FEMINIST THEORIZING OF SEXUALITY II
To talk about human sexuality requires a notion of the material. Yet the idea of the material comes to us already tainted, containing within it preexisting ideas about sexual difference. Butler suggests that we look at the body as a system that simultaneously produces and is produced by social meanings, just as any biological organism always results from the combined and simultaneous actions of nature and nurture.
Unlike Butler, the feminist philosopher Elizabeth Groszallows some biological processes a status the pre-exists their meaning.She believes that biological instincts or drives provide a kind of raw material for the development of sexuality. But raw materials are never enough. They must be provided with a set of meanings, “a network of desires” that organize the meanings and consciousness of the child’s bodily functions.
—Anne Fausto-Sterling, Sexing the Body (23)
Required Readings
Fausto-Sterling, Sexing the Body, Preface, Ch. 1“Dueling Dualisms” (1-29), Ch. 2 “’That Sexe Which Prevaileth’” (30-44), Ch. 3 “Of Gender and Genitals: The Use and Abuse of the Modern Intersexual” (45-77),
Ch. 4 “Should There Be Only Two Sexes?” (78-114)
Seidman et al. New Sexuality Studies Part 3: Sexual bodies and behaviors, Chs. 11-14 (79-106)
Additional Resources
Sample Journal Entry Note: file not found
Due This Week
Weekly journal entry including main points from readings, to be submitted electronically, and observations about your own sexuality and understanding of sexuality, to be kept in a private journal.