Din skulder, nylon, mit spænde: Fetichens væsen og virkning i seksualitet og æstetik

Based on a historical-etymological account of the fetish as concept and phenomenon the dissertation outlines ontological qualities of the fetish and uses the hypothetical definition to text readings of Alfred Binet, Richard von Krafft-Ebing and Sigmund Freud, who have contributed to early understanding of sexual fetishism.

Combining the definition with Gilles Deleuze’s virtuality concept the internal paradoxes of the fetish will turn out explanatory and pointing at new and not yet reviewed aspects of the fetish phenomenon. Seven qualitative interviews with Danish women will provide the dissertation with empirical proposals of what ’sex’ and ’sexuality’ is and what objects can mean and do in a sexual context. These results function as inspirational reality before leaping into the second theory chapter consisting of readings of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Steve Finbow, Slavoj Žižek, and Mario Perniola.

The ballet performance Interpassivities co-produced in with Danish visual artist Jesper Just will serve as an empiricist-theoretical feature. In connection to the artistic contribution new ways to do fetish aesthetically and methodologically will be examined. A final theory chapter presents a discussion of Karl Marx, Prasad Boradkar and Bjørn Schiermer Andersen in order to emphasize the sexual- aesthetic spectrum of the fetish as well as sketch potential ideas for the use of aesthetic fetishism in product design.