Recognition Struggle: One Woman's Politics of Iconogenesis

Abstract

This paper focuses on the political project of Choi Fung, who has used herself, her body and performative actions to create a social movement. She exemplifies how young women can engage in feminist practices through a politics of iconogenesis whilst remaining marginal to the feminist movement. Rather than joining organizations, some women choose to re-invent themselves as women icons and politicize their life choices and sexuality to develop their own forms of social activism and articulate a new kind of politics that combines visibility and self-empowerment. Through the term ‘politics of iconogenesis,’ I suggest that the lone and seemingly erratic ‘icon’ may illuminate how individuals relate to historical shifts of political, social, and economic transformations in order to articulate their social critique. Therefore the ‘genesis’ of these icons constitutes a key site for investigation into the gaps and fissures of the feminist movement and civil society in powerful ways.