Theories of Bodies, Sexualities and Identities - Research Paper Example

? Bodies and sexualities Introduction The role of sexuality and gender spawns important areas of study for exploring the contemporary societal condition related with prehistoric human behavior in comparison with the other dimensions of sociology. The past four decades have seen the growth of an internationally active gay and lesbian movement. The queer theory became a quite significant field of study which ignited from an act of resistance in 1969 at a bar called Stonewell located on Christopher village, New York. The gay and the lesbian movement changed their prevalent deviant conjecture to a whole new identity in the world. The new identity created a new binary heterosexual-homosexual relation and as result communities over the world polarized. The new homosexual identity thus developed has become an international standard now. Today becoming gay is to adapt a particular set of life style, standard, and behavior. The Western gay identity has become almost a de facto identity of this post modern world (Fortier). Judith Butler on the regulatory system of sex/gender: “The construction of coherence conceals the gender discontinuities that run rampant within heterosexual, bisexual and gay and lesbian contexts in which gender does not necessarily follow from sex, and desire, or sexuality generally, does not seem to follow from gender – indeed, where none of these dimensions of significant corporeality express or reflect one another. When the disorganization and disaggregation of the field of bodies disrupt the regulatory fiction of heterosexual coherence, it seems that the expressive model loses its descriptive force” (Butler 131). The highlight here is that, Homosexuality is not a social menace, it is an identity as well an indispensible part of our society. Sexuality theory The recent decades have encountered proliferation of scholarship on sexuality which has given development of the sexuality theory. Apart from these researchers also stresses focus on the aspects that often permeate our culture and living, seeking answers the things which will come under the classification of sexuality and which do not come under the purview of sexuality. The sexuality theories also help to have a clear view on the ways in which it is understood as a concept, an identity, and as attraction and behavior (Sexuality theory).Sexuality as a concept was not introduced into language until the 19th century. The identification of the word was coined by Health especially in relation with sex as a reproductive function in both plants and animals. In 1889, it was first publicly used by a surgeon who used this term in reference to the surgical removal of a woman’s ovaries. Since then, the term has appeared both in the medical and the other settings and its meaning has become highly complex. Soon newly emerging sciences of psychology and sexology have designed to classify the human sexual behavior in order to describe and quantify it. The cataloguing of sexuality resulted in a shift away from sexual relations being seen only to the people’s behavior and to their identities and the object of desire started to define the individual’s sexuality. The study of sexuality adapted the sexual behavior with a system of heterosexual marriage as the standard any deviation from the heterosexual behavior or attraction outside was regarded and seen as deviant. This deviant conjecture was explored by the sexologists of the nineteenth century with the evolution of the concept of homosexuality which is an age old human sexual behavior. The concept of sexual orientation emerged as a concept describing the human beings emotional, romantic or the sexual attraction towards each other. Sexual orientation is different from the sexual behavior because it signifies that a person may or may not behave according to their sexual orientation. A common notion of the sexual orientation is that a person’s sexual orientation is either heterosexual or homosexual. However the sexual orientation is much more complex and unpredictable phenomena which several researches reveal (Sexuality theory). The sexual trichotomy can be depicted in the diagram as follows: Social Constructionist Theory One of the most commanding developments on the intellectual horizon in recent decades ushers from Foucault’s idea that even the deepest-lying sexual categories are social constructs (Thorp). The proponents of this theory believe that the sexuality is basically defined on the backdrop of temporal and cultural factors. Sexual behaviors have been a byproduct of social conditioning rather biological factors. In this respect sodomy have different representations in different societies (Recio, 2). Sodomy or sodomite is some ugliest words in the English language domain (Gier). The word has been derived from the Canaanite city of Sodom, whose destruction along with Gomorrah is related in Genesis 19 (Genesis 19). The concept came in the 11th Century when male on male sex was identified as a sin by Peter Damian in the 11th century. The two theological positions evolve from the Damian’s position. One is that if the homosexuals are inherently evil, then that means that God created them such. The other view is that that all the humans are created in the image of God and whatever God creates is good (Gier). The deviance from the heterosexual sex paradigm, homosexuality as an identity ushered in the 19th century as a result of industrial capitalism. With the rise of industrial capitalism and commoditization of every aspects of life, the homosexuals were viewed with neglect as they cannot reproduce and cannot replace themselves in the generational pool of possible laborers to be exploited by the bourgeoisie. The negative connotation of the homosexual orientation was found to be