ABSTRACT
In response to the increasing socio-ecological devastation driven by neoliberal capitalism, a new type of radical minoritarian activism is emerging which seeks to increase the affective appeal of environmentalism for diverse people. One such group is the ecosexuals, who not only eroticize their environmentalism but also go so far as to seduce people into participating in environmental activism, via the facilitation of awe-inspiring experiences with/in nature. The aim of this chapter is to show how, by incorporating erotic tactics into their environmental activism, ecosexuals offer people a new intensified, pleasure-based environmentalism that is radically different from mainstream environmentalism. To this end, first, Herbert Marcuse’s theorization of the opposing pleasure and performance principles will be used as a theoretical backdrop to a discussion of how the ecosexual movement offers a new radically erotic environmentalism. Second, the ways in which ecosexuality further intensifies its activism, via the facilitation of what the author terms “awegasmic” experiences with/in nature, and the analogous significance of this, will be elucidated upon. Throughout the chapter, examples from the ecosexual Wedding to the Snow will be drawn upon, with a view to illustrating the abovementioned points.
