PomoSexual

Now, this is an interesting project to discover on a sunday morning. Pomosexual openly identifies as a social movement aimed at the postmodern dismantling of sexuality and gender categories, and seems to be specifically targeted at youth.a few videos, one as an overview, another a photo montage, and one for you more inspirational message-minded types. Oddly, my instinctual reaction is somewhat mixed: I can appreciate the sentiment behind the project (obviously.. why else do I keep posting on this blog??), but for some reason am also disinclined to actually join the site. It doesn’t resonate with me the way I would have thought. Anyone have any thoughts on this?   

Tidbits

A few things I’ve come across recently:

to submit to:

-Project Outpost is asking for handmade postcards, with a anonymous line or two about a concern/issue/secret/celebration of sexuality. It can be anything (imagine the possibilities…)! The results will be displayed at U of T until the end of April, to highlight issues of sexual diversity in Toronto.

-the Homosaywhat? publishing collective is looking for submissions of stories from queers who have travelled abroad, and their transcultural experiences, for their latest project, ‘Out of Place’.

newsy:

-’Sex Drive‘ and ‘Wedded to Variety‘ on polyamory

-from today’s Globe and Mail, a piece on whether we talk and joke too openly about sex nowadays. “Sexual openness bordering on the pathological seems commonplace today, so is there still any such thing as “too much information”? This caused me to think of recent instances where I’d fleetingly had similar thoughts (such as when I felt suddenly exposed while reading Kleinplatz and Moser’s Sadomasochism: Powerful Pleasures on the subway this morning). Overall though, I find the very act of talking more openly about sex in a public place to be a political one. The idea that “that sex has become the great conversational unifier, like discussing the weather or sports” is  extremely hopeful… increasing awareness, dialogue and acceptance of diverse practices, all in a (maybe this is idealistic, but..) spirit of honest communication, which we could all use more of in our relationships.

music:

-Climbing PoeTree

- Anthony and the Johnsons 

Fetish Theory/Theory Fetish

Okay, first, a very quick overview, (but so as not to beat a dead horse:

you can find the presenter’ s biographies here, and the presentation abstracts here.

The seminars were: ‘Sexual Fetishism as Anti-Racist Activism’, ‘From the Arts to Society and Back Again’, ‘(Un)Common Ground: Intersections of Kink, Poly and Queer’, ‘Luscious in Leather’, ‘A Woman’s Right to be Spanked’, concluding with a panel discussion on how to bridge gaps between activism and academia. My bit on Dr. Carol Queen’s keynote is here, but I’’m going to ramble on a bit more here about general impressions, personal clarifications and realizations, reflections, and links… bear with me. 

 

Conferences such as this are vital efforts to build community and cohesiveness in an extremely diverse movement, to share ideas and accumulated knowledge, and to openly celebrate sexuality as an integral part of lives, culture, history and politics. And really, who doesn’t love geeking out in a room of like-minded people? 

A few major themes I noticed: a strong consciousness of the many diverse voices and identities, sensitivity to the intersections of race and class, and a strong push for making the situationality and biases of the speaker clear. As an academic so often in spaces of critical social theory, it is extremely refreshing to find a space in which sexuality and gender issues are discussed at all, let alone so self-reflexively. This conference also made clear to me the extent to which academia usually only tokenistically mentions, and more often completely disregards, sexuality’s centrality. I suspect this is mostly due to Western culture’s continuing aversion to embracing sexuality. It continues to be an awkward subject, when compared to the integration of ‘race’ and class critiques in scholarly work. Scholars that not only state that they will incorporate the intersecting areas of ‘race’, class, gender and sexuality in whatever it is they are addressing, but then actually explicitly and intelligently do so, are still tragically few. Anne McClintock’s Imperial Leather springs immediately to mind. The activist artwork of  Guillermo Gomez-Pena(which Mehre Khan introduced in the first seminar of the day) does a shockingly fantastic job of visually representing these intersections, using BDSM and fetish to demonstrate how integral sex is to issues of race, class, gender, and politics. 

