Cette étude explore la transformation des critères normatifs qui donnent accès au statut de femmes respectables à travers le concept de nouveau sujet féminin discuté par Radner (1999), Gill (2008; 2012) et McRobbie (1993; 2009) où l’idée de recherche active de « sexiness » chez les femmes à l’époque contemporaine est centrale. Le post-féminisme, une formation discursive qui émerge dans les années 1980, est identifié comme étant à l’origine de ces transformations. Cette position identitaire permettrait aux femmes de résister aux stigmates attachés à celles qui se posent comme sujet sexuel actif plutôt que comme objet sexuel passif et conduirait ainsi à l’« empowerment » sexuel. Or, cette vision du nouveau sujet féminin est contestée puisqu’elle ne représenterait qu’une seule possibilité d’émancipation à travers le corps et deviendrait par sa force normative un nouveau régime disciplinaire du genre féminin. L’interprétation valable à donner au nouveau sujet féminin représente un débat polarisé dans les milieux féministes et ce mémoire cherche à y apporter des éléments de discussion par l’étude des motivations des femmes à s’inscrire à des cours de pole-fitness et des significations qu’elles donnent à leur pratique. Ce mémoire apporte des éléments à la compréhension de l’impact de cette recherche de « sexiness » sur la subjectivité des femmes à travers les concepts de pratiques disciplinaires et stratégies de résistance. / This study explores the new female subject of postfeminism centred on the idea of ‘classy’ sexiness that represents a transformation from the traditional bourgeois femininity focused on passive sexuality. The possibility for women to represent themselves as active sexual subjects is understood by postfeminism writers as a way to transgress the stigmata attached to those who do not behave as mute and passive sexual objects. This transformation in normative femininity have been criticised due to the fact that it may represents only one form of power given to women which is limited to the sexualised body and thus supports heteronormative relations. In this vision, the new female subject operates as a disciplinary discourse by the injunction to constitute oneself through sexiness. The interpretation of this new female subject causes divergent opinions within feminist circles. The need to obtain an interpretation of this new female subject that will take in consideration both the possibilities of resistance to patriarchy and heteronormativity as well as the regulative aspects of this limited version of femininity based on sexiness represents a tense fray in the feminist communities. This study aims to enrich this debate by gaining a deeper understanding of what drives women to enroll in pole dancing classes and what meanings they attach to this activity. The main objective is to shed new light on the impact of this search for sexiness on female subjectivities based on the tense relation between disciplinary practices and strategies of resistance.

Cette étude explore la transformation des critères normatifs qui donnent accès au statut de femmes respectables à travers le concept de nouveau sujet féminin discuté par Radner (1999), Gill (2008; 2012) et McRobbie (1993; 2009) où l’idée de recherche active de « sexiness » chez les femmes à l’époque contemporaine est centrale. Le post-féminisme, une formation discursive qui émerge dans les années 1980, est identifié comme étant à l’origine de ces transformations. Cette position identitaire permettrait aux femmes de résister aux stigmates attachés à celles qui se posent comme sujet sexuel actif plutôt que comme objet sexuel passif et conduirait ainsi à l’« empowerment » sexuel. Or, cette vision du nouveau sujet féminin est contestée puisqu’elle ne représenterait qu’une seule possibilité d’émancipation à travers le corps et deviendrait par sa force normative un nouveau régime disciplinaire du genre féminin. L’interprétation valable à donner au nouveau sujet féminin représente un débat polarisé dans les milieux féministes et ce mémoire cherche à y apporter des éléments de discussion par l’étude des motivations des femmes à s’inscrire à des cours de pole-fitness et des significations qu’elles donnent à leur pratique. Ce mémoire apporte des éléments à la compréhension de l’impact de cette recherche de « sexiness » sur la subjectivité des femmes à travers les concepts de pratiques disciplinaires et stratégies de résistance. / This study explores the new female subject of postfeminism centred on the idea of ‘classy’ sexiness that represents a transformation from the traditional bourgeois femininity focused on passive sexuality. The possibility for women to represent themselves as active sexual subjects is understood by postfeminism writers as a way to transgress the stigmata attached to those who do not behave as mute and passive sexual objects. This transformation in normative femininity have been criticised due to the fact that it may represents only one form of power given to women which is limited to the sexualised body and thus supports heteronormative relations. In this vision, the new female subject operates as a disciplinary discourse by the injunction to constitute oneself through sexiness. The interpretation of this new female subject causes divergent opinions within feminist circles. The need to obtain an interpretation of this new female subject that will take in consideration both the possibilities of resistance to patriarchy and heteronormativity as well as the regulative aspects of this limited version of femininity based on sexiness represents a tense fray in the feminist communities. This study aims to enrich this debate by gaining a deeper understanding of what drives women to enroll in pole dancing classes and what meanings they attach to this activity. The main objective is to shed new light on the impact of this search for sexiness on female subjectivities based on the tense relation between disciplinary practices and strategies of resistance.

