Miley Cyrus. America’s Sweetheart turned out-of-control freak. What happened? Public’s perception of this teenage icon was suddenly changed when she publically started being more sexually promiscuous. This fear that only chaos can come from sexual promiscuity and deviancy is deeply engrained in our society. Gayle S. Rubin, author of “Thinking Sex”, sites this domino theory of sexual peril as one of the fundamental ideological formations of sexuality out of six main formations. I believe the domino theory of sexual peril is the most important ideological formation because this idea describes how systems of power react and control sexual and racial variances. The domino theory of sexual peril is the basis of the hierarchical model of sexual …show more content…
According to Rubin’s model, “good” sexual acts include heterosexual, married, monogamous, procreative, in private, and vanilla. Characteristics of “bad” sexual acts include homosexual, non-procreative, pornographic, and sadomasochistic. Only sex acts that are on the “good” side of the line are aligned with morality. This model assumes the domino theory of sexual peril, which is the belief that “the line between “good” and “bad” sex stand between sexual order and chaos” (Rubin 14). If certain aspects of “bad” sex are allowed to cross the erotic barrier, then other “reprehensible” acts would follow and chaos would ensue. The domino theory of sexual peril and this notion that some sex are moral while others are immoral further adds into the discourse of oppressive powers. “It grants virtue to the dominant groups, and relegates vice to the underprivileged” (15). This means that institutions of powers could be scapegoating sexual deviances as the problem while ignoring the real issues of society. One example of this was the anti-porn movement during the late 1970s. S/M porn was especially criticized because it is thought that …show more content…
Scapegoating sexual deviances is beneficial to institutions of power because it allows them to maintain social order. Our society is fundamentally based on the sustainment of capitalism. Sexual acts like heterosexuality and procreation are thus considered “good” and exist higher on the hierarchy while acts that are deemed to threaten this social structure are considered “bad” and pushed toward the end of the order. The existence of a hierarchy and the poor treatment of lower status individuals are also present in racist ideologies. For example, during the late 19th century, all Chinese immigrants were scapegoated as prostitutes and opium smokers with a motive to spread illness to the white population. (Shah) Even though people of all race voluntarily visited these opium dens and prostitutes, they were scarcely scrutinized by society and all blame was put on the Chinese immigrants. Furthermore, Merle Woo states that “the perpetuation of dehumanizing stereotypes is really helpful for whites; they use them to justify them giving us the lowest wages and all the work they don’t want to do” (143). This kind of condescendence of Third World Women by Whites was justified by the belief there is a social hierarchy and colored women stand on the bottom of the ladder. Like the sexual hierarchy, the race hierarchy grants privilege to the ones on top. The more privilege you
It has been said that “Society has always defined for us what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman, what a man should be like and what a woman should be like, and these traditional definitions of gender roles have limited and even harmed individuals”. The theme of sexual politics comes to mind for this quote. One can define sexual politics as the relationship of the sexes, male and female regarding power. Society’s definition of this can limit an individual in their gender role and restrain a person to not be themselves.
Similarly, Huxley had a fundamental notion of promiscuity and free love in his novel. However, despite the external appearance of the promiscuity of the brave new world; it is under no circumstance liberating for anyone involved. In fact, the brave new worlders are forced to partake in sexual acts from a young age, and are deemed ‘abnormal’ if they refuse. From sleep teaching to peer pressure, Huxley’s characters were forced to practice free love. Likewise, in modern culture young boys are encouraged to be promiscuous and are celebrated for having multiple sexual partners, but women are instead shamed for it, it’s a heinous double standard that has existed for thousands of years. However, despite this idea that a woman’s promiscuity is undesirable, pornography continues to be one of the most popular and profitable platforms worldwide, with over one and a half billion internet searches since the beginning of this year. In fact, 1 in 5 mobile searches are for explicit material, and the top 4 searches on pornography websites are largely female orientated. Yet, many men and women are still repulsed when a woman chooses to take control of her own sexuality, despite this newfound normativity of nudity that the ever-growing popularity of porn brings. Why has the belief become that a woman is idolised if she is forcibly sexual and submissive to her male partner, but is shunned when she takes control of her own body. This attitude has now escalated to a point where it is twice as likely for a photo of a mother breastfeeding her child to be removed from Facebook than a photo of a porn-star without
R. 1966, p 5). Even though in the early time of the history, the Roman church has greatly influenced the society and the western view the tradition sexual morality. But as the rise of social scientist, more scientific researches and questions are raised and our society today seek for more freedom. Many of us start to have a different view and standard on sexual morality.
