OBJECT-ORIENTED FEMINISM IN THE POSTHUMAN ENVIRONMENT
Abstract
The article’s narrative begins by considering the negative attitude of women philosophers, particularly feminist philosophers, towards speculative realism (hereinafter referred to as SR) and object-oriented ontology (hereinafter referred to as OOO). This negation is partly due to anxieties of increased objectification. To dispel these anxieties, the article proposes such forms of objectivity as subject object, object as subject, experimental subject, disidentity, interject, hyposubject and others in their allures. In addition, it is suggested to re-evaluate the concept of thingification and return its own philosophical valuable connotations to it. The article displays that object-oriented feminism (hereinafter referred to as OOF) demonstrates its potential political, erotic and ethical advantages. OOF is considered in connection with agential realism, new feminist materialism, xenofeminism, queer theory and other related conceptions. Together, they best outline the posthuman context. It is displayed that OOF fits into the post-postmodern posthuman speculative turn while retaining the actual features of the postmodern linguistic turn. Similarly, in the context of OOF, the turn from aesthetics to erotic, from production to seduction, etc., is understood. In the article also the inception, development process, collaborations with OOO philosophers and the influence of OOF on them are researched. As a result, the intra-action in-between treating women like objects and treating objects like women happens. Thus object-hood, affirming the democracy of any objects, appears instead of objectivation, which fully corresponds to the posthuman intentions of the OOF and contributes to the formation of the posthuman environment. The article is written on a material of contemporary art and literature and, at the same time, ecophilosophy and bioethics.
Downloads
References
Alaimo, S. (2014). Sexual Matters: Darwinian Feminisms and the Nonhuman Turn. J19: The Journal of Nineteenth Century Americanists, Vol. 1, Issue 2, 390–396, 461.
Alaimo, S. (2013). Thinking as the Stuff of the World. O-Zone: A Journal of Object-Oriented Studies, Issue 1. Object/Ecology, 14–21.
Aristarkhova, I. (2016). A Feminist Object. In K. Behar (Ed.), Object-Oriented Feminism (pp. 39–63). Minneapolis, L.: University of Minnesota Press.
Barad, K. (2003). Posthumanist Performativity: Toward an Understanding of How Matter Comes to Matter. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Vol. 28, No. 3, 801–831.
Behar, K. (2016a). An Introduction to OOF. In K. Behar (Ed.), Object-Oriented Feminism (pp. 1–36). Minneapolis, L.: University of Minnesota Press.
Behar, K. (2016). Arbitrary Objects: Minimalism and Nonanthropocentrism. In K. Behar & E. Mickelson (Eds.), And Another Thing: Nonanthropocentrism and Art (pp. 22–33). N.-Y.: punctumbooks.
Behar, K. (2016b). Facing Necrophilia, or «Botox Ethics». In K. Behar (Ed.), Object-Oriented Feminism (pp. 123–143). Minneapolis, L.: University of Minnesota Press.
Behar, K. (2019). Objects that Matter. Bodies, Art, and Big Data. Katherine Behar interviewed by Anna Mirzayan. Chiasma, 5, 155–168.
Behar, K. (2015). Roomba Rumba. Retrieved from: https://www.katherinebehar.com/art/high-hopes-deux/index.html
Behar, K. (2016c). The Other Woman. In K. Kolozova & E. A. Joy (Eds.), After «The Speculative Turn»: Realism, Philosophy, and Feminism (pp. 27–38). N.-Y.: punctumbooks.
Belluccio, A., Nottebella C. (2016). Posthuman. On Posthuman [CD]. Sessa: Swiss Dark Nights.
Bogost, I. (2010). Object-Oriented Feminism. Retrieved from: https://bogost.com/writing/blog/object-oriented_feminism_1/ Published November 5, 2010.
Braidotti, R., Vermeulen, T. (2014). Borrowed Energy: Interview. Frieze: Contemporary Art and Culture, Issue 165, 130–133.
Campbell N., Dunne S. & Dylan-Ennis P. (2019). Graham Harman, Immaterialism: Objects and Social Theory. Theory, Culture & Society, Vol. 36, Issue 3, May 2019, 121–137. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276418824638
Clough, P. T. (2016). Notes for And They Were Dancing. After «The Speculative Turn»: Realism, Philosophy, and Feminism (pp. 59–70). N.-Y.: punctumbooks.
Colebrook, C. (2007). Narrative Happiness and the Meaning of Life. New Formations, no. 63, 82–102.
Evans, G. (2014). An interview with artist Helen Barff. In P. Harvey, C. E. Casella, G. Evans, H. Knox, C. McLean, E. B. Silva, N. Thoburn, & K. Kath Woodward (Eds.), Objects and materials: a Routledge companion (pp. 27–39). L.: Routledge.
Harman, G. (2010). Question Period: Stengers and Haraway on Speculative Realism. Retrieved from http://doctorzamalek2.wordpress.com/2010/12/03/question-period/.
