A Study Of Virilio’s Gender Aesthetics

As a unique philosopher and sociologist in contemporary France,Paul Virilio mainly studies "Racing","Vanishing aesthetics","Perceptual logistics" and "Media Social Theory",etc.His research work is rooted in a persistent philosophical intervention in regard to science and technology,providing theoretical basis for the avant-garde fields of diverse disciplines.His "Acceleration" theory puts forward thinking of philosophical authenticity for the study of "gender Aesthetics".However,it is rare in China to discuss the current transformation of "Gender Aesthetics" from his "Acceleration" logic.For instance,Virilio reflects on a series of gender issues that emerged after the information revolution,including "Fast Food Aesthetics," "Recreational Aesthetics" and "Trans-Gender Aesthetics",as well as gender inversion,aging,anti-marriage and sub-replacement fertility.This article will attempt to explore Virilio’s gender aesthetics ideology and various abnormal gender aesthetics appearing in the information era,then enlighten and reflect on his gender aesthetics and transformation and crisis of contemporary gender aesthetics.Chapter 1,The Historical Changes of "Gender Aesthetics"."Gender Aesthetic" is not a fixed aesthetic concept,but will present different gender aesthetic characteristics with the development of times.This chapter mainly concerned on 3 aspects: In the agricultural era,gender aesthetics of the tradition and taboo were based on the gender concept of "male superior to female",thus presenting the male masculinity and the feminine beauty.Moreover,sexual confinement is under the ideological concept of "preserving the laws of nature and destroying human desires",advocates a gender aesthetic that combines the "Obscure Beauty","Spiritual Beauty" and "Moral Beauty" that are separated from the physical body.After the Industrial Revolution,people demanded the liberation of women to establish the gender norms of "equality between men and women".However,due to the rise of the “Consumer society”,the true liberation of females has been concealed by the overall “desire of consumption”.sexual consumption brings visually intuitive "External Beauty","Body Beauty" or "Beauty of lines" to themselves or others.After the information revolution,people are pursuing the "virtual beauty" produced by the virtual space on the Internet,along with the coexistence of multiple gender aesthetics,presenting a "diversified" gender aesthetic feature.Chapter 2,Gender Aesthetics from the Perspective of "Acceleration".As the speed of light,"acceleration" continuously changes people’s visual perception experience.This chapter discusses the gender aesthetics under the "Acceleration" theory of Virilio,which mainly presents "Convenient Gender Aesthetics" and "Simulated Gender Aesthetics".Also,"Acceleration" transforms materials into energy and light in the virtual space,changing the way of interaction between the two genders,and its gender aesthetics is moving towards the "transgender" era.Among them,"Convenient Gender Aesthetics" can be divided into four levels including "Sexual Hints" for instant transmission,"Sexual Behaviors" for instantaneous transmission,"Sexual Pleasure" for realistic sensing and "Sexual Safety" for permanent maintenance;"Simulated Gender Aesthetics" can be demonstrated by two main points: simulated "Sexual Objects" and extended "Sexual Organs".The trend of gender aesthetics towards "cross time and space" has changed people’s concept of time and space,even caused the decomposition of the existence of the subject of the gender.The "deletion" of the physical space between genders and the emergence of critical space dispel the spatiality of the interaction between genders;the illiquidity and the duality of time dispel the time linearity of gender perception.Moreover,"Real-Time" time replaces actual space;remote subject dissolves the authenticity of the interaction between the subjects of the sexes through telex communication,making the perception of the subjects of the sexes become inaccurate.Chapter 3,Virilio ’s theory of "Trans-Gender" Aesthetics.Based on the reflection on the speed of technology,Virilio believes that under the continuous development of technology,the gender aesthetics will move towards a "Trans-Gender" aesthetic that spans time and space,also across species.This Chapter will discuss "Trans-Gender" Aesthetics of Virilio by three sections.First,"Trans-Gender" embodies four aesthetic characteristics,including distant "Sexual Temptation",virtual "Sexual Pleasure",automatic "Sexual Eroticism" and super utilitarian "Sexual Aesthetics".Second,"Trans-Gender" brings people a kind of "super real" immersive aesthetic experience,while excessive immersion leads to dizziness,absence,fear and violence.Third,the main reasons for the formation of "Trans-Gender" aesthetics are science,technology and social culture.The most prominent of science and technology is artificial intelligence technology,which is committed to leap from virtual agents to physical agents;The social culture mainly influences and changes the trend of aesthetics towards "Trans-Gender" in two aspects: fast food culture and recreational culture.Chapter 4,Virilio’s Reflection on "Gender Aesthetics".This chapter will chiefly discuss the significance and limitations of thought in regard of Virilio’s "gender aesthetics".Above all,his "gender aesthetic" thought has vital significance.Firstly,his theoretical research surpasses the scope of traditional gender aesthetics research.Traditional gender aesthetics has not deeply analysed the thought of philosophical authenticity affected by science and technology on gender aesthetics.Moreover,his thinking reflects the forward-looking academic significance of looking into the future.Secondly,while technology is changing all aspects of people’s daily social life,his gender aesthetics is conducive to reflecting on the social issues in China including gender inversion,non-marriage,infertility,aging,etc.,having crucially practical significance.In addition,the limitations of Virilio’s “Gender Aesthetic” can be represented in two points: First,research objects of Virilio are based on French social culture,discussing gender aesthetics around the Internet,therefore,the singleness of his research object is inconsistent with the diversified gender troubles of Chinese society.Second,Virilio uses pessimism to discuss the philosophical reflection of modern science and technology,which lacks dialectical thinking to treat the influence of science and technology on gender aesthetics.