Objects of Desire: Toward an Ethics of Sameness

Authors

Amber Jamilla Musser, Washington University in St LouisFollow

Author's School

College of Arts and Sciences

Author's Department

Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies

Additional Affiliations

Assistant Professor, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program; Faculty with the Feminist Critical Analysis Seminar

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

1-1-2013

Originally Published In

Amber Jamilla Musser. "Objects of Desire: Toward an Ethics of Sameness." Theory & Event 16.2 (2013).

Abstract

Through an examination of objectum sexuality, an orientation in which people sexually orient themselves toward objects, this essay reflects on what constitutes sexuality, the nature of intimacy, and the agency of objects. Using the discourse of similarity, I suggest that we read objectum sexuality as a mode of understanding subjectivity under neoliberalism. I also suggest, however, that we read it as a phenomena that could open into an alternate set of ethics. More specifically, I argue that objectum sexuality allows us to think critically about the displacement of the subject, the animacy of objects, and understandings of attachment.

Comments

Originally published in Theory and Event vol. 16, no. 2. © 2013 by Amber Jamilla Musser and The Johns Hopkins University Press, http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/theory_and_event/v016/16.2.musser.html

Recommended Citation

Musser, Amber Jamilla, "Objects of Desire: Toward an Ethics of Sameness" (2013). Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies Research. 6.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/wgss/6