 

Dr. Queen, and other presenters, also made the interesting point that academia has a great deal to learn from the vast repository of knowledge in the sex industry, in the activist community, and in the general public. I’d also noticed this trend of extrapolating a small n to draw larger conclusions, and I think ithis tendency largely stems from our immense curiosity about the psychology of  sexual behaviour and the huge lack of actual studies done (kudos to Kinsey). Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was more cross-over between the sexually practicing public and academics? Projects such as Letters from Johns and Letters from Working Girls are exciting places to start (as long as academia can learn to value different ways of knowing, including street knowledges)!  

 

Another surprise at the conference was an odd reversal of representation. Normally I feel unrepresented in queer spaces as a bisexual woman, but here I felt over-represented, where paradoxically, I felt an underrepresentation of trans, gay male, and heterosexual people. I was surrounded by queer women (not that I’m complaining!). Its just surprising, having gone from the usual feeling of having no voice in the queer community, to having the happy experience of hearing a gay male cultural programmer speak of bisexual and heterosexual concerns more articulately than I could ever hope to at an event I attended last November (Queer Publics). After that event I felt elated, vindicated, and finally a part of the community. At this event I suddenly felt that we must continue to be aware of any voices missing, including those that we more commonly hear. I’ve come full circle, and am happy to find myself in a social movement space that is self-aware enough to notice and voice any and all concerns in a spirit of equality, fluidity and diversity.  

 

Ah, but the theory. O, the theory… while I did find myself muttering “more theory!” at some points during the presentations, overall there was a nice balance between academic theory and more casual observation. More theory-heavy presentations such as Andrea Zanin’s discussion of commonalities between the poly, kink and queer movements (which I’ll return to in the next post… very much looking forward to that), to Ummni Khan’s skillful deconstruction of race, class and ability undertones of kink portrayal in the films 9 1/2 Weeks and Secretary, to discussions of legal institutions in Canada and abroad offered by Khan and Ingrid Olson. On the  more observational side of things was Jacqueline St Urbain’s photographic look at leather-dyke conceptions of beauty, and Morpheus’ take on kink in mainstream media. My pulse was definitely more affected by the theory end of things (ya heard me.. giant geek, right here), but all presentations drew attention to another question I’ve been batting around: just how common is kink anyway?

Dr. Queen brought the question up briefly in the keynote, when she wondered if there are people who actually have no fetish inclinations at all, overt or not (though such people probably exist). It brings up other questions, of course, most importantly I think it what is counted as a fetish or a kink? Are more mainstream symbols of sex counted (think lacy lingerie, massage oil, feathers, chocolate body paint, hand cuffs, and many, many more). What about kink? Does a nip on the neck  make you kinky?  This is something else I want to come back to, but one more thing to mention here: while I have been pondering this question, and thinking ‘maybe kink and fetish aren’t as uncommon as we think!’, I did realize that pursuing promotion of the normalcy of kink is not the most appropriate political tactic. This movement is overwhelmingly not about fitting in (though some more conservative minded folk in the movement may pursue this tactic), but in expanding the boundaries of what is acceptable, and keeping them flexible. So, a bite on the neck and an intense flogging have intense sensation play as a commonality, certainly. But what we should be examining is why one is considered ‘normal’, the other ‘deviant’, or maybe more importantly, the negative consequences resulting from these stigmas.

Okay, enough tangents. There was a  great sense of optimism and excitement in the room, as we talked about the building momentum and visibility of the movement (as evidenced by the existence of the SDS program, various social institutions, the conference, advocacy groups, etc etc). Tonnes of food for thought, lots of opportunities for future work, informed discussion, and a definite feeling of solidarity. In fact, the solidarity felt in the act of pushing all the boundaries of identity, and the happy contestation of categories, was absolutely thrilling. I’m not kidding. I talk about this kind of approach in my academic essays all the time, and despite the facts that I truly believe it and that my professors will probably the only ones to ever read it, it always feels like ridiculously utopian rhetoric. But shit! This weekend I actually found my lofty beliefs in practice: multiplicity, respect for diversity, equal, honest and integrated celebration and dialogue about it all. I’m a little teary-eyed over here. Cheers to the organizers and presenters of a fantastic conference, and heres to another one next year! 