prevalent throughout the world such as China, Japan, and Arabic nations and the homosexuals were seldom attached with the words as woman hater or the man hater. The subordination of the homosexuals by the bourgeoisie turned the attention of the social constructionists towards strengthening the laws of the homosexuals (Recio, 2). Essentialist theory In the ancient worlds as well as in the modern world, the existence of sex drive has been predominant. The essentialist theory deals with the homosexual orientations. The essentialist view states that the humans possess a fixed sexual orientation which is determined from birth and the nature is of perfect bisexuality. The social factors are irrelevant in the determination of peoples’ sexual orientation and of their understandings. Secondly, the essentialist proposes that the fixed sexual orientation determined at birth is distributed along a continuum over the entire population ranging from exclusive heterosexuality to exclusive homosexuality. Biology and psychology is also stressed by the essentialist theorists. They state that the sexuality is largely influenced by natural, nonsocial factors like genes and personal characteristics in addition to their bodies. Psychologically, the essentialists view that the adaptation of experiences from the local environmental factors which contribute to the sexual orientation of a person. The essentialist views state that the human beings are basically slaves to their genes and subjected to stimulus and behavior upon which they do not posses any control (Recio, 4). The Unified Theory The notion of homosexual identity arising from the heterosexual labeling is indeed a narrow minded view. Also if seen biologically, the level of testosterone in a man does not give him an excuse to sexually violate women. A combination of both the above discussed theories can be viewed to be a solution to the problem. It is true that human beings are born with genes, but this by no means dictates that the way they eat. Depending upon the society where we grow up, the eating pattern also changes heartily. The eating habit of the human beings is basically socially constructed. On the essentialist angle all human beings must eat to survive. However in the social world of humans, how and what we eat is socially constructed. The way the human beings act on their sexuality is greatly influenced by the societal forces. It has been found that the male heterosexual engages in homosexual acts and still considers them heterosexual. This self-deceived act can be stated as an excuse that a female is not available. Apart from the societal side we also need to focus on the study of how homosexuality became a social stigma and develop the social identity of the homosexuals (Recio, 4-5). Compulsive heterosexuality and sexual identity Compulsive heterosexuality is a sexual orientation which refers heterosexuality as the default sexual orientation and acts as an organizing principle which discriminates and discourages all other sexual orientations and relationships other than heterosexual relationships. In the health research paradigm, heterosexuality ignores the influence of sexual identity and also ignores the ways in which the interaction between the sexual identity and gender takes place in order to produce unique health outcomes. Judith Butler states that the heterosexual desire forms a major role in constructing masculinity and opposing feminity. She also states that the within dominant heterosexuality, the object of masculine desire is inherently feminine, while the object of feminine desire is inherently masculine. Hence, sexuality is linked to the construction of gender identity (Johnson & Repta 30-31). Society is indispensably related with the concept of compulsive heterosexuality. Butler states that the notion of the compulsory heterosexuality bears its position from the construct of the Western patriarchy. According to Butler, the compulsive heterosexuality is characterized as, “hegemonic discursive/epistemic model of gender intelligibility that assumes that for bodies to cohere and make sense there must be a stable sex expressed through a stable gender (masculine expresses male, feminine expresses female) that is oppositional and hierarchically defined through the compulsory practice of heterosexuality” (Hogue 181). She also states that the gender is culturally constructed and so the gender is neither the casual result of sex nor as seemingly fixed as sex. The juncture where the compulsory heterosexuality and the bourgeois nuclear family are attenuated, a series of sites of sexual desire, individuation, identity, pleasure, social definition, and politics multiply and flourish. Sex, gender and identity becomes per formative (Hogue 181). Matters of sexual identity force us to think about gender in new ways and have pushed the frontiers of queer theory. Gender performativity and drag queens People often cause confusion with the concept of drag queen. They relate the term drag queen whenever talking about any man dressed in women’s attire. The drag queens are first and foremost not transvestites who are generally a heterosexual man with a pathological fetish for the women’s attire. Drag queens are generally performers whose performance entails celebrity masquerade. The drag queens are not be confused with the trans genders and transsexuals and are actually self-identified man who has no desire to live as a woman nor become a woman. There is further classification of the drag queen as the clamp queen and other further classifications and categories based on their performance style. The clamp queens are basically the clowns who perform theatrical drag and emphasize on the ironies of life in exaggerated and humorous ways highlighting on the subordination of women and the superiority of the men in the