2. Abject Bodies in Society
First of all, there are countless different people in the world. Everyone has a different body shape, different eyes or skin color. Each individual is unique in its own way. Yet, there are some criteria existing which determine whether you fit in into social ideologies or not. First of all, it is important to underline and explain the existence and meaning of the abject itself. In her famous essay “Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection”, Julia Kristeva comes across issues of how to actually define the abject, yet she says that she is “beset by abjection, the twisted braid of affects and thoughts I call by such a name does not have, properly speaking, a definable [object]” (1). As mentioned above, the abject is …show more content…
Furthermore, she explains that a corpse is “[…] the most sickening of wastes, is a border that has encroached upon everything. It is no longer I who expel, “I” is expelled. The border has become an object” (3-4). Kristeva refers here to the shift of subject turning into an object, this event does not always happen voluntarily, as we cannot control the occurrence of death and turning bodies into corpses. One can imagine seeing the corpse of a beloved or known person. Although you know this person, it is no longer a person but a corpse, therefore the feeling of uncanniness arises and crosses the border between object and abject. Kristeva has explained such a situation as “[t]he “unconscious” contents remain here [excluded] but in strange fashion: not radically enough to allow for a secure differentiation between subject and object […]” …show more content…
How Bodies Come to Matter: An Interview with Judith Butler. 277). Butler does not only refer to feminist approaches to the issue but all over includes policy and politics. Therefore, abject bodies are clearly created through our political western society standards. There would not be an abject type of body if there were not rules and boundaries which create a transformation between an object and subject in the meaning of abject and non-abject body types. Thus, people who are considered as not part of society, referring to sexual preferences, looks or behavior, unwillingly become an abject body in
First of all, there are countless different people in the world. Everyone has a different body shape, different eyes or skin color. Each individual is unique in its own way. Yet, there are some criteria existing which determine whether you fit in into social ideologies or not. First of all, it is important to underline and explain the existence and meaning of the abject itself. In her famous essay “Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection”, Julia Kristeva comes across issues of how to actually define the abject, yet she says that she is “beset by abjection, the twisted braid of affects and thoughts I call by such a name does not have, properly speaking, a definable [object]” (1). As mentioned above, the abject is …show more content…
Furthermore, she explains that a corpse is “[…] the most sickening of wastes, is a border that has encroached upon everything. It is no longer I who expel, “I” is expelled. The border has become an object” (3-4). Kristeva refers here to the shift of subject turning into an object, this event does not always happen voluntarily, as we cannot control the occurrence of death and turning bodies into corpses. One can imagine seeing the corpse of a beloved or known person. Although you know this person, it is no longer a person but a corpse, therefore the feeling of uncanniness arises and crosses the border between object and abject. Kristeva has explained such a situation as “[t]he “unconscious” contents remain here [excluded] but in strange fashion: not radically enough to allow for a secure differentiation between subject and object […]” …show more content…
How Bodies Come to Matter: An Interview with Judith Butler. 277). Butler does not only refer to feminist approaches to the issue but all over includes policy and politics. Therefore, abject bodies are clearly created through our political western society standards. There would not be an abject type of body if there were not rules and boundaries which create a transformation between an object and subject in the meaning of abject and non-abject body types. Thus, people who are considered as not part of society, referring to sexual preferences, looks or behavior, unwillingly become an abject body in