Sexual subcultures Flashcards
What are different tyoes of capital that can be considered desirable?
- Economic: money, resources that reflect/reinforce socioeconomic class position
- Cultural: certain types of knowledge, behaviour and skills differently valued in different networks, communities and institutions
- Social: ties to other people
- Sexual: physical appearance and sexual tastes and skills; what is considered desirable reflects the particular sexual field
What is a sexual field?
A sexual field combines networks, communities, and institutions where people evaluate themselves and others based on norms and desirability within the field.
How has the internet influenced sexual fields?
It has created specific online sexual fields, communities, and preferences, decoupling collective sexual life from broader social control.
Why are LGBTQ bars declining?
- Rising property costs
- internet communities
- more accepting culture enabling LGBTQ individuals to visit non-LGBTQ bars.
What is meant by “cultural archipelagos”?
Queer life spread beyond a single “gayborhood” into diverse neighborhoods and cities based on race, gender, and class.
What is the history behind gay leather culture?
- Emerging post-WWII, it subverts normative masculinity while embracing hyper-masculinity and dominance/submission themes.
- Associated with bikers who wore leather out of necessity
- It also challenges normative masculinity by rejecting the necessity to identify as straight
- pioneered erotic practices avoiding anal sex as a safety mechanism during the 1980s HIV epidemic
What are “pop-ups” in queer nightlife?
Temporary events like amateur strip nights or multi-gender drag parties that continue queer culture despite bar closures
What is an example of a cultural archipelago?
- man-man: more likely to live in urban centers (more affordable because they are less likely yo raise kids than lesbians);
- woman-woman: more likely to live in smaller cities/towns (lower costs; they are more likely to raise children so they want to own a home, affordable living costs)
How is ‘kink’ different from BDSM? Simula
Kink is a broader term for nonnormative sexuality and includes interests like fetishes, cross-dressing, and voyeurism, while BDSM specifically involves bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism, and masochism.
What are the models of consent in BDSM communities? Simula
- “Safe, Sane, and Consensual (SSC),” emphasizing safety and sanity
- “Risk-Aware Consensual Kink (RACK),” focusing on being informed and aware of risks.
How did early studies view BDSM? Simula
- Early studies pathologized BDSM, viewing it as deviant or a psychiatric problem, but modern research recognizes BDSM as consensual and distinct from abuse or violence.
How is BDSM viewed in academia today? Simula
- BDSM is, by definition, consensual and therefore distinct from abuse and violence
- participation in BDSM practices is not, in and of itself, indicative of pathology
- BDSM is a complex social (not medical/ psychiatric) phenomenon, deserving of serious academic study.
What are some non-sexual meanings attributed to BDSM activities? Simula
can be seen as spiritual, therapeutic, healing, or a form of serious leisure with participants investing time and developing community identities
How do BDSM and gender intersect? Simula
- BDSM can provide a space for experimenting with gender roles, often subverting traditional gender hierarchie
- for some, BDSM identity is more important than gender and sexual orientation
What challenges face BDSM participants of colour in the community? Simula
- literature often lacks representation of their experiences, and participants of colour are more likely to socialize in private settings due to the overwhelming Whiteness of public BDSM spaces.
- growing number of BDSM groups organized specifically for and by participants of color, particularly in leather communities
What are the legal challenges that BDSM participants might face? Simula
- BDSM activities leading to bodily harm can be illegal, and participation has been used against individuals in legal cases
- laws are unevenly enforced such that individuals with social privilege (e.g., White, heterosexual, middle/upper class, and married) are much less likely to be prosecuted
- participation has been used against individuals in child custody hearings, wrongful termination suits, and many other cases in which BDSM is used to frame someone as “unfit,” “dangerous,” and/or “mentally unstable”
How does class intersect with bdsm? simile
- significant investment of economic resources required to attain status within the community, making entry to the community disproportionately available to high‐SES individuals
- competitive accumulation of expensive BDSM paraphernalia is used as a status marker in the het/pan BDSM community in the US Bay Area
Why are the effects of porn difficult to study?
- Issues with porn definition
- frequency assessment
- causation vs. correlation
- short vs. long-term effects.
How does religiosity affect views on pornography?
Highly religious individuals are more likely to have restrictive views on what constitutes porn.
How does pornography affect adolescent brains differently than adults?
