Dedicated to extending the time in which i spend in my pyjamas, this is a chronicle of how well my sleepwear fairs in the process of being made re-public outerwear... Sleepwalking perhaps:

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

POWER IS SOMETHING THAT CAN BE ASSUMED OR DISCARDED AT WILL LIKE UNDERWEAR




Yet another day spent scantily clad... Today was interesting as i pushed both my limits of comfort and the limits of those around me to the maximum:

People really didn't know how to react. they would look, then look away and then look again. but this time really look... gaze... As Jeremy Bentham (1843) describes the objective for his desine for the perfect prison, is that the structure must allow for maximum observation. Furthermore, Eintwistle (2000) explains Foucault's take on this:

"This structure is used by Foucault as a metaphor for modern society which he saw as "carceral' since t was a society built upon institutional observation... with the ultimate aim to normalize  bodies and behaviour. Discipline, rather than being imposed on the 'fleshy' body through torture and physical punishment, operates through the establishment of the 'mindful' body which calls upon the individual to monitor their own behavior."
Eintwistle (2000)
In practice i had to monitor how i acted around people, how much of my body showed, how close my crotch was to them. It was as if they were saying, "i'm okay with you being naked, but do not bring your nakedness into my comfort zone."
Further more, I felt SOOOOOO out of place, but after a while it just became second skin around the people who had seem me already. Foucault agrees with me on this point:

"Once power has been invested in bodies, there inevitable emerge the responding claims and affirmations, those of one's body against the power... of pleasure against the moral norms of sexuality, decency... power, after investing itself in the body, finds itself exposed to a counter attack in the same" 
Foucault (1980)
So i realised that the ideas of power, discourse of power and reverse discourse of power actually do apply outside of the theoretical sphere..... BTW i got kicked out of KFC today for being indecent.... the nerve!

2 comments:

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  2. i think you are very comfortable in ur outfit...now vega is one thing id like to c you push it more and c if and where you could get away with ur lack of clothing ....(public vs private space?!)

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