News

“When Girls Will be Boys” NY Times, March 16, 2008   ”Bisexuality a ‘third orientation’“, The Globe and Mail, January  17, 2008  ”Same Sex Couples: Here for a Good Time, and a Long Time” The Globe and Mail, Janurary 24, 2008 ”Collaring Ceremony Educates Students about BDSM Lifestyle”, Indiana Daily Student News, Oct. 2007 

From the Throne: Dr. Carol Queen’s keynote address, Fetish: Working Out the Kinks Conference, Mar 14th 2008

 

Friday evening I had the pleasure of watching Dr. Carol Queen give an engaging, hilarious, and insightful keynote to the SDSSU’s inaugural conference. The turnout was great, the crowd was fairly diverse (though with many familiar faces), and everyone seemed enthralled. Dr. Queen casually talked about kink, fetish and BDSM (bondage, discipline, domination, submission, sadism and masochism) practice as it is manifested in, and shaped by, sex work. After defining her terms: kink, fetish, and sex work, she discussed how integral sex work is to cultural perceptions of fetishism, even stating that “kink and fetish have a place in culture only through sex work.” It creates a space in which we can think about , gain knowledge and understanding of, and form expectations… sex work is a ‘nexus of exploration’ for kink, fetish and BDSM. 

As an introduction to the conference, it would turn out to be entirely very indicative– a mix of theory, humour, personal experience and observation, future directions. And mostly, a general celebration of sexuality of all stripes. 

Speaking of diversity, I found Queen’s extensive listing of fetishes exciting (especially the idea that sexuality theory itself might be a fetish), and found her short mention of ‘fetish-inflected types’ really intriguing. I’ll come back to this in the next post, as the commonality of fetish has been something nagging at my mind, and ended up having a surprising answer by the end of the conference. 

Queen did a wonderful job of stroking the egos of us Canadians, noting that a conference of this kind is a rare bird indeed, and also noting the need for more programs like the sponsoring Sexuality Diversity Studies Program. She tipped a hat to Canadian academic forerunners who had done research on sex work in Toronto and Vancouver, and applauded the crowd’s response to her humor and political inclinations. She also recalled a time when she was giving a talk in a dyke bar in Vancouver, and had been so used to ‘sneaking in’ sexuality theory by alternating it with smut excerpts… but at this bar, she said, the dykes kept yelling “more theory, more theory!” Ha! Only in Canada, possibly the only place where theory is a fetish of its own. 

In seriousness though, I’d find myself repeating this chant in my head throughout the conference. The deep theory bits took a little longer to rise to the surface of the conference… but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Longer post on the conference to follow shortly… suffice to say for now that it is almost impossible not to love Dr. Carol Queen, or to ignore the vast knowledge and insight her spritely personality brings to sexuality theory.  The conference itself, as it would turn out, had the same appeal. 

Fetish:Working Out The Kinks

 

O, it’s going to be a fantastic weekend indeed:

The Sexual Diversity Studies Students’

 Union of U of T (SDSSU) is hosting the inaugural Fetish: Working Out The Kinks conference, from Mar 14-15th (yes, this weekend!).

 

For more info:

“Fetishism is a highly visible aspect of sexuality but rarely is its impact critically analyzed. The conference will address how fetishism and specifically Bondage, Domination, Sadism and Masochism (BDSM) practise is regarded in terms of sex work, media representations, identity politics and pathologization by the medical and mental health community. Through the conference, the Sexual Diversity Studies Students’ Union (SDSSU) aims to create a space where academics and community members can begin a vital critical analysis.”