[pt] Nesta pesquisa, tenho por objetivo criar inteligibilidades acerca da prática do pole dance, a partir da investigação dos discursos narrativos produzidos por mulheres da comunidade desta dança-esporte. Situado na área da Linguística Aplicada Contemporânea (MOITA LOPES, 2006; FABRÍCIO 2006), o estudo dedica-se à interpretação dos sentidos criados em narrativas orais (LABOV, 1972; BASTOS, 2005) contadas por pole dancers, a fim de entender a emergência de estigmas (GOFFMAN, [1963] 2004) e a construção de identidades (MOITA LOPES, 2002, HALL, 2005) voltados às praticantes e à própria atividade. A arquitetura teórica fundamenta-se em uma visão socioconstrucionista de narrativas (BASTOS; BIAR, 2015) e de identidades (MOITA LOPES, 2001) para a análise da prática discursiva avaliativa (LINDE, 1997; THOMPSON; ALBA-JUEZ, 2014) que traz à tona estigmas e ressignificações sobre o pole dance. O estudo tem a sua metodologia alinhada ao paradigma qualitativo de pesquisa (DENZIN; LINCOLN, 2006), com o corpus gerado por meio de entrevistas realizadas com alunas e professoras do estúdio de pole dance do qual faço parte, na zona sul do Rio de Janeiro. A análise microdiscursiva é baseada no Sistema de Avaliatividade (MARTIN, 2001; MARTIN; WHITE, 2005), integrante da Linguística Sistêmico-Funcional (HALLIDAY, 1994; EGGINS, 2004), para a observação das instâncias léxicogramaticais avaliativas que contribuíram para construção discursiva de estigmas e de identidades nas narrativas compartilhadas. As análises sugerem que as participantes se (re)construíram identitariamente na relação com suas vivências no pole dance, refletindo sobre questões de preconceito e do fazer do pole dance em si. As pole dancers pareceram reconhecer e reprovar a estigmatização que as rotulam negativamente e que confere descrédito a elas e à atividade que praticam, gerando contradiscursos de resistência e de ressignificação do pole dance. Nesse sentido, em geral, as dançarinas-atletas construíram o pole dance positivamente enquanto prática transformadora que proporciona às suas praticantes autoconhecimento, libertação, superação, despertar de forças, empoderamento e muitos outros aprendizados. / [en] This research aims to create intelligibilities about the pole dancing pratice through the investigation of narrative discourses produced by women from this dance-sport community. Situated in the area of Contemporary Applied Linguistics (MOITA LOPES, 2006; FABRÍCIO 2006), the study is dedicated to the interpretation of meanings created in oral narratives (LABOV, 1972; BASTOS, 2005) told by pole dancers, in order to understand the emergence of stigmas (GOFFMAN, [1963] 2004) and the construction of identities (MOITA LOPES, 2002, HALL, 2005) related to the practitioners and the activity itself. The theoretical architecture is based on a socio-constructionist perspective of narratives (BASTOS; BIAR, 2015) and identities (MOITA LOPES, 2001) for the analysis of the evaluative discursive practice (LINDE, 1997; THOMPSON; ALBA-JUEZ, 2014) which brings up stigmas and resignifications of the pole dancing practice. The methodology is aligned with the qualitative research paradigm (DENZIN; LINCOLN, 2006) and the corpus was generated through interviews with learners and teachers from the pole dance studio where I practice pole dancing, located in the south zone of Rio de Janeiro. The microdiscursive analysis is based on the Appraisal System (MARTIN, 2001; MARTIN; WHITE, 2005), part of the Sistemic-Functional Linguistics theory (HALLIDAY, 1994; EGGINS, 2004), for the observation of evaluative lexicogrammatical instances which contributed to the discursive construction of stigmas and identities in the narratives shared. The analysis suggests that participants (re)constructed their identities in relation to their pole dancing experiences, reflecting upon prejudice issues and the pole dancing practice itself. The pole dancers seemed to recognize and disapprove the stigmatization that negatively labels them and discredits the activity they practice, generating counter-discourses of resistance and resignification of pole dancing. Thus, in general, the dancers-athletes constructed pole dancing positively as a transformative practice which provides them with self-awareness, liberation, resilience, awakening of strengths, empowerment and many other learnings.