Flowing Body: The Collision of Power Relations, Mind and Body Agency

Abstract

This article constructs a novel theoretical framework for understanding the body in feminist theory by critically engaging with existing non-binary and non-essentialist views. It advances upon foundational critiques, particularly those by Haraway, Connell, and Butler, integrating the dynamics of body agency, power relations, and mind to propose a more fluid and intersectional approach to body politics. The new framework posits the body as an active participant in its continuous formation, interacting with and reshaping societal norms and expectations. Empirically, the paper analyzed four artworks displayed in art galleries and museums in Lund and Malmö in Sweden as case studies, focusing on how these works represent and shape notions of the female body across various themes including beauty, reproduction, migration, and sexuality. These artworks serve as a medium to explore how corporeal experiences are constructed through the interplay of power relations, mind, and body agency. Through critical analyses of theory and textual analyses of artworks, this paper points out that the body is a language of fluidity, simultaneously influenced and shaped by power relations, the mind, and its agency. Feminism should treat the body more carefully, avoiding biological essentialism or absolute social constructs.