https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_ ... -all-sides
Great review here by Katha Pollitt of a recent book by Amia Srinivasan - I might have linked to an earlier essay by Srinivasan a very long time ago, not sure where/when.
The "Right to Sex"
The "Right to Sex"
Last edited by Phoebe on Fri Jan 06, 2023 3:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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bralbovsky
- Posts: 175
- Joined: Thu Dec 17, 2020 11:05 pm
Re: The "Right to Sex"
So complex...
No such thing as a right to sex. Organisms go their entire lives trying to pass on their genes, many never do.
Organisms that have separated procreation and sex have similar patterns. Just because our brains and hearts are bigger just means that we're more aware that we're sad about it.
The whole incel thing - whiny privilege at its worst. Yes, at some point those in power took steps to build cultures that would reserve virtually all pleasures for themselves, added unnatural metrics for desireability, even made their successes measured by how little others were getting...and used religion to attempt to pull the pleasure out of sex, but can't stop that amoeba impulse...
This is a different discussion than the one about desire. In 1979, on a field trip to Toronto, I saw "Killing Us Softly." Mind blowing. Not just that women were constantly objectified and sexualized (not all women mind you, just certain kinds...white, thin, young...you know the drill). Not just that not only were we drowning in not just sales pitches but immersed in a whole story/world view. But, most dangerously, that we were all firmly convinced that we were immune. What I wanted, thought, imagined, did not originate in my brain. It was being fed, streamed into me. Holy BraveNewWorld 1984 Matrix THX1138 Batman, what fiendishness was this?
How do we tease that out? This is the core of the best media awareness courses, trying to separate the nature from the nurture.
Do we really have an imagination all our own? What is it about Veronica Lake? Who built the buttons certain images or sounds push? Do we like things sometimes just because "we're not supposed to?" It's difficult to analyze, but attempting to do so, naming it, really helps.
Asking "Why do I like/want/this?" is really useful.
No such thing as a right to sex. Organisms go their entire lives trying to pass on their genes, many never do.
Organisms that have separated procreation and sex have similar patterns. Just because our brains and hearts are bigger just means that we're more aware that we're sad about it.
The whole incel thing - whiny privilege at its worst. Yes, at some point those in power took steps to build cultures that would reserve virtually all pleasures for themselves, added unnatural metrics for desireability, even made their successes measured by how little others were getting...and used religion to attempt to pull the pleasure out of sex, but can't stop that amoeba impulse...
This is a different discussion than the one about desire. In 1979, on a field trip to Toronto, I saw "Killing Us Softly." Mind blowing. Not just that women were constantly objectified and sexualized (not all women mind you, just certain kinds...white, thin, young...you know the drill). Not just that not only were we drowning in not just sales pitches but immersed in a whole story/world view. But, most dangerously, that we were all firmly convinced that we were immune. What I wanted, thought, imagined, did not originate in my brain. It was being fed, streamed into me. Holy BraveNewWorld 1984 Matrix THX1138 Batman, what fiendishness was this?
How do we tease that out? This is the core of the best media awareness courses, trying to separate the nature from the nurture.
Do we really have an imagination all our own? What is it about Veronica Lake? Who built the buttons certain images or sounds push? Do we like things sometimes just because "we're not supposed to?" It's difficult to analyze, but attempting to do so, naming it, really helps.
Asking "Why do I like/want/this?" is really useful.
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bralbovsky
- Posts: 175
- Joined: Thu Dec 17, 2020 11:05 pm
Re: The "Right to Sex"
The patriarchy is very old and established, and it's a core of the problem. Other successful species leave it to the female to choose who gets to pass on their genes. Some, like primates and other mammals, introduce violence that shifts that choice.
I used to ask my students to read "Pricks and Chicks" (Can't find the article, but this is a class that discusses some of the concepts included https://userpages.umbc.edu/~korenman/wmst/language.html)
At this time, mass media was just beginning to be a huge issue, and then one day, the internet. It magnified everything.
I used to ask my students to read "Pricks and Chicks" (Can't find the article, but this is a class that discusses some of the concepts included https://userpages.umbc.edu/~korenman/wmst/language.html)
At this time, mass media was just beginning to be a huge issue, and then one day, the internet. It magnified everything.