Feminisms and fluidity: from breasted existence to breasted resistance in feminist theory and activism

Abstract

Dominant phallocentric norms call on bodies to fit rigid, static molds that do not allow for any flux or fluidity. It is necessary to note that these standards are a fallacy and that no bodies adhere to such strict structures. However, women's bodies are especially seen as going, and in fact do go, against these standards for what constitutes a proper body. When discussing the ways in which women's bodies act as sites of resistance against heteromasculine norms, their genitalia are often at the center of the conversation. However, we can take the discourse surrounding the fluidity of female genitalia and move it to a higher region--breasts. In Feminisms and Fluidity: From Breasted Existence to Breasted Resistance in Feminist Theory and Activism, I use the language and discourse typically reserved for women's genitalia in relation to breasts by looking at them as fluid sites of control and resistance. I discuss the physicality of breasts as being fluid in that breasts shift their shape with age and movement. I examine the way in which women's breasts are fluid in that they have the potentiality to produce fluids--breast milk. Finally, I expand our understanding of bodily limitations by examining both S/M and Crip Theory as ways to expand the margins of the body.