Women's Studies 2163A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Gayle Rubin, Sadomasochism, Domino Theory
2 May 2018
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Lecture 9 – Mainstreaming Kink
- Throughout various moments of history there are types of sexual practices
Gayle Rubin (1984) on the hierarchies of sex:
- Sexual norms and how they change
- Some sexual practices are valued others are punished (Sanctioned, illegal)
- She is trying to summarize what the later half of the 20th century has been about
- Marital, reproductive heterosexuals are alone at the top of the erotic pyramid. Clamoring below are
unmarried monogamous heterosexuals in couples, followed by most other heterosexuals. Stable, long
term lesbian and gay male couples are verging on respectability, but bar dykes and promiscuous gay
men are hovering just about the groups at the very bottom of the pyramid. The most despised sexual
castes currently include transsexuals, transvestites, fetishists, sadomasochists, sex workers such as
prostitutes and porn models, and the lowliest of all, those whose eroticism transgresses generational
boundaries. Rubin
- Charms Circle
o The practices in the inner ring = charmed practices
▪ Good, normal, natural or blessings
▪ Generally what society sees as natural
▪ Heterosexuality is the only normal sexual practice – married, monogamous, in
relationship, in home etc.
o Outside of the ring
▪ Things that are bad, unnatural, damp
▪ Sex for $, sex in groups, cross-generational, porn, with manufactured objects, SNM
- Because of the charm circle we live in a sex negative culture
o Our culture generally exists on sexually uniformity we do not allow for erotic diversity
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
- The reason why she uses brick walls = imaginary brick walls that represent a line that should not be
crossed
o Brick is hard to break down – we need to keep acceptable and unacceptable in their own box
o Society is worried about the domino theory if one birck wall crumbles and the promisious
gay etc become more acceptable than the other brick wall is going to fall and there is sexual
chaos
▪ WHAT SOCIETY IS MOST WORRIED ABOUT
▪ All of a sudden sadomasochists are acceptable
- Today in 2018 it is more muddle
o Sexual norms change
- 2013 – updated charm of circle
o Her version is not what is acceptable and not what acceptable
o It is being critically informed and understanding erotic diversity, understanding that
sexuality is fluid
o We live where we encourage this to be the charms circle – more critical way of looking at
sexuality
o Outer limit = non consensual, unaware, fixed, singular
▪ Orgasm imperative – it is an uninformed way and uncritical way to look at sexuality
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Terminology related to kink
- Kinks
o Anything that falls under non traditional sexual and intimate desires, practices or fantasies
▪ Subjective term
▪ Non traditional – anything outside of original sex circle
- Sadism/masochism/sadomasochism
o Masochism – sexual pleasure from experiencing pain
o Sadism – sexual pleasure from watching inflicting pain
o Sadomasochism – sexual pleasure from watching and experiencing pain
- BDSM – bondage, discipline, domination, submission, sadism, and masochism
- Dom/Sub, Top/bottom, daddy/baby/girl, Master/Slave, etc.
o Many do not like to be called submissive due to the cultural norms that women are to be
submissive to the man
- Vanilla
o Slur to describe someone who is boring in bed
o Mainstream and common
o Sex free of add ons and kinks
- )mportant to note that: some degree of power or pin exchange is common in many peoples sexual
practices. For example, buying or light spanking
o Power and pain exchange is SO common in peoples sexual practices
▪ They may not identify into BDSM but they might like to have wrists pinned down,
spanked, etc.
Explaining facts and myths – BDSM Documentary
- BDSM is not about controlling someone and violence
o It is about bring in euphoria and excitement in your partner
- Biting, teeth, pulling hair, calling names – ALL PART OF BDSM
- People demonize it based on something they do not understand
- Various degrees of BDSM community
o Should not do anything if not safe, sane and consensual
o Not something that you can just jump into
- Look down upon because people do not understand why it can be healthy or enjoyable
- It is out of norm, not openly discussed – reason why it is looked down upon
- Submissive need to be cherished comfortable. It is the job of the dominant one to understand the
emotional and physical limits
o The dominant one can not put the submissive one in something they are not ready for etc.
- If you can not have the conversation about safety, then you should not be participating with BDSM
with the other person
o Should have the safety words!!
- Common misconceptions:
o That all people in BDSM are abusers and have past history of family abuse, degenerates,
violent individuals, antifeminist
- IT IS AN EXCHANGE OF POWER
o One individual does not have more power than the other individuals
o If anything the submissive one would have more powerful compared to dominant because
you still need the consent of the submissive person
- People say they were not sexually satisfied with sex before
- Makes you think about what your true desires are
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Throughout various moments of history there are types of sexual practices. Gayle rubin (1984) on the hierarchies of sex: Some sexual practices are valued others are punished (sanctioned, illegal) She is trying to summarize what the later half of the 20th century has been about (cid:498)marital, reproductive heterosexuals are alone at the top of the erotic pyramid. Clamoring below are boundaries. (cid:499) (cid:523)rubin (cid:883)(cid:891)(cid:890)(cid:886)(cid:524) unmarried monogamous heterosexuals in couples, followed by most other heterosexuals. Stable, long term lesbian and gay male couples are verging on respectability, but bar dykes and promiscuous gay men are hovering just about the groups at the very bottom of the pyramid. The most despised sexual castes currently include transsexuals, transvestites, fetishists, sadomasochists, sex workers such as prostitutes and porn models, and the lowliest of all, those whose eroticism transgresses generational. Sex for $, sex in groups, cross-generational, porn, with manufactured objects, snm.
