Languages Of Sex Flashcards
True or false. The concept of sexuality has one meaning
False
It has multiple meanings
No “one true meaning”
The concept of sexuality is also/has…
- Deeply complex
- Long history
- Clear social and cultural contexts
- Politicized
Sex and sexuality are closely linked to our “________”
It is assumed to be “________ & __________”
BUT is actually = “__________ ________”
Identity
Natural & spontaneous (sometimes cannot explain why you’re attracted to a person)
Socially constructed
What is sex?
- Biological category
- Chosen gender
- Act/action
- Embedded w/ assumptions (identity & practice)
- Assumed casual connection b/w biology & behaviour
What is sexuality?
- mysterious essence that attracts us to each other
- Set of practices
- Personalized sexual feelings/beliefs
- Aspect of identity (related to gender)
There is a continuing assumption of what 3 aspects?
These become constructed sites of “________ & _______ _______”
- Binaries: there are two sexes: male & female
(social assumption, heavily persuasive) - Distinction: two sexes differ/can be distinguished
(seen socially and biologically) - Polarization: two sexes are opposites
(“men are from Mars & women are from Venus)
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Conflict & power struggle
There are 3 beliefs that sex is…?
This creates a “________ ________”
- Overpowering biological imperative or natural force
- Mysteriously located in the genitals
-
act that bridges the divide
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Social(power) hierarchy
- “natural” heterosexual, genital intercourse at the top
- “deviant” practices at the bottom
Who decides what is right VS what is wrong?
What was traditionally the authority on sexuality?
- Churches & religious leaders
- Politicians & state leaders
- Experts & medical profession
Ex) need referral for gyno now through family doctors (hold lots of power)
Who was/is now the authority on sexuality?
All of the above still apply
No single dominant authority, though science still holds lots of power
- Influencers, movie stars & wealthy people
(“Lived-experience” don’t typically have any/little credentials) - Anyone w/ a social media account
- individuals
- organizations/groups
- activists/social movement
- bots
What created these changes in the authority on sexuality?
- Developments in psych in the 19th century
- challenges naturalism & essentialism
(reference to an inner truth/essence, assumes “in all sexological matters there must be a basic, uniform pattern ordained by nature itself)
- unsettles the solidity of identities -
New forms of social & cultural history
- re-examine past & open new interpretations - Sexual agency:
- social movements
- individuals
What is sexual morality?
Entails rules that guide “appropriate” & “inappropriate” sexual behaviours
What is considered sexually immoral varies over time
The social situation and context determine whether we see an act as sexual or not sexual…
What does this mean?
Give an example
Body parts and sexual acts have no inherent meaning in and of themselves — moral or otherwise
Ex) there is nothing inherently sexual about breasts
- it is the surrounding culture that labels these as sexual
Touching breast during college hookup = sexual
VS
Touching breast during breast cancer checkup = not sexual
= but it is the same act
What is labelling theory?
The idea that “deviance” is not inherent in the act, but only aquires an immoral meaning after being labeled so by a particular audience
Ex) Men can walk around public topless, but women can’t and would be charged w/ “indecency”
What is absolutism?
The belief that there are inherently right & wrong moral meanings that stretch across cultures and history
Sexual morality is also based on “________ _______” phenomenon
culturally relativist phenomenon:
- if one wants to understand it = best analyzed according to community standards of the cultural context in which it occurs (rather than applying ones ethnocentric notions)
What happened in North America in the 1980’s?
New conservative forces (New Right, Moral Majority, Christen Right etc…) mobilized the = CULTURE WARS
Hostility to homosexuality, sexual diversity & gender ambiguity
Strong assertion of traditional demarcations b/w the sexes
Institutionalized forms of homophobia, transphobia and biphobia
Sex has become, “the truth of our being”…
What French philosopher said this famous quote?
Michel Foucault
Sexuality is a focus for powerful feelings, making it a transmission belt for a wide variety of needs and desires…
What are some of these?
Love, anger, tenderness, aggression, intimacy, adventure, romance, predatoriness, altruism, exploitation, pleasure & pain, care & violence, empathy & power
What were the ‘culture wars’?
In North America and Europe in the 1980’s, new conservative forces (variously called the New Right, the Moral Majority, the Christian Right etc…)
^ These mobilized considerable political energies = known as culture wars
- fierce affirmiation of the sanctity of family life
- hostility to homosexuality
- sexual diversity & gender ambiguity
- strong reassertion of traditional demarcations b/w the sexes
- institutionalized forms of homophobia, transphobia and biphobia
What are ‘fundamentalists’?
Responded to the uncertainty and ambiguity surrounding sexuality = search for meaning and clarity
Whether Christian, Islamic, Jewish or Hindu… OR no settled religion
Their efforts were to go back to the future by reconstructing neo-traditional societies
Marked by rigid distinctions b/w men & women
Harsh punishment of sexual transgressors
Bitter rejection of Western secularism
Has homosexuality always been tabooed?
No
There have been various forms of institutionalised homosexuality
Ex. puberty rites in various tribal societies
Ex. pedagogic relations between older men and youths (as
in Ancient Greece)
Ex. integrated transgender partnerships (the berdache) among native Americans
Ex. trans identities among other peoples, from Brazil to the Philippines
What are the ‘who restrictions’ VS the ‘how restrictions’?
These regulations take many forms: “______ & _______, _______& ____- _____”
These restrictions are usually different for men and women, adults and children, minority’s and majority’s etc…
‘Who restrictions’ —> concerned w/ the gender of the partners, the species, age, kin, caste, or class which limit whom we may take as partners
‘How restrictions’ —> have to do w/ the organs that we use, the orifices we may enter, the manner of sexual involvement and sexual intercourse:
- what we may touch, when we may touch, with what frequency etc…
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Formal & informal, legal & extra-legal
