CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2017
| Author | Amil, Ana Belén |
|---|---|
| Title | Queering Sexology: a Critical Approach to the Construction of Mandatory Sexual Desire |
| Summary | Based on a Foucauldian and Queer Theory framework, this thesis performs Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) on seven sex self-help American manuals from the twenty-first century that give advice to heterosexual married couples on how to enhance sexual desire. It aims to show how these manuals constitute a technology of the self that (re)produce normative understandings of sexuality. Embedded in neoliberal modes of governmentality, the books use several legitimation strategies to persuade the readers, who are mainly female, into undergoing tremendous amounts of self-discipline and self-surveillance in order to make themselves and their partners enjoy sexuality, which is considered to be the privileged path to health, self-knowledge and realisation, and marital stability and happiness. The normal and healthy life is portrayed, first and foremost, as sexual; there is an almost complete rejection of life that does not include the active pursuit of sexual pleasure. Secondly, it is coupled, as marriage is seen as a place of love and intimacy where the need for self-fulfilment can be truly achieved. And thirdly, that marriage should be monogamous; monogamy is the only legitimate sexual and emotional economy, and it is associated with psychological maturity and responsibility towards the family. In addition, the sexuality that the manuals encourage is strictly framed within the limits of “appropriate” heterosexual practices, promoting a “packaged sex” consisting of a highly surveilled sexual script that aligns with a middle-class consumer culture. The authors build a hierarchy of sexual respectability that grants social recognition to some people and complicates the access to full citizenship for those who can or do not wish to conform to normative sexuality. This thesis intends to theoretically explore other alternatives for the practice of sex therapy, that step out of the regimes of the normal. |
| Supervisor | Hadley Z. Renkin |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2017/amil_ana-belen.pdf |
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