...gument against pornography is claiming that intercourse is an act of rape, the argument immediately seems outlandish and almost laughable, and it surely seems that way to the average person. People see these examples of radical feminism and attribute those isolated incidents as representative of the entire feminist movement as a whole. Therefore through complexity, the feminist movement lost a substantial amount of its genuine credibility due to perceived extremist views on female sexuality. This, among many other incidents, seems to be the cause of this great reversal in female sexuality in our current day society. Instead of putting an end to pornography, it flourishes. Instead of bringing an end to female objectification, it is often nowadays encouraged. This reversal of feminist ideals is the main cause for the damage to female gender roles in the 21st century.
For centuries, humans have been creating explicit images to depict their sexual fantasies and desires. Times have drastically changed, however, since the first known sex guide, Kama Sutra, was illustrated in 5th-century India (King 412). The selling of sexually explicit material is a multibillion dollar industry (King 411). Today, with just the click of a mouse, millions world-wide are able to access pornography and see their sexual fantasies come to life (King 418). According to King, “One third of all use of the internet is connected to porn sites,” (419). With explicit sexual material nearly impossible to avoid, it may be difficult to decipher between what is normal sexual behavior and what is merely fantasy. There is belief that the sexual activities of women presented in pornography effect both genders’ perceptions of what is normal female sexual behavior. Many argue that pornography objectifies and degrades women, while others believe that it is actually empowering (Evan-Cicco, 2001). This research paper will explore the negative and positive influence that pornography has on society’s view of female sexuality.
Gayle Rubin’s “Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality” focused on the history of sexuality and sexual persecution. Gayle Rubin recognizes the idea of sex as a natural force that exists prior to social life and which shapes institutions and society. First, Rubin, emphasizes the idea of negative sex, by showcasing views by other scholars. Rubin notes Foucault in his 1978 publication “The History of Sexuality”, as “sex as the natural libedo wearing to break free of social constraint” (Rubin, 149). This leads Rubin to her understanding of sex negativity. Sex, as Rubin depicts, is dangerous, destructive and a negative force and sex negativity is any negative sexual behaviour other than married or reproductive sex. Many Western religious believe that sex should only be for reproductive reasons and that pleasure and anything outside of martial sex should not be experienced. Third, Rubin goes on to construct the charmed circle, distinguishing good and bad sex. Resulting from sex negativity, Rubin develops an illustration of good and bas sex, better known as the charmed circle. Instances of bad sex include; casual,
The discussion of pornography and whether is should be legalized or banned in the United States has been a hotly debated for many years. There are those citizens who believe they are entitled to certain freedoms as citizens of the United States. These rights would include the right to choose to participate in the pornography industry. They believe those who produce, distribute, and the purchase pornography should be protected under the rights secured by the Constitution of the United States. In contrast, there are members of the American society who take a very different view in regard to the pornography industry. Their arguments center around the whether the industry promotes the unethical treatment of humans as well as questioning the links
To some people, pornography is just a harmless fad, but it has some many negative effects. According to feminist Andrea Dworkin, porn is more of a sexual explicit subordination of women (Dworkin, 1993). Ms. Dworkin and many people believe that porn is the mortification of a woman’s well-being. Young men get so wrapped up in pornography and begin to believe that sex has to be this
In the United States, there is a strong feminist objection to pornography. It is not based on purity, but rather the fact that it represents the hatred of women, and that its intent is to “humiliate, degrade, and dehumanize the female body for the purpose of erotic stimulation and pleasure.” (Brownmiller) In modern pornography, there are examples of over exaggerated forms of; the male and especially the female body and sexual scenarios. This issue brings up uneasiness among American women in regards to their sexuality, with nonconformity, with the existence of marginal groups and behaviors, and with “deviant” practices. (Heartney) Any type of pornography text, even the most “correct”, contains a distorted image of the social and sexual relations between men and women of the society in which it takes place.
