Being looked at by others, along with looking at others, is an important source of pleasure and pain around which a self and culture is built

The idea of how individuals feel when looked at or looking at others is one that I have been troubling myself with. The first piece was on branded clothes and identification. While that piece was the first in the order of writing, it will only be published by HSCR Press later this year, in a edited collection by Moletsane, Mitchell and Smith under the title Was It Something I Wore?

Agenda published the second piece I have done on the subject in its latest issue. I received a hard copy of the issue this past week. The issue is guest edited by the black feminists Desiree Lewis and Mary Hames under the theme Gender, sexuality and commodity culture. 

The piece I did, which was severely edited and shortened, argues that seeing or being seen by a sexual object – we are always objects of the sexual order aren't we? – is an important source of libidinal pleasure and pain around which a self and culture is built. Consequently, in late racialised capitalist culture looks (and inevitably subjectivities), cannot but become commodities. The possibilities that have opened up in focusing on dressed and undressed looks are terribly exciting. The abstract/paper can be found here. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10130950.2011.630518. I expect that I will do another, more readily useful, piece in this year on the matter, bringing into sharper focus generative masculinities.