Harman, G., Kaup, M. (2022, February 11). A Conversation with Graham Harman and Monika Kaup on ‘New Ecological Realisms’ (Part 2). Edinburgh University Press Blog: Connecting People and Ideas. Retrieved from https://euppublishingblog.com/2022/02/11/a-conversation-with-graham-harman-and-monika-kaup-on-new-ecological-realisms-part-2/
Hendlin, Y. H. (2023). Object-Oriented Ontology and The Other of We in Anthropocentric Posthumanism. Zygon. Journal of Science and Religion, Vol. 58, Issue 2 (June 2023), 315–339. https://doi.org/10.1111/zygo.12864
Hester, H. (2017). Towards a Theory of Thing-Women. Living in the Future, 4. Retrieved from http://www.litfmag.com/issue-4/towards-a-theory-of-thing-women/
Konior, B. (2017). Review of After the “Speculative Turn”: Realism, Philosophy, Feminism, ed. by Katerina Kolozova and Eileen A. Joy. Canadian Society for Continental Philosophy, November 27. Retrieved from www.c-scp.org/2017/11/27/katerina-kolozova-and-eileen-a-joy-eds-after-the-speculative-turn
Liptrot, A. (2022). The Instant. Edinburg: Canongate. Kindle edition.
Lunning, F. (2016). Allure and Abjection: The Possible Potential of Severed Qualities. In K. Behar (Ed.), Object-Oriented Feminism (pp. 83–105). Minneapolis, L.: University of Minnesota Press.
Lunning, F. (2016b). The Crush: The Fiery Allure of the Jolted Puppet. In K. Kolozova & E. A. Joy (Eds.), After «The Speculative Turn»: Realism, Philosophy, and Feminism (pp. 117–132). N.-Y.: punctumbooks.
Malabou, C. (2021). Le Vide Politique du Réalisme Contemporain. In C. Crignon, W. Laforge and P. Nadrigny (Eds.), L’écho du réel (pp. 485–498). Paris: Mimésis.
Mistry, R. (2013). Madonna and Gender Trouble. lasdisidentes, 15 march. Retrieved from https://lasdisidentes.com/2013/03/15/madonna-and-gender-trouble/
Morton, T. (2016). All Objects Are Deviant: Feminism and Ecological Intimacy. In K. Behar (Ed.), Object-Oriented Feminism (pp. 65–81). Minneapolis, L.: University of Minnesota Press.
Morton, T., Boyer, D. (2021). Hyposubjects: On Becoming Human. L.: Open Humanities Press.
Morton, T. (2013). Treating Objects Like Women: Feminist Ontology and the Question of Essence. In Gaard G., Estok S. C., Oppermann S. (Eds.), International Perspectives in Feminist Ecocriticism (pp. 56–69). N-Y., L: Routledge.
O’Rourke, M. (2011). «Girls Welcome!!!»: Speculative Realism, Object Oriented Ontology, and Queer Theory. Speculations II, 275–312.
Panayotov, S., O’Rourke, M. (2011). «X, Welcome!!!»: Stanimir Panayotov in Conversation with Michael O’Rourke. Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, Vol. 8, No. 2, Summer 2011, Issue 19, 97–135.
Rosengarten, M. (2016). Experimental Subjects Kick Back: A Provocation for an Alternative Causality in Biomedical Research and Bioethics. In V. Pitts-Taylor (Ed.), Mattering: Feminism, Science, and Materialism (pp. 284–299). N.-Y.: New York University Press.
Sheldon, R. (2015). Form/matter/chora: Object-oriented ontology and feminist new materialism. In Grusin R. (Ed.) The Nonhuman Turn (pp. 193–222). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Stengers, I. (2011). Wondering about Materialism. In L. Bryant, N. Srnicek & G. Harman (Eds.), The Speculative Turn: Continental Materialism and Realism, (pp. 368–380). Melbourn: re.press.
Stock, K. (2021). Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism. L.: Fleet. Kindle edition.
Suchman, L. (2011). Subject objects. Feminist Theory, Vol. 12, Issue 2, 119–145.
Taylor, C. A. (2016). Close Encounters of a Critical Kind: A Diffractive Musing In/Between New Material Feminism and Object-Oriented Ontology. Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, Vol. 16, Issue 2, 201–212. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532708616636145
Tuana, N. (2008). Viscous porosity: Witnessing Katrina. In S. Alaimo & S. J. Hekman (Eds.), Material feminisms (pp. 188–213). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Vivaldi, J. (2021). Xenological Subjectivity: Rosi Braidotti and Object-Oriented Ontology. Open Philosophy, Vol. 4, No. 1, 311–334. https://doi.org/10.1515/opphil-2020-0187
Zaretsky, A. (2016). OOPS: Object-Oriented Psychopathia Sexualis. In K. Behar (Ed.), Object-Oriented Feminism (pp. 145–182). Minneapolis, L.: University of Minnesota Press.
Copyright (c) 2025 Наталія Загурська
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication of this work under the terms of a license Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
3.gif){kind=logo}
