Feminist Child-Becoming – Utopia or a Future Perspective?

Abstract

In the article the author examines the argument that feminism may be understood as nostalgia for the early childhood that may be presented as a lost paradise, the utopian place situated outside of the patriarchal culture and oppression caused by it, and also as a space of safety, freedom, joy, spontaneity and omnipotence. The author introduces two possible understandings of the above-mentioned thesis. On the one hand, according to the psychoanalytic tradition but also the work of S. de Beauvoir and S. Bordo, the author presents the utopian longing for one’s own childhood and the neutrality of the subject outside power relations that may result in an ostensible revolt. On the other hand, however, using the notion of ‘becoming-child’ coined by G. Deleuze and F. Guattari and presenting it from the feminist perspective, the author shows the possibility of understanding the category of a child as the enfant terrible of feminism, which is valuable for future feminism.