Seminar: Studies in Contemporary Rhetoric
Speech Communication 632
Department of Speech Communication
California State University, Northridge
Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality
Gayle Rubin
Outline by Michelle Hardey, 04/13/97
I. The Sex Wars
A. "The time has come to think about sex" (3).
1. There are times, like the present, when we live with the
possibility of destruction that people become crazed
about sexuality.
2. Sexual values and erotic conduct "acquire immense symbolic
weight" (4).
3. "Sexuality should be treated with special respect in times
of great social stress" (4).
4. Within the realm of sexuality we can find issues of
politics, inequality, and oppression.
5. Is should be noted that sex is always political.
B. The nineteenth century has left it's imprint on modern day.
1. It has left attitudes on sex.
2. It has left attitudes on medical practices.
3. It has left attitudes on child-rearing.
4. It has left attitudes on parental anxiety.
5. It has left attitudes on police conduct.
6. It has left attitudes on sex law.
7. "The idea that masturbation is an unhealthy practice is
part of this heritage" (4).
C. Many of the sex laws currently on the books are from
the nineteenth century.
1. 1873- The Comstock Act named for Anthony Comstock.
2. 1910- The Mann Act, also known as the White Slave Traffic
Act
3. 1950's- saw sex offenders become the object of public
fear and scrutiny.
a. molesters
b. rapists
c. sex offender became a code word for homosexual
to police
4. 1940's-1960's- erotic communities drew intense
persecution.
5. homosexuals were the objects of witch hunts and purges
that lasted into the 1970's.
6. 1977- campaign to repeal the Dad County gay rights
ordinance.
a. inaugurated a new wave or violence
b. inaugurated a new wave of state persecution
c. inaugurated a new wave of legal initiatives
These were directed against the minority sexual population
and the sex industry.
(1) the motto for the repeal campaign was "Save Our
Children" because homosexuals were trying to
recruitment, yeah right!
(2) a new bill that is even tougher against child
porn has passed the house 400-1 which
allows the prosecution of anyone even
possessing a snapshot of a minor (sexual) could
go to jail for fifteen years.
D. "Like communists in the 1950's, boy-lovers are so stigmatized
that it is difficult to find defenders for their civil liberties" (7).
1. The police have focused on them.
2. "Local police, the FBI, and watchdog postal inspectors
have joined a huge apparatus whose sole aim
is to wipe out the community of men who love underage
youth" (7).
3. It will take about twenty years or so for this wave
to pass but by then many lives will have been shattered
and many will be embarrassed to have associated with this
scam but it will be to late.
4. "During this period (1950's) Alfred Kinsey and his
Institute were attacked for weakening the moral
fiber of Americans and rendering then vulnerable to
communist influence" (7-8).
E. "Right-wing opposition to sex education, homosexuality, pornography,
abortion, and pre-marital sex moved from the fringes to the political
center stage after 1977, when right-wing strategists and
fundamentalists religious crusaders discovered that these issues had
mass appeal" (8).
1. 1980's held success for the right wing electoral because
of the stance on sexual issues.
2. "Organizations like the Moral Majority and Citizens for Decency
have acquired mass following, immense financial resources, and
anticipated clout" (8).
3. The Equal Rights Amendment has basically been defeated.
a. There are new restrictions on abortion.
b. There are new restrictions on organizations like Planned
Parenthood.
c. sex education has been slashed.
d. It is now more difficult for teenagers to get birth control
e. the backlash has successfully attacked the Women's Studies
program at CSU-Long Beach.
4. The Family Protection Act of 1979.
a. It is a basic assault on feminism.
b. It is an assault on homosexuals
c. It is an assault on non-traditional families
d. It is an assault on teenage sexual privacy
e. Although this bill will probably never pass in its entirety
Congress has continued to pursue it in a more piecemeal
fashion.
F. Rubin's thesis is simple : "I will propose elements to contribute
to the pressing task of creating an accurate, humane, and genuinely
liberatory body of thought about sexuality.
II. Sexual Thoughts
A. Thoughts about sex "tend to appear in different political contexts,
acquiring new rhetorical expressions but reproducing fundamental
axioms" (9).
1. One axiom is sexual essentialism.
a. Western societies believe that sex is unchanging.
b. western societies believe that sexuality has
no history and no significant social determinants.
2. Now emerging is a sophisticated historical and theoretical
scholarship which challenges sexual essentialism both explicitly
and implicitly.
a. Jeffrey Weeks - shows that homosexuality, as we know it, is
a relatively modern institutional
complex.
b. Judith Walkowitz - demonstrated that prostitution was
transformed around the turn of the century.
c. Michel Foucault- "criticizes the traditional understanding
of sexuality as a natural yearning to break free of social
constraint" (10).