- Adolescent brains are uniquely susceptible to porn
- Prefrontal cortex’s ability to measure and contextualise pleasurable impulses is not fully formed until early twenties
- Exposure to sexually explicit material results in primary indexing of their sexual framework.
- Porn can become both addictive and compulsive
What adverse effects can porn use have on adolescents?
- unhealthy sexual behaviour
- aggression
- mental illness
- unstable relationships
- reduced family formation.
What is the impact of porn on sexual aggression among adolescents?
- lead to more enactment of sexual dominance in real life = lower sexual satisfaction
What factors affect frequency of porn use among high school senior boys?
- Rule breaking behaviour 9drug use, truancy)
- High academic achievement
→ Perhaps because of time spent online - Having an employed mother
What factors affect frewuency of porn use among high school senior girls?
- Rule breaking behaviour
- Early sexual debut
- Penetrative sexual victimisation (forcible penetration)
How is problematic sexual behavior related to consumption of violent porn?
- Non-violent content: 1.8x as likely to engage in problematic sexual behaviour
- Violent content: 2.5x as likely to engage in problematic sexual behaviour
How does the frequency of porn use affect adolescent relationships?
Associated with poorer relationship skills and a lower ability to refuse risky behaviours.
What did a study from Taiwan find about the relationship btw exposure to porn and outcomes?
The more they’ve been exposed the more likely they are to:
- have early sexual debut (before 18)
- Unsafe sex (unprotected)
- Multiple sexual partners
What is the prevalence of porn consumption among U.S. adolescents?
58% of boys and 39% of girls aged 14-18 have watched porn.
What proportion of boys and girls learn about sexual pleasure from porn?
17% of boys and 4% of girls reported learning most about sexual pleasure and orgasm from porn.
How does frequent porn consumption relate to violence in Denmark?
Those who frequently consume porn are more likely to engage in physical violence.
Why has there been a rise in dangerous sexual practices?
Practices that used to be uncommon in general pop but are common in porn (Eg. Choking) are now common among young people due to porn
What is the riskof choking?
- Restricting blood flow to the brain even briefly can cause permanent injury
- Elevated risk of late onset mental illness due to inflammation response
How is the normalisation of dangerous sexual practices like choking a gendered issues?
- national probability survey of US (2021) researchers found that women are more likely to experience choking and men more likely to do the choking
- Men who watch porn are more likely to choke their partners because it is normalised to them
How does porn use affect relationship satisfaction?
- esp. among men frequent use is associated with lower relational satisfaction and increased likelihood of divorce
- The more religious a person the stronger the relationship btw porn consumption and sexual satisfaction
Why do 58% of people in the US find porn morally wrong?
- Christian nationalism ideology and religious conservatism more broadly is associated with support for banning porn
- Greater confidence in science is associated with lower support for banning porn although this association has grown much weaker in recent years (research has been disseminating more over years beyond political left)
What is the danger of an unrestrained sexual culture?
leads to emotional and physical hurting of others, callousness, lack of moderation
What does research suggest on the relationship btw porn and ED?
research suggests that porn use doesn’t cause ED
What has happened to the dating scene in the past 10 years according to Pew Research Center? NYT article- Emba
- Nearly half of American adults, and a majority of women, say that dating has gotten harder for most people over the past 10 years.
- Half of single adults have given up on looking for a relationship or dating, and rates of sexual activity, partnership, and marriage have reached a 30-year low
What is “heteropessimism”? NYT article- Emba
- regret, embarrassment, and hopelessness about the straight experience.
- posture used by young people to avoid feeling sorrow or acknowledging the pervasive issues in the current sexual culture
What are the different approaches to sex work regulation?
- Legalised
- decriminalised
- partial decriminalisation,
- criminalised
How did partial decriminalisation affect sex work in Sweden?
Sex work has declined in Sweden under partial decriminalisation, where selling sex is not illegal but buying it is.
What is the legal status of sex work in Canada?
- Selling sexual services is legal in Canada, but purchasing sex is criminalised under the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act
- Sex workers are considered victims of sexual exploitation under this act.
What factors are associated with men paying for sex? Video
- dissatisfaction with sex life
- having less sex than desired
- frequent porn use
- being low income.
What is the legal status of sex work in Nevada, and how do women work there? Video
- Sex work is legal in Nevada
- women work as independent contractors in Brothels with the house taking 50% of any transaction.
