Gayle S. Rubin in Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality talks about how sexuality does not seem to be an important issue especially when we are talking about war, poverty, mortality, etc. but one shouldn’t fail to see that sex is also political in nature. Sexuality has always been a subject of oppression and activism hence cannot be considered to be a completely private affair. The author brings to light the atrocities of the late nineteenth century. From the banning of obscene and pornographic materials to vilifying and hunting down homosexuals the government did everything. Homosexuals were deemed to be a menace and treated like “sex offenders”. Gays were persecuted by the state itself, they were beaten up and imprisoned. She shows us how this led to the rise of LGBTQ+ activism and sexual liberation. She then talks about how sex or sexuality is not only limited to being a biological construct but rather a social construct. The society decides what is good or accepted sexual behavior and what is bad or taboo behavior. The ideology and sexuality of the majority is forced on the minority and those who challenge this system are prosecuted for it. Lastly, even though we have been able to reduce the open persecution of the LGBTQ+ community, the attitude towards them still has to be changed.
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