Sexuality

When I got in touch with the wheel diagram of Gayle Rubin I was really surprised about the society conceptions and some questions came up. Is sexuality fixed? Is there a way to eliminate sex hierarchy? Based on what do we define sex as good or bad? The same questions arose to me after reading the article on ‘online pornography, normativity and the Nordic contexts.’

The Rubin’s diagram defines acceptable sex on the inside and unacceptable sex on the outside. A similar situation appears in the article on online pornography, they divide pornography into violent pornography versus regular pornography. However, where are the boundaries?

Rubin state that these constructs are connected to power and hierarchies. She states that sex is always political. But there are also historical periods in which sexuality is more sharply contested and more overtly politicized. In such periods, the domain of erotic life is, in effect, renegotiated.

As a society we judge about different kind of ideas and behaviour. Our judgements are influenced by social norms, culture and personal experience. I agree with Jacksons expression: ‘What is sexual is not fixed but depends on what is socially defined as such and these definitions are contextually and historically variable.’

Nowadays, sexuality is a big part of the personal identity and nonconformity to the norm can be threatening. In my opinion this is the reason why people judge and why sexual hierarchies exist. I think that this judgement happens unconsciously as we are used to our norms and values and don’t realize that these might differ among different groups. Therefore, as we all keep being influenced by our society and culture and might be difficult to eliminate these hierarchies.