Rubin - "Thinking Sex"

Gayle Rubin

1.     “Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of Politics of Sexuality”

a.     1.  The sex wars

                                               i.     Sexual behavior can be reflective of social anxieties during times of great social stress.

1.     The late nineteenth century is an example.

a.     Victorian morality attacked obscene literature, nude paintings, masturbation and other aspects of sexuality.

b.     Codes from the 19^th century exist today in the form of attitudes about sex, parental anxieties, police conduct and sex law.

c.     Sex law passed in the nineteenth century and still exists today.  However, restrictions have loosened due to Supreme Court rulings from the 1950s through the 1970s.

d.     Concerns of sexuality in youths shifted to homosexuality and the sex-offender in the 1950s.  The term sex-offender and child molester being loosely attached to each other.

e.     Homosexuals were persecuted along with other groups associated with deviant behavior.

f.      The current time (early 1980s) bears a resemblance to the persecution of homosexuals in the 1950s.  Regulation and enforcement of prostitution and obscenity was elevated as well.

g.     The persecution is wrapped up under the notion of protecting the young.

h.     The author questions the wisdom of sweeping government banning of nude pictures of minor children.  The author is not condoning child pornography, but thinks there are circumstances where depictions are appropriate.

i.      After 1977, issues on sex education, homosexuality and pornography (among other subjects) moved to the political forefront as politicians discovered these issues have mass appeal.

2.     The politics of sex require understanding of what is and its impact in order to form informed opinions on policy.

3.     There is an urgent need to develop radical perspectives on sexuality.

4.     Rubin wants to create a framework for thinking about sex.

a.     Rubin wants the material to be and accurate and humane body of work.

b.     II Sexual Thoughts

                                               i.     A radical theory of sex must:

1.     Identify, describe, explain, and denounce erotic injustice and sexual oppression.

2.     Develop tools to view with focus and clarity the issues.

3.     Describe sexuality in terms of society and history.

4.     Be able to describe the barbarity of sexual persecution.

                                             ii.     Several notions on sex build obstacles to addressing the issues.

1.     That sex is a natural force that exists prior to social life and shapes institutions.

a.     It is the idea that sex is classified as a property of the individual.

b.     Sex has no history and no significant social determinants.

c.     Foucault does not believe sex is a force yearning to break free, but the culmination of historically specific social practices.

d.     Sex is social and historical, not biological.

e.     It is not possible to think on sex or gender while the notion that sex is biological rather than a social construct.

f.      Foucault: sexuality in Western societies works in a highly punitive social framework with formal and informal controls.

2.     It becomes easier to thing that sexual injustices were born of biology rather than inhuman repression.

3.     Western society generally considers sex to be dangerous, destructive, and negative.

4.     Western Societies appraise sex acts according to a hierarchal system.

a.     Heterosexual marital couples reproducing are at the top.

b.     Then down to heterosexual couples having pleasure, non-married heterosexuals, then down to homosexual and trans gendered behavior.

c.     People in the top tier are deemed mentally healthy and respectable.

d.     Punitive stigma associated with the lower tiers.

5.     There is a view that erotic variety is associated as dangerous, unhealthy or depraved and a menace to small children.

6.     Ideas on sex are classified like ideas on race. 

a.     There is good sex, there is bad sex, and there is a line.

b.     Once the line is crossed, unspeakable things can happen.

c.     Modern analysis has been built on which side of the line a behavior falls.

d.     These ideas are more associated with ideologies rather than ethics.

7.     Variety is a function of human life and it is difficult to believe that sex is so restrictive.

8.     Most people mistake their sexual preferences as universals for all.

c.     VI Limits of Feminism

                                               i.     The relationship between feminism and sex is complex.

1.     One tendency is towards sexual liberation.

2.     The second tendency considers sexual liberation the extension of male privilege. Anti porn movement.

a.     This movement is more demonology than sexology.

b.     It displays sex in the worst possible way.

c.     It is indicative creates a very conservative view of sex.

                                                                                                     i.     How much shame should be applied to sexual activity.

d.     This movement claims to represent all feminists, but it does not.  Sexual liberation continues to be the main goal.

3.     Feminist thought on sexuality is polarized between the tendencies.

4.     It is natural to believe that the truth lies in the middle ground when polarization occurs.

a.     However, the poles are not necessarily positioned correctly.

b.     The middle ground suggests homosexuality lies somewhere between the Moral majority and the gay movement.

c.     The moral majority views sexual variety as a problem to be solved, not to be explored.

5.     Consent is a political term with different interpretations.

a.     Much of sex law does not concern itself with consent or not.  The act is illegal.

b.     Interesting point on rape.  It is legal to enter into heterosexual relations as long as it is agreeable to both partners.

c.     Those who enjoy low-status sexual behavior do not have the legal right to engage in it.

6.     “Brainwash” theory pertains to acts that someone considers so bad that someone wouldn’t willingly participate with in it.

a.     If that does not work, then the participant must have had a horrible childhood, poor socialization, or inadequate identity formation.

b.     Both these approaches demonstrate discomfort with the idea of sexual variety.

7.     Feminism has created much rich discussion on sexuality, but that does not mean it is the best venue for sexuality.

8.     That sex can be reduces to sexual intercourse is a cultural perception.

a.     The cultural idea of gender association with sexuality has led to the theory that sexuality can be derived from gender.

9.     Gender and sexuality are distinct and separate things.

10.  Feminist thought lacks the angle and vision to encompass the social organization of sexuality.

11.  Feminism is no more capable than Marxism of being able to account for all social inequality.

            Works Cited

Rubin, Gayle. “Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of Politics of Sexuality.” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism.  Ed. Vincent B. Leitch et al.  2^nd ed. New York: W.W.Norton & Co., 2010.  2372-2402. Print.