(1) "He emphasizes the generative aspects of social
organization of sex rather than its repressive
elements by pointing out that new sexualities are
constantly produced" (10).
(2) there are major discontinuity between kinship-based
systems of sexuality and more modern forms.
B. The new scholarship has given sex a history and created an alternate
to sexual essentialism - constructivist.
1. sexuality is constructed in society and history, not
biology.
a. the body, brain, genitalia, and language are required for
human sexuality.
b. but they do not determine its content, experiences,
or institutional forms
c. we can never see the body without the influence of culture.
2. Sexuality is a human product.
C. The constructivist perspective does have some weak points.
1. "Foucault has been vulnerable to interpretations that deny or
minimize the reality of sexual repression in the more
political sense" (10).
2. We must recognize repressive phenomena without going
back to the essentialist perspective.
3. "It is often easier to fall back on the notion of
a natural libido subjected to inhumane repression
than to reformulate concepts of sexual injustice within
a more constructivist framework. But it is essential
that we do so" (11).
D. There are five other ideological formations on sexual thought.
1. sex negativity
2. the fallacy of misplaced scale
3. the hierarchical valuation of sex acts.
4. the domino theory of sexual peril
5. the lack of a concept of benign sexual variation.
E. The most important ideological formations is sex negativity.
1. Most Christian traditions hold sex as inherently sinful.
2. This culture treats sex with suspicion.
a. Virtually all erotic behavior is bad unless there
is a specific reason to exempt it.
b. The acceptable excuse is marriage, reproduction, and
love.
3. (Sontag) Since Christianity focused on sexual behavior as
bad then everything else is a special case in our society.
4. "Modern Western societies appraise sex acts according to
a hierarchical system of sexual value" (11).
Marital, reproductive heterosexuals
__________________
unmarried monogamous heterosexual couples
most other heterosexuals
solitary sex
________________
stable long-term homosexual couples
_________________
Bar dykes and promiscuous gay men
_________________
transsexuals, transvestites,
fetishists, sadomasochists, sex workers
__________________
pedophiles
5. Those with high hierarchical order have respectability,
are legal, have mobility, support, and benefits.
6. The lower you fall the less you have.
7. "The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
and Physical Disorders (DSM) of the American
Psychiatric Association (APA) is a fairly reliable map of
the current moral hierarchy of sexual activity"(12).
a. In the new edition homosexuality has finally been
removed as a disorder.
b. Fetishism, sadism, masochism, transsexuality,
transvestitism, exhibitionism, voyeurism, and
pedophilia are still considered disorders.
F. According to the first diagram in the article, good sexuality should
be heterosexual, marital, monogamous, reproductive, and
non-commercial.
1. It should be coupled, relational, same generation, and occur at
home (boring)
(Note from Ben: Is a "homosexual" someone who has sex at home?)
2. it should not involve pornography, fetish object, sex toys, or
reversal of roles. (boring)
G. Bad sex could be homosexual, unmarried, promiscuous, non
procreative, or commercial.
1. you can masturbate, have orgies, casual sex is fine,
cross generational, and you can do it in public (like bushes or
baths)
2. you can watch porn, use fetish objects, sex toys, or unusual
roles.
H. Diagram 2 explains where the lines are drawn between good and bad sex
and we are not talking about whether you have an orgasm or not.
Good sex Major areas of contest Bad sex
~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~
Normal, natural, unmarried heterosexual couples Abnormal, unnatural
healthy,holy, promiscuous heterosexuals, sick,sinful, way out
heterosexual, masturbation, long term transvestites,
married, monogamous, homosexual couples transsexuals,
reproductive, feteishists, bar and
at home bed hopping
lesbians
sadomasochists,
and gay men for money
cross generational
I. Sexual morality has a lot in common with ideologies of racism.
1. It grants virtue to dominant groups
2. No matter what the sex act may be it should not be ethical
concerns
3. "It is difficult to develop a pluralistic sexual
ethics without a concept of benign sexual variation" (15).
a. variation is fundamental property of all life
b. Yet it is suppose to conform to a single standard.
4. Alfred Kinsey- gave his work a refreshing neutrality
and caused immense controversy.
III. Sexual Transformation
A. Industrialization and urbanization gave rise to a new sexual system.
B. "The writings of nineteenth-century sexology suggest the appearance of
a kind of speciation" (16).
1. Homosexuality is an example of erotic speciation.
2. "In modern, Western societies homosexuals have acquired
much of the institutional structure of an ethnic group" (17).
C. As laborers migrated to the cities they formed communities.
1. Homosexuality were vulnerable and isolated in
the pre-industrialized communities.
