Vatsala Poddar Week 4

Summary – Week 4

Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality

The article attempts at showing that sex along with gender is also a politically driven force in society. She draws on the way mainstream society has reacted to the ‘vices’ of masturbation, pornography, sex etc. It started with regulatory methods which were as brutal as burning the clitoris of a female leaving a deep imprint on their lives. This notion, the author says is one of Victorian Morality marking the start of the associated stereotypes with sex. Something important to note is that minors were always kept away from sex education and even today in India there is no proper sensitization that high schools offer. This leads to various misunderstandings penetrating into the society such as the notion that masturbation while being pregnant can lead to stunted growth of the child etc. Heteronormative directive was so strong in those days that homosexuals were included under tag of a ‘sexual offender’ along with severe queerbashing which instilled fear in them. A sexual offender was automatically termed a communist or was associated with political weakness which is arbitrary on the face of it! This not only shows the barbarity of sexual persecution but the concept of ‘sexual essentialism’ that the author intensively discusses. Sex is not stand alone, it is affected by race, cate, class, ideology, legal reform the notion of ‘purity’ etc. The article also attempts to show that sex is not something purely biological and is affected by a host of factors.