Fluid what’s that you say?’… Fluid Sexuality as a movement.

 

What is ‘fluid sexuality’ anyway? Is it all about ‘free love’? Is it about rights for GBLT folks? Is it about personal sexual identity and challenging mainstream culture? Is it a social movement that can be academically analyzed? It is all of these and many more… but what draws it all together?

 

Traditionally, the idea of ‘fluid sexuality’ has referred to the idea that someone’s sexual orientation, practices, or gender identity can shift over time and in various contexts, and is usually a concept limited to the GBLT community. Yet, I see a broader movement to aims to reclaim all sexuality: to reintegrate sexuality into our everyday lives and personalities without guilt, and to discard oppressive status quo categories of sexuality and gender in favour of more dynamic conceptions. The implications of this are many, some of the most obvious being the challenge to mainstream culture and the current legal and social system. But it also offers incredible opportunities for personal expression, health and happiness… as indeed the accomplishments of the movement thus far have demonstrated! 

 

So, okay, the GBLT movement is a fairly obvious (and justified) example of a sexuality movement. But if ‘fluid sexuality’ is more than GBLT issues, then what else does it include? I think that at base, what we are all fighting for (whether we be queer, gay, lesbian, heterosexual, trans, bisexual, or otherwise) is sexual freedom. Fighting against rigid categories, against stereotypes, against oppression, against exclusion, against homogeneity, against static definitions and binaries. We’re all fighting for the freedom to express our myriad and multiple sexual natures, and to be guaranteed the same rights as everyone in society (and therefore testing  established culture, religion, and the state). This includes the GBLT movement, but it also includes those in the kink and polyamory community, and anyone who strives to reclaim the centrality of sexuality in our lives. 

There is a caveat to this blog, so brace yourself: yes, there will be some academic theory applied to this idea of a ‘fluid sexuality movement’ as I tease out the common threads that tie us all together (nice thought, that), and draw them together using social movement theory. This blog, for now anyway, is written as a creative project for a university course… I’m hoping I become enamoured enough with blathering about sexuality online to continue the blog (at which point more personal anecdotes and literary writings will grace the blog’s stage). 

 

I’m expecting that those who read this will be slightly familiar with some of sexuality theory ideas, and be interested in questioning the culture as it evolves… in participating in opening and unpacking the cultural box of mainstream sexuality. What fascinates me most about the idea of the fluid sexuality movement is the ongoing cultural contestation and formation of the new norms and issues, so visible online and in community events. So, shall we burn the box while we’re at it? Heres to disposing of the gender/sex matrix, binary and static sexualities, female/male dichotomy, and anything else that comes in the way of the possibility of questioning your own sexuality.  

 

Kudos to the incredible people who have given so much of themselves for the freedoms won by the movement so far. I, and many others, may have been burned at the stake by now without you courageous souls! In the spirit of continuing to work for the supportive environment so essential for safe sexual exploration (such as safer sex resources, and the social acceptance and supports invaluable for advice and honest self-reflection), I hope you enjoy my wanderings through some fluid sexuality literature, theory, events, and thoughts…  

 

~ by openthebox on March 2, 2008.