Friday kicks off with Carol Queen giving the keynote address Friday at 7:30. Only $5 for students! Saturday is packed with seminars on various subjects… in particular I’m looking forward to Andrea Zanin’s talk, “(Un)Common Ground: Intersections of Poly, Kinky and Queer”, which just so happens to be exactly what I’m aiming at in this blog: the intersections and overlap between the many sexuality and relationship movements. Fancy that. You can find more of Andrea’s genius here.  

Looking forward to giving a review, possibly peppered with some anecdotes from other recent events in city (The Erotic Arts Festival, and The Homo Hobo’s ’Abnormals Anonymous spring to mind). 

 

FYI: The SDSSU is also hosting a “Colloquium Talk: Sexual Diversity Activism as a Career?”, given by Judith Macdonnell on Thursday, March 20, 4:30-5:30pm. more info

So much kinky fun, so little time!

 

The Art of Cristy C. Road

 

I highly recommend checking out this incredible work:

http://www.croadcore.org/bio.htm

http://www.visualresistance.org/wordpress/?p=219

 

       

 

Art as resistance has played a central role, as kink has moved from underground to mainstream (from Bettie Page to mainstream advertising using kinky imagery as Robert Bienvenue discusses), to the work of Guillermo Gomez Peña.

Family

 

I just read a fantastic post on Sex Geek’s blog (http://sexgeek.wordpress.com/2008/03/03/all-in-the-family/) that pulled together a few ideas I’ve had about family since the advent of Canada’s ‘Family Day’. Upon hearing this would be the nation’s newest statutory holiday, I immediately reacted in a cynical and negative way, thinking mostly that this is just another heteronormative holiday that solidifies the cultural lines of this blog’s chosen metaphor, the box. Just another way to simplify relationships, to assert a very particular idea of what kind of family we are celebrating on ‘Family Day’: to place more value on the hetero, nuclear family with 2.2 kids, a golden retriever, an SUV, and a Prius in the driveway of their single family home. 

I have been silently grumbling on this, but having grown up in a family that was anything but ‘traditional’, I’ve become somewhat accustomed to seeing myself outside of this box and have learned to unconsciously deal with the mild cultural alienation associated with that. My indignation does tend to rear its head every once in awhile though. Yesterday, a customer at the place where I work in customer service sidled up to the bar after a couple and a child had left, and conspiratorially asked: “that woman isn’t the one he had the kid with it, is it? I didn’t want to say anything, but I’ve seen him in here with another woman and the same kid… do you know what’s going on there?”

My gut feeling was ‘quick! run away from the gossip!’. But my left-over Family Day politics were stirred up by his monogamous assumptions and his notion that I would be sympathetic to his normative gossip. I forget the particulars of our ensuing conversation, but basically it went like this: I said I didn’t know what their relationship was, but moreover, why did it matter? They looked really happy, and well, an open relationship model seems to be working just fine for me… he responded with a somewhat garbled response about “oh, well, I guess it doesn’t really matter, it’s just confusing is all. I had thought they were x, now it looks like they’re y.”

 

After he left, I laughed through that slightly perturbed poly moment, and didn’t think of it again until I read Sex Geek’s post just now. It is so amazing to be able to create and celebrate our own kinds of families through the webs of people we love! I hadn’t heard of the queer family gathering at City Hall, or of Sex Geek’s gathering specifically, but I had heard of many more gatherings celebrating friendships and love, or ‘anti-family days’, than I had heard of people marking the day by actually doing traditionally nuclear family things. And that is incredible to me! That not only in queer culture, which has had a long history of chosen families, but that across mainstream culture more people seem to have celebrated ‘Family Day’ in non-‘traditional’ ways, contesting the idea of what family can mean (both in private gatherings and in political spaces such as City Hall), and the idea that it should be a static category.  

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…