What are some of the regulations in Nevada’s brothels to ensure safety? Video
- panic buttons
- cameras and mics
- regular STD checking
- background checks.
What is the spectrum of sex work? Video
ranges from highly autonomous, such as Nevada’s brothels or independent escorts, to highly exploitative, such as trafficking or street solicitation
What are the types of sugaring arrangements? 60M
- sugar prostitution
- compensated dating
- compensated companionship
- sugar dating
- sugar friendships with sexual benefits.
What are sugar babies in Australia doing? 60M
- Sugar babies use it as a tool to pay their bills
- often young university students/econ disadvantaged women likely to be exploited/abused
- with relationships often reduced to financial exchanges
How did the women in Hoang’s study perceive sex work compared to factory work?
- saw sex work as an escape from low pay and harsh conditions in Vietnam’s economy.
- Vietnamese women made a better and safer living doing sex work than they would have in other industries
What was a key moral distinction sex workers made about their labor? Hoang
- distinguished consensual sex work from sex trafficking, which involves forced labor.
- Sex workers challenged media and NGO narratives about trafficked victims, asserting their autonomy and empowerment in sex work.
- saw their work as skilled labour
What did sex workers in Vietnam do to avoid arrest/detention? Hoang
- NGOs required them to present themselves as “trafficked victims” in order to qualify for aid.
- Many women adopted this victim narrative to avoid legal punishment
What was the role of Mommies and Bar owners in sex work? Hoang
- Ensured workers’ safety from aggressive clients.
- Provided a sense of community and workplace protection.
- Some believed that forcing women into sex work would bring bad karma and harm business.
How did Bar ownders profit from the the labour structure? Hoang
- Sex workers earned money through tips and sex work, rather than wages.
- Owners provided no base salary, meaning women relied on customer generosity.
- Women were technically free to leave, but economic pressures shaped their choices.
What kind of structural pressures were on workers? Hoang
- Women could technically quit whenever they wanted.
- mommies controlled access to clients, so workers who were not in good standing had a harder time getting picked.
- At bars where wages were not provided, women had to continuously bring in clients to sustain their income.
How did certain brothels in Vietnam challenge how sex work was carried out? Hoang
- some owners paid the girls wages that were double the factory salary
- empowered women to be selective about which clients they engaged with (avoiding aggressive men)
What moral and religious codes affect mommies in Hoang’s study?
- some mommies differentiated between earnings from tips vs. sex work
- Believed it was a sin for a mommy to take money from sex work
- moral system was shaped by Catholicism and labor ethics.
- maintained a sense of worker consent and control to retain trust.
What is the dominant narrative about female sex workers in Bill C-36? Raguparan
that female sex workers are inherent victims, a perspective reinforced by anti-sex work feminists and activists.
What are the three problems with the victim narrative applied to racialized and Indigenous sex workers according to Raguparan?
- It falsely categorizes racialized and Indigenous women who choose to sell sexual services.
- It creates a rigid victim model, even when some women do not conform to it.
- It discourages public debate by making the victim narrative unquestioned and widely accepted.
How does race impact perceptions of sex workers? Raguparan
- Women’s respectability in the industry varies by race, class, and sector.
- Street-based workers are seen as “unrespectable,” while upscale escorts are deemed “respectable.”
What quota system exists in Canadian escort agencies? Raguparan
Many agencies limit the number of women of color they employ to cater to white, middle-class, and upper-class clients.
Why do some racialized and Indigenous sex workers “pass” as white? Raguparan
To avoid stigma, increase profits, and counter negative stereotypes associated with their racial identity.
What strategies do racialized and Indigenous sex workers use to manage stigma?
- intentionally live a double life, keeping their work secret while maintaining family and community ties.
- To protect family reputation and advocate for sex workers’ rights in conservative or religious communities.
- They avoid the colonial narrative that all Indigenous women are sex workers by maintaining privacy.
How are racialized sex workers marketed differently from white sex workers?
- Indigenous women are marketed as mixed race.
- White and light-skinned women are given higher hourly rates.
- Black women are hypersexualized in advertisements with stereotypes (e.g., animal prints, food-related descriptions).
What role does class-passing play in the sex industry?
Workers adopt high-class personas (e.g., etiquette, dressing elegantly) to attract wealthy clients and gain economic and social power.
How do genderqueer or non-binary sex workers market themselves?
- They often market themselves as women to align with industry expectations.
- perform femininity
