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Christin Rosado Assignment 05: A Radical Politics on Sexuality

One assumption in Western culture that many people possess is that sex is corruption for the youth (Rubin, 1984). Aspects of sex are normal and they are experienced by mostly everyone in the world. This fear of sex constructs a new and negative attitude towards it. At a young age children should feel comfortable, know about their body, and in some cases, explore it on their own. However, when the government labeled sex as corruption for the youth many parents did not ask questions and assumed that anything they proposed would “save” their children. Once a bold statement such as sex is corruption for the youth is made, many people especially in politics do not want to discuss it further. It is interpreted as a threat that must be eliminated. Anyone who opposes their methods has been corrupted. The criminalization of sex hurts the youth. Criminalizing sex causes the youth to think of their body as a harmful weapon and it does not allow them to explore all aspects of their sexuality.

Another assumption shared by many as stated in Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality by Gayle Rubin is that any sexual orientation or alternative sexual practice that is not deemed “natural” is wrong (Rubin, 1984). Many citizens followed religion. Citizens adopted ideologies on who should engage in sexual intercourse, for what purposes, and how they should engage in it. The ideologies proposed by the bible caused the government to issue laws that prohibited same sex relationships and greatly limited a variety of sexual practices like oral stimulation and sadism & masochism (S/M). This assumption limited the political discussion of sex and harmed the groups who were criminalized by it. Radical theory was prevalent here. Laws were created to ban people from possessing freedom over their sexuality and sexual desires. In regards to this assumption, politics aimed to have its citizens deal with sex in a uniform way because it was “normal” and this is the way it was supposed to be done. Political discussion on the topic was limited because many believed that the law was preserving a sacred practice so understanding the different desires of others was not up for deliberation.

The last assumption in Rubin’s essay is the graphic representation of sex (Rubin, 1984). Media and society both in the past and present times have represented sex in various ways. Society had placed a great emphasis on sex for procreative purposes and love making for heterosexual couples joined in matrimony. However, the media represented sex in a graphic and different way. Media achieved this by displaying sex as a practice that can be used by anyone wanting to act on their desires in various forms. Society viewed the medias interpretation of sex as vulgar and aiming to influence its “abnormal” sexual practices on others. This caused the creation of numerous laws that prohibited or placed restraints on the graphic representation of sex and pornography. Many citizens began to imply as method to combat pornography that these graphic images and practices of sex could lead to the crime of rape (Rubin, 1984). This assumption again limited its political discussion. This graphic representation of sex goes against societies views on what it should be used for so why should they discuss it?

The three assumptions of sexuality in Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality by Gayle S. Rubin are sex is corruption for the youth, any sexual orientation or alternative sexual practice that is not deemed “natural” is wrong, and the graphic representation of sex. These assumptions have resulted in the limited discussion of sex in a political setting. The assumptions formulate a certain ideology about sex that is believed to be common knowledge that should and must be followed by everyone. In my opinion, these beliefs about sex have caused the topic to be viewed as a fragile practice that needs to be heavily supervised by the government to prohibit the possible corruption of it. These notions are believed to be correct and factual which significantly limits the political discussion of it because the government believes it is right and why should they listen to others who possess the “wrong” beliefs about it. Unfortunately, the heavy political involvement in sexuality has led to injustice. The only way this injustice can be corrected is if the Western cultures begin to view sexuality as a personal freedom.

Rubin, G. S. (1984). Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of

Sexuality. 143-178.