Week 18 Flashcards
Post Modernism/ Post WW2
Response to war, science, rationality, race purity, nationalism, technology, consumerism, globalization, etc.
-Shift in thinking from universal & sameness to distinctions in sameness; seeks root in structures, focuses heavily on POWER
-Strong links to philosophy, Social-Political Theory, & psychoanalysis.
Destabilizing narratives & the idea of one single true reality:
All universal truths & assumptions need to be questioned & underlying agendas exposed; It takes Radicalism’s root further & wider.
Deconstruction
process of breaking down/taking apart terms, concepts, & ideas said to hold truth; to expose the power & politics embedded.
Discourse
-Includes both what we say & what we do everyday; Language & practice have power.
-Language is critical in the process of producing knowledge; we convey ideas, describe our world, label it; e.g. binary words & thinking
-But meaning of words is not fixed & emerges in context: Ex; Gay once meant happy. We can change meanings & practice in our everyday discourse.
Discursive Power
relations of power in a society expressed through language & practice; Power is with & through everyone; Hard to see & resist.
PostModern Feminism
-Need to question objectivity lying at core of modern thinking- can knowing be unconcerned or unbiased? no.
-Questioning includes both about the knower & about existence: ex, A woman- what is it?
-Categories that define us need to be deconstructed- we need to become participants in discourse rather than objects of it.
-Focus on structural patriarchy- there is a need to deconstruct phallocentrism & heteronormativity.
Post Modern & Post Modern Feminism Critiques
-Eurocentric focus; still predominantly white, upper to upper-middle class, colonial; This is the place where it seeks to deconstruct from
-Too Academic- not accessible
-Still predominantly binary in thinking: still heterosexual too
-Focus on how male self reproduces in society as a kind of universalizing & yet they say they are seeking to challenge/ move away from this type of thinking.
-Need to critically assess the exclusionary practices happening with both PostModernism & Feminism
Butler, Gender Trouble
-Challenged the biological accounts of binary sex & how feminists have used terms like sex & gender; the seemingly natural coherence of categories of sex, gender, sexuality, etc. is all constructed.
Performative
-Produces a series of effects; we walk, speak, & act like consolidate an impression of man or woman.
Gender Performativity
-speaks to both the individuals interpretation of self & to society’s interpretation of them (inward & outward)
-Gender is a stylized repetitive performative; Gender is real only to the extent that it is performative; it can be neither true or false, real or apparent, original or derived.
-In recent years has engaged with the trans community to amend the thesis
Judith Butler Imitation article
-Exploring the identity of lesbian & what it entails- it can affirm but it can also constrain, determine, or specify ones identity in ways that support homophobic and heterosexist thought.
-“Identity categories tend to be instruments of regulatory regimes”
-How the “I” gets determined under the category: Lesbians are more than a group who share coming out, sexism, & homophobia.
-She argues to destabilize these categories of gender & sexual identity; heteronormativity is a construct
-Because gender is constructed this allows us to express both a shared identity & individual differences.
What is Queer Theory?
Reclaim of word ‘queer’- celebratory of non-normativity, a unifying term for LGBTQQIA+ persons; QT began academic & spread culturally
Queer Theory Started
-In 1990s to gaps in gay & lesbian theories & other feminist theory; Overcome ‘regimes of normal’ & heteronormativity.
Teresa de Lauretis
-Describes 3 interrelated projects at play:
1) refusing heterosexuality as the benchmark for sexual formations
2) a challenge to the belief that lesbian & gay studies is one single entity
3) a strong focus on the multiple ways that race shapes sexual bias.
-De Lauretis proposes that Queer Theory could represent all of these critiques together & make it possible to rethink everything about sexuality.
Queer Theory (2)
-Combined with PostModernism there are arguments about the power of binary systems the seek to erase those who don’t fit into established categories.
-Focus on individual truths & self understanding that demands separation of sex from gender & sexuality
-Reject the traditional categories of biological or genetic male/ female; use term Cisgender
-Identities of sex, gender, sexuality are all fluid.
Queering
to make something previously unacceptable normal; Allow for new understandings of the ways we define sex, gender, sexuality.
-Utilizing Butler’s Performatives in ways beyond gender; Most identity markers have performatives aspects- e.g. race, sexuality, class, disability, nationality.
-Rejects identity politics that seeks to impose conformity.
Queer Theory Critiques
-Decidedly Western &/of Western contexts (also then arguably Eurocentric)
-Still partially imbedded in liberalism- reinforcing the ideas of Western-style freedom, liberty & individualism, making it possibly harder for social change by collective actions.
-Not enough research done on queer identities beyond North America & Europe.
-Too academic & complex?
-When applied so broadly does it lose meaning?
Pendleton
-Sex work often stands at the cross roads of Queer Theory & Feminism- provides a unique vantage point for critiquing heterosexuality & heteronormativity.
-Sex Workers are Othered; Disempowered & marginalized by other feminists; Seen as fallen women, victims of exploitation in need of protecting.
-Article speaks about lesbian sex workers- both categories of lesbianism & sex work destabilize heteronormativity, so linking them is critical political & theoretical move.
-Sex work IS work!
Sex Positive approach
inclusive & respectful of a wide range of sexual experiences, expressions, consensual activities & identities.
-A sex positive approach realizes the potential life enhancing aspects of human sexuality, & presents sexuality as something that can be valued & celebrated, thereby giving people permission to consider their own sexuality.
Sex Work
-Acknowledges that selling sex is a legitimate form of labour
-Does not conflate the act of selling sex with the human being engaging in this form of labour.
Prostitution
-Umbrella term used to encompass the entire complicated & diverse spectrum of sexual exchange for profit
-Legal term for actions that involve the exchange of sex for money
-Does not differentiate between the act of selling sex and the human being engaging in sex work.
Sex Trafficker
-Someone who coercively or forcibly relocates a human for the purpose of facilitating and profiting off of the sexual slavery of a human being
-May be domestic or intentional
-Some pimps engage in sex trafficking
-Statistics tend to also reflect research on consensual sex work, so difficult to know how prevalent this problem is.
Advocacy for Sex Trade Workers
-Takes 2 forms:
Abolitionist/ Anti-Porn
Sex Positive
Abolitionist/ Anti-Porn
Morally driven, believes that all exchanges of sex for money/ goods, are forms of violence. Standpoint of individuals with first-hand/ lived experiences frequently denied, patronized, “Saviour Complex”
Sex Positive
Trusts adults to define their own experiences; Respects choice & differentiates between consensual adult sex work & sexual exploitation/ abuse; Advocates for the right of sex workers to be safe & supported.
Criminalize
Activity is illegal & engaging in it is a criminal offence; Includes Nordic Model (Asymmetrical) which criminalizes the buyer of sexual services
Legalize
Making the activity legal; Often also involves regulations/legislations to regulate & control it.
Decriminalize
Remove criminal penalties from activity; Sex Workers receive protections & recognitions like other workers.