2. they began to migrate to the cities and form
communities as well.
D. Prostitution has also gone under a metamorphosis.
1. Prostitution was once a temporary job, now it is a more
permanent occupation.
2. This change is a result of 19th century agitation,
legal reform, and police persecution.
E. "Prostitutes and homosexuals are the primary prey for
vice police everywhere" (18).
IV. Sexual Stratification
A. "The industrial transformation of Western Europe and
North America brought about new forms of social stratification"
(18).
1. Sex law is probably the biggest contributor to stratification and
erotic persecution.
2. The state continuously involves itself in the area of
sexual behavior yet it would not be tolerated in
other areas of social life.
3. The punishment for violating sex statutes in completely out of
proportion to any other social or individual harm.
B. Once erotic activity has been placed into the "bad" category the
states enforces conformity to the values embedded within the law.
1. Sex laws are easy to pass.
2. once passed they are difficult to dislodge.
C. "Sexual variation per se is more specifically policed by the
mental-health profession, popular ideology, and
extra-legal social practice" (19).
1. Areas of sexual behavior do not become issues of
laws until there is social concern and political uproar.
2. "The legal sediment is thickest-and sex law has its greatest
potency - in areas involving obscenity,
money, minors, and homosexuality" (19).
D. The only thing that distinguishes sexual generations is the
age of consent laws.
E. "Adults who deviate too much from conventional standards
of sexual conduct are often denied contact with the young,
even their own" (20).
1. The laws permit the state to take children away
from anyone whose erotic activity appears to be
questionable. (In who's judgment?)
2. Teachers are monitored for signs of sexual misconduct.
3. Professors and teachers could lose their tenure for
moral turpitude.
4. Only consensual sex between married heterosexual
couples is legal in all the states.
F. It is unfortunate that laws like these exist, when the act
occurs between two consenting people.
1. "State prohibition of same sex conduct, anal penetration, and
oral sex make homosexuals a criminal group denied the privileges
of full citizenship" (21).
2. "Prosecution becomes Persecution" (21).
3. People are not allowed to immigrate to the U.S. if
they admit that they are homosexuals or other deviates.
4. "At worst, sex law and sex regulation are simply
sexual apartheid" (21).
G. Ester Newton suggests that homosexuals now fall into
two categories: the overts, and the coverts.
1. The overts live the lives open within the gay community.
2. The coverts live their working lives out of the community
and their nonworking lives within it.
a. "discrimination against gay people is still rampant" (21).
b. The higher you are on the ladder the less society will
tolerate diviation from the accepted norm.
c. Those who chose to live an open life run the risk
of unemployment or not having the job they want.
H. "Families play a crucial role in enforcing sexual conformity" (22).
1. They try to reform, punish, or exile the family member.
2. Erotic dissidence creates problems at al levels in that person's
life.
I. "Sex is the vector of oppression" (22).
1. you can not understand it in terms of race, class, ethnicity, or
gender.
2. Wealth, white skin, male gender, and ethnic privileges can help
the situation.
3. "But even the most privileged are not immune to sexual
oppression" (22).
V. Sexual Conflicts
A. "Sexual ideology plays a crucial role in sexual
experiences" (23).
1. Many of the same battles occur between the producers
of sexual ideology and the people who they try to
endanger.
2. Lysander Spooner suggests that the government needs to
make laws to protect us from crime but not against vice.
B. "Legal struggle over sex law will continue until basic
freedoms of sexual actions and expression are guaranteed" (23).
1. We must repeal all sex laws except for those dealing
with coercion.
2. We must abolish all vice squads.
C. Rubin also suggests that there are territorial and border wars.
1. Dissident sexuality is more closely monitored in
small towns.
2. Needless to say, more young people migrate to the cities.
3. But there are many boundaries these new arrivals must overcome.
a. mainstream media portrays the sexual world as bleak
and dangerous.
b. these worlds are also portrayed as impoverished, ugly,
inhabited by criminals and psychopaths.
c. Information is hard to find of these communities.
d. during the 60's and 70's more information became available
4. "Migration is expensive" (24).
a. This is an imposing barrier to the young who want to move
into these communities.
b. Higher education could provide these people with the
information they need, it is freer there.
D. "For most of this century, the sexual underworlds have
been marginal and impoverished, their residents subjected to
stress and exploitation" (24).
1. Earlier in this century blacks fled the south to go
north, now homosexuals do the same. But they may have
merely traded rural problems for urban ones.
