Pleasure of Submission: Ethics and Politics of Masochism
CALL FOR PAPERS
for an approved special session at the
Northeast Modern Language Association Annual Convention
Toronto, Canada; April 12-13, 2002
Why do some people derive pleasure from receiving pain, from
submitting to another person's will and power, or from being debased and
abused? Is this simply a consequence of low self-esteem, inferiority
complex, or internalized social marginalization? Or could it be a form of
resistance (self-conscious or not) to the humanistic idea that strength,
dignity, self-assertion, and freedom are necessary componenets of a mature,
healthy, self-fulfilling personality? Does masochism exist only on the level
of individual experience or can one speak of a political masochism on the
part of certain social groups?
These are only some of the questions that might be raised by this
panel, which will address ethical, political, and theoretical implications
of masochism understood as a sexual practice, a lifestyle, a literary theme,
a social phenomenon, or in any other significant sense. While a number of
intriguing ideas have been made about its etiology, psychology, and social
implications, masochism remains one of the least coherently analyzed forms
of unconventional sexual (or more general) behavior. Perhaps it has been
difficult to theorize masochism because it implicitly undermines some of our
culture's most cherished assumptions about personal identity and
interpersonal relationships. Our prevailing ethical principles (for example,
consensuality, responsibility, respect, and reciprocity, to borrow the ones
privileged by the sociologist Steve Seidman) are based on controlling the
powerful and enfranchising the powerless. It is, therefore, easier for us to
understand and speak -- even if merely to condemn -- about those who abuse
power than about those who willingly relinquish it. If this is so, ethical
political, and theoretical analyses of masochism could shed more light on
the limits and blind spots of our culture's most cherished values and
beliefs and contribute to critical efforts to expose and question the
unacknowledged ideological biases of the humanistic understanding of the
Self and its relations with the Other.
Any papers or paper proposals (1-2 pages) addressing these or other
significant questions related to masochism are welcome and must be received
by September 15, 2001. I prefer email submissions, but proposals can also be
sent by regular mail:
Dejan Kuzmanovic
Department of English
University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point
2100 Main Street
Stevens Point, WI 54481
office: 715-346-4719
summer: 713-864-8840
For information on NEMLA 2002: http://www.nova.edu/~stoddart/
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