Sex and the City - Essay Example

Sex and the City Name Institution Date Sex and the City Introduction Hamilton’s downtown has many examples of gendered and sexualized spaces and places. For instance the spaces and the attractions in the city were also designed to cater for both genders and even heterosexuals. According to Bell and Binnie (2000), the shops tend to articulate feminine and male with a diverse sexual personalities in which they are intended to draw attention of both sexual categories due to the fact that their products and services are not restricted to only one gender. This essay critically looks at the relationships between spatiality, gender and sexuality in regards to Hamilton Downtown City and how these relationships have affected the growth and development of this city and at the same time marginalized certain types of gender for instance heterosexuals, homosexuals and lesbians. Furthermore the essay will also bring to light the horror associated to spaces of sex activities and the ways in which city authorities make efforts to manage these actions. Thus the organization and way of life of these cities inscribe normative gender and sexuality. Hence the essay will explore how gender and sexuality are components of urban form and urban life. In particular emphasis will be laid on the descriptions of sex and city and assess the remarks made on Hamilton’s gendered and particular spaces and at the same time bring to light the most common elements of gendered and sexualized downtown Hamilton landscape. Furthermore the essay will argue means in which these hegemonic spaces are interrupted. In conclusion due to the surfacing of investment opportunities gratification as an interest group aspires to bring prosperity back to the city. Thus anonymity of inhabitants has led to the emergence of urban sub cultures for instance gay and lesbians which is a lifestyle in many urban cities. These sub cultures have in turn led to cities being insecure and full of criminal gangs such that at night fall the streets are mainly occupied by these sub cultures while conducting their businesses (Binnie, 2000 p.93). The City A large number of residents live cities that are largely important spaces around the world. The magnitude and concentration of urban populations imply that cities are places where people from all walks of life co-exist together. As a result of the diversification produced it is accompanied by positive possibilities as well as tensions and conflicts. Underclass are residents on the bottom rank of the social hierarchy whose experiences are distinguished by extreme levels of poverty, reliance on welfare, unstable employment, low skillfulness and inadequate access to learning. Hence they are typically concentrated in the inner city known as ghettos. Thus these insignificant sites represent the place of the underclass in cities. For that reason the reality of the underclass forms the basis for criticism of urban strategies that encourage gratification and marginalize the urban poor (Fincher & Jacobs, 1999 p.234) Planning and Zoning Sex in the City Officials of the city should try and control various types of sexual activities. New zoning laws should be formulated and implemented so as to amend the sexual activity of the city. (Binnie, 2000 p.80). The new laws should strive to standardize the sex businesses and as a result bring back sanity to city spaces. Businesses were forbidden to function close to one another and also in the proximity of residential houses, churches and schools. The daily operations of walking around the city street while engaging in actions such as shopping, lunching with friends, conference and dating replicate the function of entrepreneurship in creating new spaces of consumption like the malls, cafes and arcades within the city which has resulted in rising reputations in relation to sex. According to Binnie (2000), these laws should be formulated in the effort to drive sex businesses out of the downtown and into the outskirts of the city. Sexual geography of streets are undergoing major transformations. Berlant and Warner (1998) emphasized that the idea of neighborhood desired to be confronted hence it was vital to focus not only on the residents who constitute the communities but rather on the totality of the people. Thus clear distinctions should be made between the category of citizens and the class of asset holders. Numerous cities have strived to purify their streets through the use of zoning in an effort to eliminate or shift red light zones in support of gentrified family unit spaces. Hubbard (2004) observed that red light districts is a major distinguishing trait of Western cities and he further examined several ways of what he considered as ethical cleansing and purification approved by the state act, (Hubbard 2004, P.1647). Therefore policing and public order acts were intended to relocate commercial sex workers especially women sex workers were the most targeted leading to many cities approving zero tolerance position against sex workers. Hence as a result of being required out of the city led to sex workers forming groups and connecting with public activism and participating in strikes and demonstrations in the streets. However, such policies have received great support from the general public. The displacement of female commercial sex workers is aimed at reinventing city centers as harmless and heteronormative family spaces of operation. In conjunction with a wish for city gratification is the desire to segregate individuals who terrorize the moral principles of the society. Sex workers are often recognized as immoral which form an element of the approach for displacing them from the Central Business Districts and reasserting the moral standards of the society (Hubbard 2004, P.1630). Heterogeneous Cities The majority of cities have been considered as spaces of public and sexual freedom due to the opinion that they present anonymity and an escape from the well-known and community associations of small towns and village settings. Hence different city spaces exhibit a variation of sexual personalities in urban settings. Hence such patterns exist across a diversity of cities. In addition, gendered and sexualized customs undergo transformation over time. During the 19th Century, reputable middle class women did not have the liberty to wander round the cities but rather engaged in domestic chores. (Knopp, 1998 p.160) As a result of rural urban migration, majority of women started looking for financial and social independence. Hence several cultural spaces were created for instance gay, lesbians and prostitution spaces within these cities. The recruitment of men in the World War II created a gap in the industrialization process which led to more women being employed in the industries to address labor force shortage. Alternative sexual subcultures and social activities related with these tend to be created in cities. Deviant Heterosexuality Heterosexuality in regards to commercial sex workers and their customers is also evident in many cities including Hamilton. Female prostitution is oldest profession well-known to exist in the history of mankind and a persistent aspect of urban life. Thus prostitution has been connected with specific city neighborhoods that are stereotyped as corrupt. Hence marginalized central city areas which are characterized by sites of deficiency, criminality and environmental contamination considered to be a rising