Aadya Gupta, Week 4

Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality, by Gayle S. Rubin

The author begins by talking about how disputes over sexual behaviour is a way to displace social anxieties, and thus discharging the pent-up emotion attached to those anxieties. Sex becomes political as the concrete institutionalised forms of sexuality are results of human behaviour. The author takes us through multiple episodes in history- of queerbashing, erotic repression, sustained police brutality, the frenzy of law making/moral policing that seemed to almost disconnect completely with rational thought without regard to the consequences. 

The author stresses the need to develop radical perspectives on sexuality. The reward/punishment system for the hierarchical system of sexual value still exists in society, and it is only be understanding this structure that we can break free from it. The need of the house is to rethink our systems of sexual judgement. Erotic dissidents face so much social stigma, as well as family exclusion. Sex laws are an effort in erotic persecution, that don’t reflect current standards of moral conduct- it is policed by popular ideology. The State, through these laws, upholds sexual hierarchy, and holds moral witch hunts for the people whose behaviour it sees as deviant. Feminist discourse needs to be more inclusive if it must be used to understand sex- otherwise leads to incomplete perspectives, that recreate conservative sexual morality in the guise of ‘respecting’ women. 

It is important, when analysing these perspectives, to separate gender and sexuality. Rubin stresses that a feminist critique of gender hierarchy must be incorporated into a radical theory of sex that is all inclusive and accepting, to formulate new social norms that take us towards a more accepting, erotically diverse society.