Homosexuality from a New Perspective
Sexuality means many different things to different people, especially sexuality of a homosexual nature. Everyone has their own personal ideologies about sexuality, many of which have been forced on us by mainstream society's portrayal of what of is right or wrong. Bersani's objective is to take these societal sexual idiosyncrasies and turn them upside down to reveal how he feels gay male sex should be. In Bersani's article, Is the Rectum a Grave?, he entertains ideas of the self, sexuality (especially homosexuality), and power. Bersani believes that abolishing the self opens many options sexually and psychologically. He rejects conventional ideologies pertaining to sexuality like gender, identity and inequality but proposes new ways of thinking about sex and ones sexual identity by showing the reader new and unusual ways of viewing homosexuality and sexuality in general.
In the article, Bersani discusses "the self" and that it should be eradicated. The following is what Bersani thinks of "the self":
It is the self that swells with excitement at the
idea of being on top, the self that makes of the
inevitable play of thrusts and relinquishments in
sex an argument for the natural authority of one sex
over the other.
This quote displays Bersani's thoughts of how one's self controls the way they have been trained to think. The self is formed through a lifetime's worth of experiences, actions, lessons, and just living in the world we live in today. To abolish the self is to abolish an old way of thinking about sex and sexual identities.
Bersani makes it quite clear that he does not believe in unequal homosexual intercourse or any gender's intercourse for that matter. It is a common belief in today's world, whether conscious of it or not that "To be penetrated is to abdicate power.
". . . refusal to reproduce oneself is a refusal to perpetuate what one is, that is, the way one understands oneself to be in the social world." -- pg. 84
Homosexuality has always played a huge role in society. Views on this topic have changed immensely from the beginning of the greece era to now in modern society. People have become more appalled with this topic because now in society there are stereotypical views on “normal” ways of living. Religious views have also impacted people's decisions and thoughts about it.
...am Victorian society, sexual liberalism transformed the ways in which people arranged their private lives. Shifting from a Victorian environment of production, separate sexual spheres, and the relegation of any illicit extramarital sex to an underworld of vice, the modern era found itself in a new landscape of consumerism, modernism and inverted sexual stereotypes. Sexuality was now being discussed, systemized, controlled, and made an object of scientific study and popular discourse. Late nineteenth-century views on "natural" gender and sexuality, with their attendant stereotypes about proper gender roles and proper desires, lingered long into the twentieth century and continue, somewhat fitfully, to inform the world in which we live. It is against this cultural and political horizon that an understanding of sexuality in the modern era needs to be contextualized.
The article “The Invention of Homosexuality and Heterosexuality” addresses how homosexuality was invented and how society accepted this new form of sexual orientation. Homosexuality is more socially acceptable in modern times. However, dating back to the nineteen century homosexually was classified as a disease that had to be cured. In the nineteen century, homosexuals diverted from the “norm” thus, they were seen a disability. Mann and Susan Archer state that “Foucault argued that the invention of the reviled "homosexual" is one of the most significant and enduring legacies of this period in sexual history as well as a classic example of the way in which assorted sexual acts were re-conceptualized in the late nineteenth century from fleeting practices to symptoms of permanent disorder and sexual personage.” This article adopts concepts of normalcy, and race in relation to heterosexuality.
Sexuality is often looked down upon by mainstream society. Embedded into culture and tradition, sex itself has been made to be seen as a taboo of sorts. Prostitution was made illegal; pornography was made evil. Rooted deep within the teachings of the most common religious morality systems, sex and sexuality is often paired with punishments. Those who explore their sexuality is often shamed, and labeled with words that can ostracize such persons from society. Kant’s view of sexuality almost destroys his credibility as a philosopher by providing unclear and unreasonable points of sexuality and objectification, yet he remains keen on trying to prove that sex, outside of marriage, is the worst possible sin. However, there are those who believe that expressing sexuality is power, and is exercising autonomy. Many existentialists see sexuality as a means of self-expression, and to not be comfortable with sexuality shows that the person inhabits the morality of the sheep.
As a society we see everyone as straight person and if you are not then others do not accept you. Last week, Arizona state legislature passed a bill permitting business owners to refuse service to homosexual customers if it conflicts with the owner’s religious beliefs. Researchers argue that homosexuality is based on genetics while religious persona believe homosexuality is unorthodox. I will be discussing research about the impact of homosexuality on the family and how people believe that when homosexuality is innate it increases LGBT rights. Also, how homosexuality can lead to at risk sexual behavior for men and prone to HIV’s.
Halperin, David. "Is There a History of Sexuality?." The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. Ed. Henry
The topic of homosexuality has become a constant issue throughout our society for many years. Many people believe that being gay is not acceptable for both religious and moral reasons. Because being gay is not accepted, many homosexuals may feel shame or guilt because of the way they live their everyday lives. This in turn can affect how the person chooses to live their life and it can also affect who the person would like to become. Growing up, David Sedaris struggled to find the common ground between being gay as well as being a normal teenager. He often resorted to the conclusion that you could not be both. Sedaris allows us to see things through his young eyes with his personable short story "I Like Guys". Throughout his short story, Sedaris illustrates to the reader what it was like growing up being gay as well as how the complexities of being gay, and the topic of sexuality controlled his lifestyle daily. He emphasizes the shame he once felt for being gay and how that shame has framed him into the person he has become.
Jonathan Katz talks about the initial creation of the term “heterosexuality” and how it was used to classify certain groups of people’s way of practicing sex. Along with the negative ideology the term reflected upon society. The author talks about the early definition of the term “heterosexuality”. Katz closely examines the different cultures and what sex meant to them prior to the term and over all labeling of “heterosexual” and what become of them after the fact. Katz illustrates the many faces of the term “heterosexual” starting with the early definition of the word, which was at the
“Egoism, the fear or not near but of distant death… are not, I think, wholly natural or instinctive. They are all strengthened by the beliefs about personal identity which I have been attacking. If we give up these beliefs, they should be weakened” (Parfit, 1971, p. 4.2:14).
The constructionist perspective is the opposing viewpoint to the essentialist perspective. Harding defines the constructionist perspective as the belief that sexuality has no inherent essence but must be understood as a configuration of cultural meanings (Harding 6-17). In other words, human sexuality is not defined by biology at all, but instead is completely culturally constructed. The constructionist’s primary focuses are cultural institutions, norms, practices and relations, and how these define human sexuality. An example from Harding’s essay states that a study of the history of sexuality has shown that sexuality has changed greatly throughout human history (Harding 6-17). If s...
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.
Sexuality gained a connection to the truth. This results into the idea that sexuality is a part of identity and a key aspect in understating who we are individual. And all of this is only possible due to the discourse of sexuality, which is determined by social culture and time. However, the idea that sexuality objectively defines who you are is false, because the idea where this is based on, the “repressive hypothesis” also is
Integrating scripting theory with the compulsory heterosexuality theory, a heteronormative, dominant sexual script was explicated, the Heterosexual Script (Sorsoli; Collins; Zylbergold; Schooler & Tolman 2007 p. 145-157). Traditionally, societies have encouraged both men and women to obey different sexual scripts (Laws and Schwartz 1977). This heterosexual scripts has been commented to be extremely gendered as well as breeding gender inequality (Pascoe 2007) and this essay aims to depict the means in which it is gendered along with its influences towards men and women in Western’s
The self can be defined as ‘an organised, consistent set of perceptions of and beliefs about oneself.’ (Passer, Smith, Holt, Bremner, Sutherland & Vliek, 2009, p676). We should aim to understand ourselves, learn know how we function and what