La mujer, el objeto y lo femenino : relaciones en suspenso

Abstract

This thesis focuses, particularly, on problems and questions arising from the book Seduction by the French philosopher and sociologist Jean Baudrillard. He states, first of all, that women can be understood as objects of desire or sexual objects. Such affirmation is obscure, suggestive and controversial in our times. Second, that the terms feminine and masculine expose two ways of thinking which are experienced by our societies, so that these terms are not reduced to the idea of a gender identity. Third, that the seduction, when understood as a social order of a ritual, as signs and appearances governed by the symbolic exchange, and related to a specific conception of the feminine, it cannot be reduced just to the previous moment of sexual intercourse. When taking a closer look to these three affirmations, it can be observed that there exist some tensions and tangled approaches between the theories of Baudrillard and some of the feminist theories from the 70’s and 80’s, in order to reflect on the different relationships between men and women nowadays, when there is a special focus on understanding the definitions of woman and the feminine, both as something related to seduction and as an object. In order to carry out this analysis, a review between Jean Baudrillard's theories of symbolic exchange and seduction and some feminist theorists by Luce Irigaray, Carole Pateman, Celia Amorós and Catharine MacKinnon, is presented, along with some contributions from Judith Butler. Secondly, to organize the route of the discussion following the notions of woman-object and the feminine within three different scenarios: as societies of gift and counter gift, industrial societies, and post-industrial or consumer societies.