society. Camp characters are usually based on tragic or comic, strong, rebellious women such as Marilyn Monroe, Joan Crawford, Cher, Patti La Belle, and even Lady Gaga who are basically known as camp queens take resort to the use of hyper feminine facial expressions, gestures, and makeup in order to capture their character. Regardless of the genre of drag, there exists a strong emphasis on mocking hyper feminity and female gender stereotypes. The drag queens with their performances believe that the scathing characters will enlighten the women on the stereotypes and gender roles which they have been subjected to by a dominant male society. Among the several reasons, one of the important reasons is that the drag queens refer to the educational motives with the hopes of educating and empowering the homosexual communities which include the gay and the lesbians. Jenna Skyy, a Dallas drag queen states that he uses the stage in order to create a shift in the power between himself and the heterosexual audience with the hope that they will reflect stress upon the dichotomous gender structure created by a heterosexual society (Scheiner 13). An outlet for gender experimentation to confused individuals is performed through the Drag, whenever these individuals feel ambiguity with their own identity. The drag identity is neither masculine nor feminine but it is basically a complex collection of characteristics which induces to challenge the traditional polarized view of the society. A third gender category is created by the drag queens where the being a gay is seen to posses lack of masculinity and power. Through their rigorous performance and domination on the stage incorporates within the individuals a means of attaining masculinity and power and in turn allows them to challenge the dominant structure of a society and question the straight male privilege. In the recent times the gay and the straight communities usually hold the drag queen characters in high esteem and provide them celebrity status. Through solid admiration of the audience and the community the self esteem of the drag performer are usually boosted up. The drag queens who were previously thought to posses little or no marketable talents confessed that they were not only earning good money for them but at the same time receive huge attention through their drag performance. RuPaul’s Drag U aired on the Logo channel focuses on the transformation of the less attractive straight women into divas. In an interview RuPaul stated that the show teaches the contestants to boost up confidence and empowerment in the way of taking charge of their own feminity. The show basically spreads a message of self esteem and empowerment to all the people who feel less confidence in their bodies (Scheiner 15). Body esteem in gay male From the birth the young boys are infused with the feelings that they it takes some attributes to be recognized as a man in true sense of terms. Certain attributes which a man should entail are that of independence, reoccupation with career and competitiveness of physical strength, aggressiveness, and courage. When these young boys have the difficulties in attaining these goals, generally emotional isolation is likely to crop up which results in the problematic behavior. In the western societies males are usually accustomed to keep themselves muscular, lean and fat free and also to maintain a mature successful look. The males become trapped between getting bigger and trying to slim. Men who are physically fit may not be completely satisfied with their bodies. Various studies state that the gay men express a greater degree of body dissatisfaction than heterosexual men. For many years the homosexual men are victims of prejudice because of their queer sexual orientation. Their self images are also at high risk of decline due to the social stigma imposed upon them. In the AIDS epidemic inspired a new health consciousness among the gay men and their inclination to the gym culture. Subsequently, muscularity became related to a healthy and AIDS free body (Scheiner 15). The irrational perceptions of AIDS and the body build have been termed as AIDS phobia. The gay men found themselves discriminating the potential partners based on their body size and shape. They believed that it was impossible for a man with well-toned physique to be HIV positive. To look young and virile communicated a healthy status. Today the gay men still relate the physical beauty with health. Innumerable gay men in order to contradict the effeminate stigma set upon them by the heterosexual notion and standards of muscularity determined by straight society. To many people the hyper muscular body itself has become synonymous with gay self esteem. Well-toned body is still considered as a definite indication of a man’s homosexual orientation (Scheiner 15). Queer Diaspora The complexities of the postmodern and post colonial issues of identity and belongings have been used by the notion of queer diaspora for changing the perception of the orientation away from the preexisting identities established alternatively by either nature or culture (Fortier). Generally the word queer means strange, odd, or abnormal. This word was generally attached to the lesbians and gay men in terms of abuse. The term centers around various range of critical practices and priorities, critiques of sex-gender system, studies of transsexual and transgender identification and of transgressive desires ( Spargo 9).Sexuality when broadly conceived can be viewed as the direct and indirect motivation for international relocation and movement captured in the light of sexual migration. Sexual migration captures the notion that queer persons confronted by homophobia or discrimination, the queer persons migrated to different locations to enable queer practices, identities, and