Rethinking Femininity between Aesthetic and Ethical Valencies

Authors

  • Mattia Mossali Università degli Studi di Bergamo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15167/2279-5057/ag.2015.4.8.261

Abstract

While the traditional approaches toward sexuality persist in considering the sexual identity starting from the evidence of our body as a naturally sexual object (Essentialiam) or considering it as the result of Power discourses (Culturalism), the literary and visual imaginary promotes a reflection on human subjectivity in terms of complicated and conflicted self-construction, connected with the most innovative philosophical and psychoanalytic thought (from Heidegger to Lacan). In particular, this essay aims to reconsider the concept of femininity that, far from being a natural condition, could be synonym of exception, ineffable category, courageous choice, a way to assert the primacy of human singularity against the mass categorization. To do this, it will be necessary to go beyond the essentialist view on gender and prefer a more complex ethical prospective in which also the artistic sublimation plays a crucial role.

 

Keywords: categorization, psychoanalysis, anatomy, femininity, Jacques Lacan, Martin Heidegger

Published

2015-11-09