ground for wickedness and criminality (Westwood & Williams, 1997 p.261). Prostitution Law Reform Act 2003 states that prerequisites should be put into place in the effort of caring for the wellbeing and protection of sex workers together with their clients. It further forbids anybody under the age of 18 years operating as a prostitute. The law also permitted for territorial authorities to enact laws as regards to controlling the position of brothels. Queering City Spaces Many Western cities surprising inhabited and commercial zones have developed into gradually more evident thereby drawing an assorted population. This can be credited to the achievement of gay rights and the economic identification of the unexpected market. Political pro gay activism has without a doubt added to the varying spaces of cities and a stable increase in the commercialization of odd lifestyles. Thus a city is a plan of the chain of command of aspirations. For that reason it is separated into zones stated by the approaches in which its citizens value or degrade their wishes. Hence there are sex regions also known as red lights districts, combat zones and gay ghettos. Due to these various regions within the city it has turn out to be a symbol of craving, promiscuity, perversity, prostitution and sex across the ranks of age gender, category and race. (Knopp, 1998 p.205). Urban novels are also observed as a further vital way of understanding the city’s gendered and sexed spaces. Most novels generally depicted cities as men’s spaces. Although some male authors incorporated women as themes in their novels, they were often illustrated as whores. Therefore, literature is an outstanding basis in the course of discovering the ways in which cities are racial zed, categorized, gendered and sexualized. Thus cities symbolize independence and potential regardless of challenges More frequently linked with gay urban spaces is the appearance of noticeable gay neighborhoods within the cities. Gays and lesbians in some cities have even gone ahead and enacted monuments to signify their sexuality. Thus city authorities have tired to govern, control, and understand various sexualities. Ideas and practices associated with law, popular culture, religion, economies and politics form the yardstick of classifying sexualities on the basis of being normal, upright and fit as opposed to being deemed deviant and bad. There is also rise in Television shows that are in the progress of presenting lesbians and gay men as being incredible, conversant, and super consumers with sufficient of disposable earnings to squander on trendy centered lifestyles. This has therefore led to the stimulating of profile of gay bars. For that reason the authority of sexuality may take the structure of: social organization; removal of particular sexualities from urban spaces; and administration of sexualities and sexual institutions. As a result, the general consequence of moral purification of city streets is achieved. In regards to marginalization of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and other sexual minorities, most cities conduct gay pride fair and processions thereby converting the streets into astonishing locations of celebration. Other areas that form sections which have been marginalized include children’s toyshop and playground even as they are an element of the general public to utilize the place and space of the downtown. (Johnston & Longhurst, 2010 p.902). Hamilton forms the best example of a contemporary city whereby there is great exclusion of all genders and sexualities, hence leading to marginalization of certain categories of gender. Bars and restaurants in the streets articulated their targeted consumers by employing interior designs and commercial adverts even though some of them proved a challenge to categorize their preferred gender. Therefore gay gentrifiers who comprised of mainly men displaced long tenure, underprivileged marginal factions leading to development of gay characteristics which were forged through practices of consumption. In addition lesbians as well formed their own spaces within cities. Like heterosexual women, lesbians commonly have reduced access to resources than men and are terrified of male aggression (Fincher & Jacobs, 1999 p.103) Conclusion In conclusion, the course of action of gentrification express about modification in both the social and physical settings of city neighborhoods. Therefore it leads to financial recovery of property ideals, commercial prospects for the construction industry and the growth of private ownership profession. Secondly this process leads to the displacement of low income residents by the higher social status inhabitants. Furthermore gentrification leads to the insurgency of built surroundings. Due to the surfacing of investment opportunities gratification as an interest group aspires to bring wealth back to the city. In these urban cities prostitution appear as a result of moral deterioration rather than the forces of the market. Restriction of prostitutes in certain locations further reproduces the distinction between moral heterosexual subjects and those who embrace an immoral and illicit sexuality. However, in my own opinion legalizing prostitution and considering it as moral will further lead to the decay of moral values within the society hence reproducing insecure social settings. In regards to Hamilton bars and restaurants were able to meet their desired target but places such as hair dressing saloons and jewellery shops lacked a clear expression of their target gender which proved to be more confusing whether it was morally right to mix different types of gender together. Hamilton downtown also failed to develop space for children who form part of the society which is evident by the fact that toy shops and play ground for children were not visible. Hence the city needs to develop recreation facilities to cater for children just as they have developed various facilities to cater for different categories of gender. Thus there is need to develop such facilities as parks or animal orphanage to target the children. The emergence of sub cultures within urban cities has further led to the deteriorated security. Hence sex and the city serves to brings about the aims or reason that led to the emergence of such sub cultures and their solutions. Reference Fincher, R. & Jacobs, J.M. (eds) (1999). Cities of Difference, Guilford Press; London Johnston, L., & Longhurst, R. 2010: Space, Place and Sex: Geographies of Sexualities, Lanham MD: Rowman and Littlefield Bonnett, A. (2000) White Identities: Historical and International Perspectives. Longman Harlow Hubbard, P. (2004). Sex and the City: Geographies of prostitution the urban West, Ashgate, Aldershot Knopp, I, (1998). Sexuality and urban space: Gay male identity politics in the United States. The United Kingdom Parker, S. J., Cattrall, K., Davis, K., Nixon, C., Noth, C., Bushnell, C., & HBO Video (Firm). (2002). Sex and the city: The complete third season. New York: HBO Home Video. Bell, D., & Binnie, J. (2000). The sexual citizen: Queer theory and beyond. Cambridge: Polity Press. Berlant, L., & Warner, M. (January 01, 1999). Sex in public. Cultural Studies Reader. Hamnett, C. (January 01, 1991). The blind men and the elephant: The explanation of gentrification. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. N.s. Westwood, S. and Williams J. (eds) (1997) Imagining Cities series: Open University Press Read More