subjectiveness. Various urban sectors in the West are amongst the first destination for evolution of the queer Diaspora. The areas include San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Sydney, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Some urban centers also attract the Queer migrants which are dedicated for economic development (Fortier). Queer Diasporic desire and queer diasporic body centers contradictions and violence of multiple uprooting, displacement and exiles. Queer diasporic cultural forms and practices generally indicate to the submerged histories of the racist and colonialist violence that persist to continue and make the people with queer desires to feel through the bodily desires. Queer Diaspora along with it brings culture that is deliberately forgotten within the conventional nationalist or diasporic scripts (Gopinath 4). Modern remedial steps Several endeavors have been made in order to normalize the offbeat behavior entailed to the homosexuals by the society. The Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) has been developed in order to formulate a structural format in order to terminate shame, secrecy and unwanted genital surgeries for people born with the anatomy which is decided not standard for male or the female. The prime agenda of ISNA is that the Children with intersex, parents of those children, and adults with intersex should be treated in an open, shame-free, supportive, and honest way, should be provided access to trained psychologists and social workers, care providers for the child to grow up, medical procedures for maintaining health sustainability and surgeries on the genitals should not be performed until a child becomes mature enough to make an informed decision for herself or himself (Intersex Society of North America). Geographical boundaries also play an important part as we have seen the liberal methods followed in America. It will spread the message to a larger area and will build up the consciousness. A gender theorist Elizabeth Grosz states that, “The city is one of the crucial factors in the social production of sexed corporeality” (Gray 270) Conclusion The sexual orientation of the human beings is the generator of their social identity. Sexual identity outweighs the mere acts and behaviors of a particular nature. It is basically in effect a way of life. The homosexuals have been long discriminated and been victims of hatred and societal avoidance. The heterosexuals dominated the world with utter subordination of the homosexuals, the so called queer people even if they are also found to perform homosexual acts. The theories states that the societal structure has to be metamorphosed and the homosexuality should come into the mainstream as a separate identity with equal freedom of life as the heterosexuals live. Shift towards the liberation of the homosexuals have been encountered in a wide scale in the modern world and they are quite independent with laws implemented in favor of protecting their rights. References Butler, Judith, Gender trouble: feminism and the subversion of identity, USA: Routledge, 1990 Fortier, Anne-Marie, “Queer Diaspora”, Handbook of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 2002, June 4, 2012 from: http://www.omnilogos.com/2011/05/24/queer-diaspora/ “Genesis 19”, New International Version”, Bible Gateway, 2011, June 4, 2012 from: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+19&version=NIV Gier, Nick, “The Real Meaning of Sodomy”, n.d., 4 June 2012 from: http://www.tomandrodna.com/Nick_Gier/Sodomy_050206.pdf Gopinath, Gayatri, Impossible Desires: Queer Diasporas and South Asian Public Cultures, Duke University Press, 2005 Gray, Sally, “America and the queer diaspora: the case of artist David Mc Diarmid”, Transnational Ties, 2011, June 4, 2012 from: http://epress.anu.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/ch161.pdf Hogue, Lawrence, The African American Male, Writing and Difference: A Polycentric Approach to African American Literature, Criticism, and History, SUNY Press, 2003 “Intersex Society of North America” (2008), ISNA, June 4, 2012 from: http://www.isna.org/faq/patient-centered Johnson, Joy L. & Repta, Robin, “Sex and Gender 2 Beyond the Binaries”, Sage publishers 2 June 2012 from: http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/40428_Chapter2.pdf “Queer Diaspora”, Gender, Culture and Society, 2008, 2 June 2012 from: http://sc6214.wetpaint.com/page/Queer+Diaspora Recio, E. M., “A Unified Theory on Homosexual Identity”, Social Construction of Sexuality, 2000, 4 June 2012 from: http://www.polywog.org/sociology/sexuality/sctrev.pdf Scheiner, Jessica Strubel, “Gender Performativity and Self-Perception: Drag as Masquerade”, International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, (2011), 1.13, 12-19, 2 June 2012 from: http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_1_No_13_Special_Issue_September_2011/2.pdf “Sexuality theory”, Lecture Notes, n.d., June 2, 2012 from: http://sexualitystudies.net/files/Lecture%202%20Sexuality%20Theory.pdf Spargo, Tamsin, “Foucault and Queer Theory”, Post modern encounters (2000), 4 June 2012 from: http://wxy.seu.edu.cn/humanities/sociology/htmledit/uploadfile/system/20100826/20100826023752876.pdf Thorp, John, “Discussion: The Social Construction of Homosexuality”, Fordham University, The Jesuit University of New York, (1992), 46 .1, 54-65, 4 June 2012 from: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/thorp.asp http://hidaviloria.com/?page_id=14 http://web4.uwindsor.ca/clubs/ooc/main.nsf/a1b249f15dfa39be8525730600490eda/98cef5d052423ab1852574640065fd23/$FILE/1b)%20The%20Normalization%20Of%20Queer%20Theory.pdf http://epress.anu.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/ch161.pdf http://www.polywog.org/sociology/sexuality/sctrev.pdf Read More