theorized, inaugurated an unprecedented contemplative and analytical
interest for the dynamism of the present, as well as presupposes knowledge, reflexivity, and
technology as fundamental social values in contemporary times. The now is effervescent,
and for this very reason has become the main focus of philosophical incursions in several
areas of knowledge, so that the different perspectives of contemporary observation end up
spreading very dissonant forms of designation for our historical moment: Modern (Frederic
Jameson, 2007); Liquid Society (Zygmunt Bauman, 2001); Post-industrial Society (Daniel
Bell, 1999 [1973]); Programmed Society (Alain Touraine, 1994); Super-Modern Society
(Georges Balandier, 1971); Unsettling Post-Modernity or Opposition (Boaventura Souza
Santos, 1999 [1994]); Late Modernity (Stuart Hall, 2006 [1992]); Society for Risk (Ülrich
Beck, 1997); Society of the Spectacle (Guy Debord, 1997 [1967]); Pharmacopornographic
Regimen (Beatriz Preciado, 2008); Access Society (Jeremy Riffkin, 2001); Information
Society (Manuel Castells, 1997); Post-Theory Society (Terry Eagleton, 2011); and Somatic
Culture (Jurandir Costa, 2004), among others.
This conceptual plurality – with which contemporaneity is predicated – and the
multifaceted gaze that touches it helps construct it as a dynamic, fluid, multi-meaning and
not so simple phenomenon of theorizing, since " the reality is always in transit"
(FABRICIO, 2006). The different apprehensions of the dynamic reality that we experience
above mentioned aim to describe the new itineraries of contemporary subjectivity,
highlighting the socioeconomic and cultural characteristics that underpin the contemporary
life.
Thus, in this project, we will go through the web of subjectivity interested in how
individuals - sometimes in tension, sometimes in accordance with the moral norms of social
subjection and with the real wills of our time – represent gendered identities. Subjects that
exist through their innovative – or conservative - forms of body-stylization, in their specific
– or generic - typification, in their complex singularity, or triviality, in the new codes-
territories they inhabit, in a constitutive ambivalence in the tension between subject and
moral order. We are interested in resistances to secular impositions to gendered identities as
much as in the new performances that corroborate with the maintenance of solidified
subjective scripts. The goal is to explore the cracks between those two plateaus, which
might prove to be a fertile ground for the proliferation of new ways of being, of doing, of
existing. Through the representation of all gendered identities we rebel, reinvent ourselves,
vibrate in desire and, above all, become visible. The “intimate-spectacular performances”
(BONFANTE, 2019) of the body studied in this investigation are not compromised with the
reflection of who we are, but with the multiple possibilities of being, with the intangibility
of becomings, with the possibility of fostering new itineraries of subjectivation.
Inside this broader definition, my previous project focused on the self-
representation of female pornographic performers in autofictional writing. Techniques of
autofiction are procedures to become subjects that interrelate with one or more of the
objectifying dimensions of the process of subjectification mentioned above, so that self-
performance is also closely related to objectification and its effects, not only as an inert and
passive collaborator of order and norm, but also, and especially, as its challenger, its most
relentless disturber. As a result, the dissertation entitled Metamoirs: fact and fiction in the
construction of the pornographic persona in autobiographical writings was presented at the
Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The plan is to make the scope of this research broader to include the representation
of (un)gendered identities in plural art forms, understanding it as both an ongoing process
and as a new phenomenon that challenges dichotomic representations in a multi-identitarian
society. Presenting vast possibilities for simposiums and conferences, we can ensure an
outcome as plural as the studied topic, fostering research in a myriad of themes and areas.
These studies have the potential to transpose disciplinary borders and manifest in an
interdisciplinary arena, in which collaborations between the academic and the artistic
worlds would not be restricted to textual production, but would encompass art forms as
they permeate and contaminate society, fulfilling their most important mission: to promote
changes in constraining modes of thinking, allowing for a more inclusive, interactive and
interesting world.
 While the whole world seems dedicated to unveiling and registering the
deconstruction of the female mystique (FRIEDAN, 1963), I turn my eyes to the impact that
this new model of femininity has on masculinity and its representations, as I understand
them as operative counterparts in a society that also has to deal with intergendered and
agendered representations of the self. The shift in the way masculinity has been portrayed
over the last century – in film, literature, visual arts, music, advertisement and fashion – is a
fertile ground for the discussion of the social roles and responsibilities of the subject in
society, as it mirrors changes that have sifted into our lives. In this context, I am
particularly interested in how the concept of masculinity has changed over the last 50 years,
more specifically inside the pornographic industry, and how this is manifested in the
autofictional written works of male pornographic performers. The interdisciplinary nature
of this research is undeniable, and it promises to encompass many academic departments
and artistic expressions in contemporary society.