Sexualities

According to Rubin (1984)[i], we must work towards a radical theory of the politics of sexuality:  “Gender affects the operation of the sexual system, and the sexual system has had gender-specific manifestations. But although sex and gender are related, they are not the same thing, and they form the basis of two distinct arenas of social practice….I am now arguing that it is essential to separate gender and sexuality analytically to reflect more accurately their separate social existence” (p. 170). Additionally, Rubin (1984) notes that “feminism is the theory of gender oppression. To assume automatically that this makes it the theory of sexual oppression is to fail to distinguish between gender, on the one hand, and erotic desire on the other” (p. 169).

Correa and Petchesky (1994)[ii] arguably offer a feminism that acknowledges gender as well as sexuality in their work on reproductive and sexual rights. “We define the terrain of reproductive and sexual rights in terms of power and resources: power to make informed decisions about one’s own fertility, childbearing, child rearing, gynecologic health, and sexual activity; and resources to carry out such decisions safely and effectively”(p. 119). Thus, they argue that “anchoring the possibility of women’s individual right to health, well-being, and “self-determined sexual lives” to the social changes necessary to eliminate poverty and empower women, this framework dissolves the boundary between sexuality, human rights, and development” (p. 121).

Hammonds (1999)[iii] argues that Black women have remained largely unanalyzed and undertheorized in the debates about sexuality (p. 93). Hammonds posits that “Black lesbian sexualities are not  simply identities. Rather they represent discursive and material terrains where there exists the possibility for the active production of speech, desire, and agency. Black lesbians theorizing sexuality is a site that disrupts silence and imagines a positive affirming sexuality. I am arguing for a different level of engagement between black heterosexual and black lesbian women as the basis for the development of a black feminist praxis that articulates the ways in which invisibility, otherness, stigma, are produced and reproduced on black women’s bodies. And ultimately my hope is that such an engagement will produce black feminist analyses which detail strategies for differently located black women to shape interventions that embody their separate and common interests and perspectives” (p. 102). 

What is important to note about each of these pieces, is first that gender is not synonymous with sexuality. Next, we can see how different scholars may approach the study of gender and sexuality differently. Additionally, it is important to consider differences regarding people’s sexuality and gender with critical insights as an attempt to prevent the reproduction of dominant, and oppressive, ideas and ideologies. Also, although I believe that Rubin is correct in her desire at the time to create a radical politics of sexuality that acknowledges the differences between sexuality and gender and not to incorrectly use gender theories as sexual theories, I also suggest that both Hammonds as well as Correa and Petchesky show us how we can study sexuality and gender together. Finally, all of these scholars, in their work acknowledge additional, and necessary, things to consider in regards to sexuality and gender, which are constructs, such as: race, class, age, and other relevant positionalities and social markings

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[i] Rubin, G. (1984). Thinking sex: Notes for a radical theory of the politics of sexuality. Pleasure and Dance: Exploring Female Sexuality (Carol S. Vance ED). Routledge. Retrieved from http://library.northsouth.edu/Upload/Culture.pdf#page=142

[ii] Correa, S. & Petchesky, R. (1994). Reproductive and sexual rights: A feminist perspective. From McCann, C. R., & Kim, S-k. (Eds). (2010). Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global Perspectives 2nd Ed. New York, NY: Routledge.

[iii] Hammonds, E. M. (1999). “Toward a Genealogy of Black Female Sexuality:  The Problematic of Silence”. From Feminist Theory and the Body: A Reader (Eds Janet Price & Margrit Shildrick). (1999). NY: Routledge.