This item was submitted to Loughborough’s Institutional Repository (https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/) by the author and is made available under the following Creative Commons Licence conditions. For the full text of this licence, please go to: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ Queer Anarcha-Feminism: an emerging Ideology? The case of Proyectil Fetal by Gwendolyn Windpassinger Doctoral Thesis ‘there is an immediate need, a physical, carnal urgency that anarchism, reviewing its 19th century foundations, rejuvenate itself as a queer counter-hegemonic feminism, which dares explode the roots of domination contained in our hearts.’ (Proyectil Fetal 2007c) Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of a PhD at Loughborough University. May 2012 © by Gwendolyn Windpassinger, 2012. Declaration: I affirm that this thesis was composed by myself and that neither this thesis nor the original work contained therein have been submitted to this or any other institution for a degree. .................................................................. Gwendolyn Windpassinger May 2012 2 Acknowledgements My special thanks goes to Proyectil Fetal for producing such challenging work which has continued to draw my interest for these past three years. I particularly wish to thank Proyectil Fetal members Laura Contrera and Leonor Silvestri for giving me interviews and commenting on drafts. Many people have helped me along the difficult but also rewarding road to finishing this manuscript. First of all, I thank Loughborough University for funding my research and for generally providing an institutional framework which has allowed me to complete this work in a structured and efficient way. I would particularly like to thank my supervisors Dr David Berry and Dr Daniel Conway for their guidance. I am grateful for the vibrant anarchist research environment which is so unique to Loughborough University, as well as for the research community in the Anarchist Studies Network. I thank the colleagues with whom I’ve worked, particularly Richard Cleminson and Jamie Heckert, and all those who have invited me to speak at their conferences and events, as well as those who asked challenging questions on these occasions. I thank those who have given me the opportunity to publish, as well as the reviewers who have helped me improve the standard of my research. I would also like to thank my friendly colleagues at Loughborough’s department of Politics, History and International Relations, as well as my friends outside of university. Finally, while Proyectil Fetal have decreed the abolition of the family, I am deeply grateful for mine and wish to thank my mother Anneliese, my father Alois, my brothers Christoph and Patrick, my sister Susanne, and, last but not least, Soufiene. 3 Abstract This thesis assesses the degree to which the Argentinean activist collective Proyectil Fetal can be successfully placed within the context of three intersecting ideological strains: feminism, anarchism and queer activism/theory. Queer anarcha-feminism, the confluence of these three ideologies, is an emerging ideology developed by a number of groups and individuals around the globe. This is in part due to their conviction that anarchists should have something to say about sexuality and gender, and that queer theory and feminism can help define such an up-to-date anarchist politics of sexuality. In addition, some believe that queer theory and feminism should be grounded in the more comprehensive ethical framework provided by the anti-capitalism and anti- Statism of the anarchist ideology, rather than be complicit with capitalism and the State. As such, queer anarchists share queer Marxists’ concern with combining queer theory and anti-capitalism. The overlaps and the tensions between these three ideological currents and Proyectil Fetal are closely traced through a deep analysis of the latter’s blogs, internet pronouncements and discussions and actions. The core concepts of queer anarcha- feminism are all identified on their blog, and the group’s adjacent as well as perimeter queer anarcha-feminist concepts are examined in depth. It is shown how the latter are formed partly in response to the current political climate in Argentina. Finally, the reception of Proyectil Fetal’s queer anarcha-feminist ideas is examined in order to position their queer anarcha-feminism in relation to the political landscape of Argentina. Through this work, and drawing on Michael Freeden’s conceptualisation of ideologies (Freeden 1998), this thesis elaborates the first systematic definition of queer anarcha- feminism. 4 Table of Contents 1 Queer theory+anarchism: a new connection ................................................................ 8 Anarcha-queer activism .......................................................................................... 12 Conceptualisations of queer anarcha-feminism and their limitations ................... 15 Combining anti-capitalism and queer theory: queer Marxism and queer anarchism ................................................................................................................................. 22 Proyectil Fetal ...................................................................................................................... 25 Women and sexual minorities in Argentina............................................................ 25 Anarchism in Argentina ........................................................................................... 29 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 35 2 Studying a blog as a medium of ideology .................................................................... 38 Why Proyectil Fetal? ............................................................................................................ 38 Studying political ideologies ................................................................................................ 41 Defining queer anarcha-feminism based on Michael Freeden’s ideological framework ............................................................................................................... 43 Studying Proyectil Fetal’s ideology ......................................................................... 48 Studying blogs ...................................................................................................................... 50 Proyectil Fetal’s blog as an ethnographic document .............................................. 51 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 54 3 Defining a queer anarcha-feminism ............................................................................ 55 Anarchism ............................................................................................................................ 55 Core anarchist concepts of anti-Statism and anti-capitalism ................................. 57 A split adjacent anarchist concept of freedom ....................................................... 64 Anarchist perimeter concepts ................................................................................. 67 Feminism .............................................................................................................................. 68 5 Three core feminist concepts .................................................................................. 71 An adjacent feminist concept of equality ............................................................... 72 Feminist perimeter concepts .................................................................................. 72 Queer Theory ....................................................................................................................... 73 Feminism and queer theory – a false dichotomy? .............................................................. 78 Anarcha-feminisms .............................................................................................................. 80 The postanarchist influence on queer anarchism ............................................................... 86 Conclusion: queer anarcha-feminist core, adjacent and perimeter concepts .................... 92 4 Proyectil Fetal as queer anarcha-feminist ideologists (2007-2010) ............................ 96 Adjacent queer anarcha-feminist concept: communal individuality and the Nietzschean nomad ............................................................................................................. 98 The five core queer anarcha-feminist concepts ................................................................ 107 Queer anarcha-feminist perimeter concepts .................................................................... 122 Opposing violence against women and hate crime .............................................. 122 The nuclear family, gay marriage and its alternatives .......................................... 125 Sexual Luddism ...................................................................................................... 131 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 134 5 Proyectil Fetal’s queer anarcha-feminism as part of a mosaic of conversations on Web 2.0 ......................................................................................................................... 137 Proyectil Fetal’s activities and