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
As you can imagine, the ruling exacerbated the controversy further among the moral majority, feminist, and freedom lovers across the nation. After viewing this movie, I decided to redirect my research from how pornography devalues women to the controversi...
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.
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
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,
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
The theories described by Hirschi provide reasoning for why an individual would choose not to act upon their deviant sexual desires, but does not explain why one would. With all of the societal discouragement of the behaviour, why would a person choose to act? The Differential Association Theory by Edwin H. Sutherland and Donald R. Cressey attempts to explain why one would engage in deviant behaviour. The extensive theory has a few key points that are particularly relevant to pedophilia. Firstly, the authors argue that deviant behaviour is learned. This is certainly true in our society, especially in the case of ‘barely legal’ porn. The sexualization of youth, particularly young girls, is rampant in our society. This can be observed in clothing ads, where companies market lingerie lines specifically to pre-teens, or in film, where older, more developed women are often cast as high school girls.
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.
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.
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
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.
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)
At my high school, the heteronormative hook-up culture that heavily promoted masculinity through sexual behavior, resulting in a double standard between women and men. Dude, You’re a Fag cites Renold: “students participate in a ‘heterosexualizing process’ in which children present themselves as ‘normal’ girls or boys through discourses of heterosexuality” (p. 26). As so much of what we do in high school is to impress others, or to at least appear to be in the norm to avoid insults or social exclusion, the majority of my peers (and myself) tried hard to fit in and abide by the norms. Popularity for the guys was very much based on frequency of sexual behavior and “attractiveness” of the girl they had been intimate with. Pascoe points out that “boys and girls engage in interactional rituals to achieve masculine identities, which are, in large part, based in similar homophobic and heterosexualizing processes” (p. 28). This very much describes the ways in which we interacted with one another at my high school. Conversely, the more people women were sexual with, the more social backlash they received. According to Stombler and Baunach (2014), men who are very sexually active are generally not subject to shame and sometimes lauded for sexual behavior, whereas women with “too many” partners are stigmatized (p. 71). While men are socialized to present their masculinity through sexuality, women grow up learning about all the negative consequences of sexuality. Nestle’s My Mother Liked to Fuck highlights the social consequences that come along with being a woman who is open about enjoying having sex (1983). Such consequences include harsh judgement, social exclusion, and even rape. Lorde’s The Uses of the Erotic present that sexualty is something women are taught to hide (2016). I can recall being told I was a “slut” for making out with someone and sleeping on the same couch
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)
... 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.