This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (2) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Linstead, S. Articles by Pullen, A. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Gender as multiplicity: Desire, displacement, difference and dispersion

University of York, UK, sl519{at}york.ac.uk

Alison Pullen

University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, alison.pullen{at}uts.edu.au

This article argues that although gender is no longer widely considered to be a property of individuals, the alternative of viewing it in terms of performativity, where it is the outcome of linguistic and social performances, unnecessarily limits the possibilities of thinking of gender as a form of multiplicity that is both internally and externally differentiated. Any attempt to move beyond binary thinking in gender relations initiates a consideration of multiplicity, and the way in which multiplicity is conceptualized exerts a critical influence on the possibilities that are opened up. This article interrogates existing understandings of multiplicity and finds three actual or possible types - multiplicities of the same, characteristic of feminist approaches which we critique through a reconceptualization of desire; multiplicities of the third, characterized by anthropological, transgender and queer theory approaches; and multiplicities of difference and dispersion, typified by the rhizomatics and fluid theorizing of Deleuze and Guattari, Grosz and Olkowski. We propose an ontology of gender as a creative and productive form of desire, realized as proliferation in Deleuze and Guattari’s model of the rhizome. Gender identity is accordingly rethought as immanence, intensity and consistency.

Key Words: Deleuze • desire • gender • multiplicity • rhizome

Human Relations, Vol. 59, No. 9, 1287-1310 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0018726706069772


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. Pullen and C. Rhodes `It's All About Me!': Gendered Narcissism and Leaders' Identity Work Leadership, February 1, 2008; 4(1): 5 - 25. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Linstead and T. Thanem Multiplicity, Virtuality and Organization: The Contribution of Gilles Deleuze Organization Studies, October 1, 2007; 28(10): 1483 - 1501. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Linstead and J. Brewis Passion, Knowledge and Motivation: Ontologies of Desire Organization, May 1, 2007; 14(3): 351 - 371. [Abstract] [PDF]