Deep-sea anglerfishes, often portrayed as monstrous yet desirable, reflect a fascination with oceanic depths shaped by anthropocentrism, speciesism, and ableism. Western scientific paradigms have historically framed these fish using reductive terminologies, now challenged by queer feminist blue posthumanities and wet cripistemologies. These perspectives reimagine human-nonhuman relations, critiquing biological reductivism and ableist biases.
This presentation aims to critically examine the Western discourse of marine science with regards to anglerfish’s reproductive behaviors, often described in terms such as ‘sexual parasitism’ and ‘sexual dimorphism’. It will highlight how these descriptions perpetuate ableist connotations in scientific and cultural narratives. I will connect these representations to neoliberal extractivist practices and the risk of instrumentalization of ichthyological research for human benefit.
Proposing the concept of hydrosexuality, a framework from queer blue posthumanities, I challenge dominant paradigms of reproductive knowledge and advocate for multispecies relational ethics. Hydrosexuality amplifies ‘crip desire,’ emphasizing corporeal interdependency and collective survival, encouraging adaptability and non-reductive engagements with marine life.
This presentation aligns with TTT’s focus on hybridity, body modification, human-nonhuman relations, evolution, plasticity, and the necessity of transgression in marine science. It explores new relational paradigms through artistic research while challenging ableist biases.
Ewelina Jarosz (she/they) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Media and Cultural Research at UKEN, Poland. Her current research explores the intersections of environmental art, queerfeminist blue posthumanities, queer ecologies, and activism of pleasure. They are also transdisciplinary collaborative artist working in cyber_nymphs art research duo with Justyna Górowska and they launched the hydrosexual movement in arts. They serve as a research fellows for the E.A.R.T.H. Lab at the University of Santa Cruz, California, and for The Posthumanities Hub, Linköping University. Ewelina is a co-founder of The Blue Humanities Archive, providing a network for watery artists and researchers in digital art and eco-technologies. Ewelina holds a Ph.D. in the humanities from Adam Mickiewicz University.
Their longstanding collaboration with ecosexual artists Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens resulted in the performance Cyber Wedding to the Brine Shrimp (2021) and the art documentary Cyber Wedding to the Brine Shimp. A Hydrosexual Love Story (2023).
Selected publications
Jarosz, E. Loving the Brine Shrimp: Exploring Queer Feminist Blue Posthumanities to Reimagine the ‘America’s Dead Sea’. J Agric Environ Ethics 38, 1 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-024-09934-0
Link: https://rdcu.be/d1gVO
Jarosz, E. Exploring ‘Ecosexuality’ As A Manual For Transdisciplinary Art & Research Practices And A Creative Concept for More-Than-Human Humanities. A Book Review Essay of Annie Sprinkle, Beth Stephens With Jennie Klein’s Assuming The Ecosexual Position: The Earth As Lover (University Of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis–London 2021), “Przegląd Kulturoznawczy”, Nr 1 (59) 2024, S. 246–265 Doi: 10.4467/20843860pk.24.015.20081
Stephens, B., Górowska, J., Jarosz, E., & Sprinkle, A. (2024). Making a splash: when ecosexual and hydrosexual unite in conversation. Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture, (63).
Link: https://www.benedettapanisson.com/news/antennae-issue-63-queering-nature-curated-by-giovanni-aloi
Jarosz, E. “Ecosexuality: art practices for queering the Earth, healing and recovering”, published in Routledge Handbook of Sexuality, Human Rights and Health, edited by C. Loggie, P. Aggleton, and R. Parker (Taylor & Frances 2024).
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