Benhabib's Envisioned Agency: Does ecoporn unite theory?

Throughout Benhabib's "Identity Politics," the reader is made aware of some of the major problems faced by feminists (or rather, within feminism).  She expresses the struggle in defining the feminist paradigm because it is no longer a simple one because of all the different narratives attempting to coexist.  Because there are so many narratives, there's also no real definition, and instead chooses to organize her text by highlighting two very specific problems of contemporary feminism, which she also echoes by the end of her piece in the form of more formalized paradigms: (Benhabib 3)

(1) Neither the presuppositions, nor the consequences of the rapid shift from standpoint to the various other accepted postmodern feminism theories have been adequately analyzed.  

(2) The politics of identity/difference resulted in the lack of a collective in the feminist movement.

From these conflicts within feminist theory and movement, Benhabib points to the problems with both of the resulting paradigms: (Benhabib 10)

(1) Essentialism freezes women's identity in the role of the victim.

(2) Constuctivist theory, however, undermines the normative principles around which identity transcending group solidarities would have to be formed.

Therefore, in order for a successful feminist agency to be formed, it is necessary to develop "either a gap identity basis" or "a model of universalist social justice." (Benhabib 10)  She explicitly states, "The time has come to move beyond identity politics." (Benhabib 10)    

However, in order to even get to determining if there's a place for Benhabib's call for a collective unity and ending identity politics, we must deconstruct postmodern feminism theory(ies).  Smith's background on "Feminism in the Postmodern World" puts forth several different schools of feminism, most notably ecological feminists, socialist feminists, and standpoint feminists. (Smith 337)  Feminist Theory is a helpful video that outlines the history of feminism and current theories.

Most obviously, ecofeminism shares the same root as ecopornography- and the similarities go even go farther than that!  Not so surprisingly.  "Ecological feminists highlight earth cultures and natural preservation," (Smith 337) while ecopornography refers to a specific "type of contemporary visual discourse made up of higly idealized, anthropomorphized views of landscape and nonhuman animals." (Welling 57)  So, going off of these very basic definitions, both prove to have dalliances (at least surface-deep) primarily with the environment.  

However, upon further analysis and extrapolation in comparing these two theories, they fall short of being quite exactly the same thing.  Ecopornography also is a separate sect of of the overarching pornography industry (Welling 55) that focuses on revealing the wrongs of exploitation of nature existing as a feminine entity, an idea developed and made popular in the Romantic period of literature.  Ecopornography serves as a parallel to the wrongs that human females endure as a result of society's objectification of them, much like animals are objectified in popular television shows like Steve Irwin's The Crocodile Hunter (Welling 61) and in the Florida Panther Net, a popular "educational" web site base developed for K-12 students. (Welling 63)    

Based on this definition, one might make the jump to socialist feminism, which seeks to reveal oppression.  (Smith 337)  Both reflect an appeal for Marxist materialism, as they not only call for equality between the genders throughout society, but also ask for a certain space for themselves. (Smith 339)  In a similar way, the natural world craves its own space, completely free of human corruption.  Or at least with their interaction not consisting of directing for what will ultimately lead to its destruction.    

Standpoint feminism reflects "examination of the conflict between male and female activities in our culture from the perspective of the marginalized group." (Smith 343)  This ideal resonates with ecopornography because it focuses on the "silenced" perspective of the subject of current human entertainment, and as an extension, can comment how women's voices are silenced in what is known as Habermas' public sphere. (Smith 338)

Therefore, ecopornography shares common ground with some of the more distinguished contemporary feminist theories from the 1990s- on.  However, it shouldn't be employed as a unifying agent to break down identity politics, because if anything, it is a reflection of the different discourses taking place within the theory.  The paradigms have caused the development of new terms such as this one to explain new concepts and give them new identities, and therefore the agent of collectivity: (Benhabib 5)  

"The identity of every "we" depends on a power structure; collectivities constitute themselves not only by excluding, but also by oppressing others, over and against whom they define themselves.  In this sense, the identity of every "we" contains the results of collective struggles for power among groups, cultures, genders, and social classes.  A "we," a collective subject is formed by the sedimentation of such past struggles for hegemony."

So, no.  I can't confidently say that ecopornography unites theory.  But it is arguable that it represents a symptom of  the existence of slightly more unity within contemporary theory than Benhabib argues is nonexistent.

-Jasmine Spitler