atheoryforthestrangegirl

A Theory for the Strange-Girl: Raw Red Text (2013/2017) is a manifesto written in response to A Theory for the Young-Girl (1999) by Tiqqun. Through a series of biting points it twists the body of the Young-Girl to that of the Strange-Girl, offering anyone a tool kit for resistance from the externalising demands of consumer capitalism, from within their own body.

First written as a thesis at Goldsmiths with the support of Mark Fisher, Kodwo Eshun and Catherine Grant, it was subsequently developed and published by COUNTRY MUSIC under the name Jennifer Boyd. Since its publication it has been distributed and read widely, at club nights, on syllabuses, and in reading groups, including at Monarch, Berlin, and Vårberg swimming pool, Stockholm as part of ENDFEST: €L€M€NT$, organised by Tamara Alegre. A sonic interpretation by Yantan Ministry with voice by Fer Boyd, Raw Red Redux, was released by Country Music in 2019. It was re-published in 2025 as the closing manifesto in Love & Lightning: A Collection of Queer and Feminist Manifestos (Valiz & Girls Like Us).

"In the face of increasingly hyperbolic forces there is a need for extreme forms of presence. The Strange-Girl is akin to potent objects, turbulent chemicals, and natural disasters: things which themselves are propelled by force. They cannot be reasoned with, they cannot be stopped. The Strange-Girl does not have a body, she is only known by the sensations of molecules, by the vibration of their potential. She is an invisible force that rattles the body – she is raw energy. The vital mode of the Strange-Girl is a force for action, which may now take form within your body."