Okay. The book really made me feel like one of those apotemnophiliacs on their anonymous online discussion boards... i.e. Because I don't like erotica (I prefer porn! visuals!) I'm not like the "majority" of females who do? So, my desires are less feminine and more masculine? And I feel weird or not "normal" when I enjoy watching certain types of videos... even though they reflect a certain type of desire and a certain type of fulfillment that I'm trying to achieve in a specific moment in time... I don't really feel weird, but I'm sure other people do. And just like those apotemnophiliacs they're probably afraid to voice it. Well, I think Anne's book will definitely shed some light on this... whatever "this" is... what I'm only trying to demonstrate is that yes, to be categorized in to a binary is silly (that word silly again...) because clearly, whether we express it or not, our human desires... how we "feel" (in terms of who we are gender-wise, etc.) are so dependent on history, our personal histories, how we were raised, our experiences (...Fausto-Sterling warns historians not to assume that experience contains a self-evident meaning)... so then what is "experience"? Well in Chapter 9 Anne will discuss this, and make the argument that experience is not individual and fixed, but irredeemably social and processual...
So I'm excited for this process... to go on this journey... to unveil some new truths and perhaps reemphasize existing ones...
I missed the class discussion on A Billion Wicked Thoughts so I'm a bit shocked to hear that most people liked Sexing the Body better than A Billion Wicked Thoughts. I absolutely loved Wicked Thoughts. I thought that it was a pure look into the science of porn. I thought that it was interesting to see what people truly searched for.
ReplyDeleteI'm not trying to stir the pot here, but you sounded purposefully augmentative when you said "I'm not like the "majority" of females who do? So, my desires are less feminine and more masculine?". I think that Wicked Thoughts simply drew conclusions from data, which is what anyone does. I don't think that the assumptions they made are 100% true for anyone. I am a 21 year old girl who has Star Wars and Tron posters all over my apartment, this would be something generally assumed that a male would have. It doesn't mean I am weird or anymore masculine, it simply means that my tastes don't fall in line what what society assumes. I think that the authors simply took a step back an compiled generalized data. I do however think it's great that you challenge what they're simply instead of simply ignoring it or just taking it verbatim. I think that a great result of this book is people coming out of the woodwork and vocalizing their opinions on these issues.
I was just going back and reading comments, and Esther, I kind of had to agree with you as well...i am also surprised at how much people disliked ABWT...i too thought that it was really interesting, maybe not always spot on, but certainly raised some thoughts. I don't think its a book that at least i can write off as garbage so easily. ANyways, Meghan, I did agree with what you said about AFS. I am really enjoying it so far, and think that she does a really good job on presenting issues.
ReplyDeleteWell, the Robin truth is that I really liked reading 'Billion....,' too. It's a lot of fun, and they write like real humans are going to read it. Then I went 'wait a minute; what's this DOING?' (of course. Cultural Studies nerd.....). But I really do have reservations about what it's doing (CF: the 'objectifying women' is 'natural' line of thinking....).
ReplyDelete