... decades ago. This book is one that will allow the reader to view many aspects of sexuality from a social standpoint, and apply it to certain social attitudes in our society today, these attitudes can range from the acceptance of lesbian and gays, and the common sight of sex before marriage and women equality. The new era of sexuality has taken a definite "transformation" as Giddens puts it, and as a society we are living in the world of change in which we must adapt, by accepting our society as a changing society, and not be naive and think all the rules of sexuality from our parents time our still in existence now.
The issues of sexual ethics in relation to morality and perversion have been addressed in depth by each of the gentleman at this table. Sexual activity as described by Solomon and Nagle is comprised of a moral standard and ‘naturalness’ aspect. So, in claiming an act is perverted we must first examine it through a moral framework and understand how this interacts with the ‘naturalness’ of a particular act. Solomon makes the distinction as follows “Perversion is an insidious concept…To describe an activity as perverse is not yet a full blown moral condemnation, for it need not entail that one ought not to indulge in such activities.” Along with the examination of the nature of an act, there must be clear justification as to why sexual acts deserve special separate ethical principles. The question arises: does an act simply due to its sexual nature deserve a separate form of moral inquisition than other acts that occur in nature? In this essay I shall argue that perversion and immorality are not mutually exclusive. By this I mean that a sexual act that is, by my definition, immoral must also be perverted. It is also my contention that if an act is perverted we must also define it as immoral. This second part of the argument is contrary to what many of you have claimed. At the outset of this paper I would also like to state my support of Thomas Nagel’s argument holding that the connection between sex and reproduction has no bearing on sexual perversion. (Nagel 105)
In modern society, the lust for physical pleasure has led to the creation of industries that profit on the marketing of sex. The pornographic industry, which degrades women and emphasizes male domination and violence, portrays sex as merely something physical with no emotions involved. It undermines the relationship between love and physical pleasure and appeals to people's carnal desires which sometimes bypasses rational decision making. This desire for physical pleasure has also led to the proliferation of child abuse, incest, prostitution, and rape. A young boy accidentally stumbles upon a pornographic magazine that his father has hidden. He becomes sexually excited and because of the images receives instant gratification. Because of his new feelings, he repeatedly returns to these magazines and eventually moves onto to more graphic material. His outlook upon women and sex is negatively influenced and morally wrong.
In deeper readings I have come to an understanding which is based upon the way these forms of thought view sexuality and sex as a whole. Liberal feminism is sex positive while radical feminism is what can be labeled as anti-sex. To elaborate, liberal feminism holds the stance that a woman has control over her body and can decide what to do with it. This view includes her decision to be involved with pornography. This is in complete incongruence with the views of radical feminism, which condemns pornography as a whole as “a practice of sex discrimination” (Dworkin & McKinnon, 133), no matter the type or whether it was safely produced. Radical feminism elaborates that pornography is a medium based upon a “systematic practice of exploitation and subordination based on sex that differentially harms and disadvantages women” (Dworkin & McKinnon, 133) Pornography supports the unbalanced power structures within society and cite the fact that most pornography is made for men, by men, with male desires and interests in mind which leads the media to support and idolize unreal and harmful situations within the “storyline” of the pornographic media. These two ideologies view pornography in very black and white terms, as well and fine or bad and evil, with no real wiggle room for
During my early teens, all I understood from the term sex was that,’ it is the intimate relationship shared by a man and a woman’. And that only married people can share such intimacy. But later I realized that sexuality is not just about Sex, but it is about one’s choices, attitude, social beliefs etc. All in all, it is the total of who you are, what you believe, what you feel, and how you respond. (optionsforsexualhealth , 2016)
The theory does a good job at delineating the stages of psychosexual development; our childhood has a great influence on our personalities. Referring to Freud’s ‘psychosexual stages’, it is very clear that parents’ role in an infant’s life is the foremost step to structure the personality. Not to forget, the oral and anal stages are focal fundamental to character traits in a person’s behavior. The inner ‘instincts’ of sexuality and aggression meeting with the socially acceptable norms creates a conflict zone, wherein it is decided what we are to do and what we would become.