2. Gay pioneers came to settle in the run down sections
of town.
a. many gays ended up competing for the low-income
housing.
b. As they gay populations in cities increase
they become the target of urban frustrations.
c. "Anti-sex ideology, obscenity laws, prostitution
regulations, and the alcoholic beverage codes are all
being used to dislodge seedy adult businesses,
sex workers, and leathermen" (25).
E. Moral panics or political moments of sex become channeled into
political actions and from there become social change.
1. "Sexual activities often function as signifiers
for personal and social apprehensions to which they have
no intrinsic connections" (25).
2. Mainstream media attacks with indignation and the
public turns into a mob.
3. The state enact laws and the police are activated.
4. Once the furor has passed it has left in its wake
many innocent people who are now defamed.
5. But the state has shown its power and now has new
access into erotic behavior.
F. The system of sexual stratification preys on victims.
1. Victims who cannot defend themselves.
2. But the government has preexisting structure in which
to control the movements and their freedom.
G. "Moral panics rarely alleviate any real problems" (25).
1. "Because they are aimed at chimeras and signifiers" (25).
2. Usually these outbreaks are preceded by scapegoating.
H. "A great deal of anti-porn propaganda implies that
sadomasochism is the underlying and essential truth towards
which all pornography tends" (26).
1. Porn leads to S/M
2. S/M leads to rape (yeah right)
I. "Feminist rhetoric has a distressing tendency to reappear in
reactionary contexts" (26).
1. The right wing has already adopted much of the
feminist anti-porn rhetoric.
2. The fear of AIDS has also affected sexual ideology.
a. AIDS is being used to reinforce old ideas that
sexual deviation leads to disease and death.
b. "The history of panic that has accompanied
new epidemics, and of the casualties incurred by
their scapegoating, should make everyone pause and
consider with extreme skepticism any attempts to justify
antigay policy initiatives on the basis of AIDS" (27).
VI. The Limits of Feminism
A. Without something else to go with, many progressives have
turned to feminism for guidance.
1. Feminism has always been involved with sex.
2. There have been two strains on the topic.
a. "one tendency has criticized the restrictions
on women's sexual behavior and denounced the high
cost imposed on women for being sexually active"
(28).
b. "The second tendency has considered sexual liberation
to be inherently a mere extension of male privilege"(28).
c. The anti-porn movement goes along with the second tendencies
thinking.
d. Most of the proponents have denounced every sexual
variant as anti-feminist.
B. "This discourse on sexuality is less sexology the demonology" (28).
1. This strain constantly misrepresents human sexuality
in all its forms.
2. The anti-porn rhetoric is just massive scapegoating.
3. "It criticizes non-routine acts of love rather than routine
acts of exploitation, oppression, and violence" (28).
C. "A good deal of current feminist literature attributes
the oppression of women to graphic representations of sex,
prostitution, sex education, sadomasochism, male
homosexuality, and transsexualism" (28).
D. This feminist literature creates a very conservative sexual morality.
E. Unfortunately, the anti-porn feminists claim to speak for
all feminists (Not True).
1. Sexual liberation IS a feminist goal.
2. Yet the women's movement has produced some of the
most Vaticanish thought.
3. But the movement has also produced some very exciting
work in defense of sexual pleasure and erotic justice.
4. Much of this literature has been produced by
lesbians whose sexuality does not conform to movement
standards
G. Unfortunately, "in political life, it is all too easy to marginalize
radicals" (30).
1. The sex radicals have opened up debate on the subject.
2. Sexual moderate of the movement are willing to defend
the rights of the non-conformists.
3. "Yet this defense of political rights is linked to
an implicit system of ideological condescension" (30).
4. This arguments has two points.
a. "The first accusation that sexual dissidents have
not paid close enough attention to the meaning,
sources, or historical construction of their
sexuality" (30).
b. "The second part of the moderate position focuses
on questions of consent. Sexual radicals of
all varieties have demanded the legal and
social legitimization of consenting sexual
behavior" (30).
H. "Feminism is a theory of gender oppression" (32)
1. This does not automatically include sexual
oppression, gender on one hand, erotic desire on the
other.
2. it is essential to separate gender and sexuality in order to
see their separate existence.
3. This goes against much feminist thought but it must happen.
I. "The relationship between feminism and a radical theory of
sexual oppression is similar" (34).
1. "Feminist conceptual tools were developed to detect
and analyze gender-based hierarchies" (34).
a. Where these concepts overlapped with
erotic stratification it can be used to
explain things.
b. But when the issue leaves gender and goes into
sexuality it can become misleading and irrelevant.
2. "In the long run, feminism's critique of gender hierarchy must be
incorporated into a radical theory of sex" (34).
3. This critique should enrich feminism.
4. "But an autonomous theory and politics specific to sexuality must
be developed" (34).
DONE :-)
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