DOCILE BODIES, SUBJECTIVITY AND SELF-CONSTITUTION IN WOMEN ON THE EDGE OF TIME

Year 2021, Volume: 7 Issue: 1, 27 - 42, 01.06.2021

Müge Karayaylalı Bayraktar

Abstract

Michel Foucault’s concept of docile bodies, in Discipline and Punish, draws on the theory that the docile body is a pliable object, in that, when disciplinary force is enforced through control and dependency, the subject becomes bound to the structure of such disciplinary practices. The docile body, then, according to Foucault “is something that can be made; out of a formless clay, an inapt body [from which] the machine required can be constructed” (Foucault, 1978/2012: 135). Foucault, therefore, suggests that the docile body is suited to be “manipulated, shaped, trained” willingly (Foucault, 1978/2012: 136). In this regard, he underlines the process of training, as it becomes a crucial facet of mechanics of power to impose its dominancy on the docile body. Upon analyzing the settings where individuals are trained to become docile and profitable as required- like schools, hospitals, prisons, and mental institutions- Foucault concludes that the purpose of such institutions is to create willingly obedient individuals, who respond to the designated task, which is given to maintain the statuesque, through normalizing and the internalization of surveillance. As a result, through the making of “docile, useful body”, as Foucault argues, “the body becomes a ‘political field,’ inscribed and constituted by power relations”. (Deveaux, 1996). On the subject of resistance, which is a rather controversial subject for the feminist agenda, Foucault argues “where there is power, there is resistance, and yet, or rather consequently, this resistance is never in a position of exteriority concerning power” (Foucault, 1978: 95). The selected novel, namely Women On The Edge of Time (1976) by Marge Piercy, presents intriguing perspectives on the concept of power and speculates on women’s agency regarding their bodies by implying the fact that socio-political agendas shape not only the technology but also the fields of medicine and science, leading to the ultimate manipulation of the female body. In this regard, one aim of this article is to explore feminist reactions to Foucault’s theories on body, power, and sexuality. Then, by utilizing these theories as analytical tools, this article also aims to examine the treatment and objectification of the protagonist in the narrative by medical facilities and the extent to which she is able to maintain the control of her subjectivity when faced with disciplinary forces as well as her individual integrity in society.

Keywords

Foucault, Docile bodies, Women on The Edge of Time, subjectivity, sexuality, power, feminism

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