Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Gender Studies and Sexuality, 2024
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Flowing Body: The Collision of Power Relations, Mind and Body Agency
Yuchen Li
ABSTRACT:
This article builds on the non-binary and non-essentialist theoretical feminism frameworks and offers a new perspective on how we view the body that goes beyond social constructivism by analyzing four different kinds of artworks about women’s bodies exhibited in art galleries and museums in Sweden. The author argue that body is a language of fluidity, closely linked to power relations, the mind, and its agency. Power relations relate to the normalization and control of the body by social structures and cultural forms. Individuals shape their personal ideologies by regarding the body as a tool or weapon, creating a binary perception of Self and Other. At the same time, the body itself has a unique agency reflected in the individual health and behavior. These three factors are intertwined and together they construct the multidimensional reality of the body. Thus, the author argues that the body is fluid and in a constant state of transformation. Every choice we make, and every way we “become” are the result of the interaction of these three factors. For social relations as a whole, we need to subvert capitalist patriarchy in a self-consistent way; but for the individual, although we sometimes oscillate among these three undercurrents, we can still achieve a balance by embodying agency and transforming our thoughts.
keywords: Body theory, Power relations, Agency, Art, Gender