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Category Archives: Arts and Health
Unperverting the perverse: Sacrificing transgression for normalised acceptance in the BDSM subculture
Sexualities, Ahead of Print.
Despite increased media exposure, bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism (BDSM) is a stigmatised subculture and this stigmatisation can have serious social and legal implications for practitioners even when the participation is consensual. Psycho-medical narratives have constructed practitioners of BDSM as perverse and pathological, and in opposition to heteronormative sexual expression. To reduce stigma, it appears that a process of normalisation is occurring with the aim of increasing broader acceptance and therefore reducing the transgressive nature of BDSM. This, however, is not unproblematic and may privilege certain types of BDSM while further marginalising others. Nine practitioners of consensual BDSM participated in in-depth, face to face interviews in the UK. Interviews were conducted within an interpretive phenomenological framework that focused on the lived experience of participating in consensual BDSM. The findings presented in this article relate specifically to lived experiences of transgression as a key element of BDSM and will be discussed with reference to the ways transgression can challenge narratives of acceptance via normalisation.
Despite increased media exposure, bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism (BDSM) is a stigmatised subculture and this stigmatisation can have serious social and legal implications for practitioners even when the participation is consensual. Psycho-medical narratives have constructed practitioners of BDSM as perverse and pathological, and in opposition to heteronormative sexual expression. To reduce stigma, it appears that a process of normalisation is occurring with the aim of increasing broader acceptance and therefore reducing the transgressive nature of BDSM. This, however, is not unproblematic and may privilege certain types of BDSM while further marginalising others. Nine practitioners of consensual BDSM participated in in-depth, face to face interviews in the UK. Interviews were conducted within an interpretive phenomenological framework that focused on the lived experience of participating in consensual BDSM. The findings presented in this article relate specifically to lived experiences of transgression as a key element of BDSM and will be discussed with reference to the ways transgression can challenge narratives of acceptance via normalisation.
Creative writing as a means to recover from early psychosis– Experiences from a group intervention
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A qualitative systematic review of the experiences of sharing music for people living with dementia and their family care partners: the thread of connection
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Complicating ideas of the political: Examining subaltern performativity as gendered resistance
Current Sociology, Ahead of Print.
This article attempts to wrest away the notion of popular political resistance and performativity from the realm of visibility in the ‘public’ sphere/space and place them within the unperformed acts that remain optically invisible. Taking the example of India-controlled Kashmir, where public spaces remain militarized and performative assemblies criminalized, the article focuses on how popular resistance to Indian rule is regularly embodied within what we call subaltern performativity. Furthermore, the gendered nature of this subaltern performativity is also underlined through ethnographic fieldwork.
This article attempts to wrest away the notion of popular political resistance and performativity from the realm of visibility in the ‘public’ sphere/space and place them within the unperformed acts that remain optically invisible. Taking the example of India-controlled Kashmir, where public spaces remain militarized and performative assemblies criminalized, the article focuses on how popular resistance to Indian rule is regularly embodied within what we call subaltern performativity. Furthermore, the gendered nature of this subaltern performativity is also underlined through ethnographic fieldwork.
The impact of theatre on social competencies: a meta-analytic evaluation
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From TERF to gender critical: A telling genealogy?
Sexualities, Ahead of Print.
Over the last 5 years the UK has seen a significant rise in the prominence of trans-exclusionary feminism. What was once termed TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminism/feminist) is now more often referred to as gender critical feminism/feminist. In this article I argue that this new moniker represents more than a renaming. Instead, it can be interpreted as a rebranding for a present-day where the explicit transphobia of earlier trans-exclusionary feminism is no longer tolerated. I will map two telling changes that I argue currently separates gender critical from TERF, this involves (i) the linguistic pivot from ‘anti-trans’ to ‘pro-woman’ and, (ii) the nascent questioning of the traditional theoretical underpinning of trans-exclusionary feminism. Through this mapping I will explain the rebranding as an attempted claim to legitimacy with an aim of accruing mainstream support. However, exploration of the two changes will show that, despite efforts to obscure the point, gender critical feminism continues to rely on transphobic tropes, moral panics and essentialist understandings of men and women. These factors also continue to link trans-exclusionary feminism to anti-feminist reactionary politics and other ‘anti-gender’ movements.
Over the last 5 years the UK has seen a significant rise in the prominence of trans-exclusionary feminism. What was once termed TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminism/feminist) is now more often referred to as gender critical feminism/feminist. In this article I argue that this new moniker represents more than a renaming. Instead, it can be interpreted as a rebranding for a present-day where the explicit transphobia of earlier trans-exclusionary feminism is no longer tolerated. I will map two telling changes that I argue currently separates gender critical from TERF, this involves (i) the linguistic pivot from ‘anti-trans’ to ‘pro-woman’ and, (ii) the nascent questioning of the traditional theoretical underpinning of trans-exclusionary feminism. Through this mapping I will explain the rebranding as an attempted claim to legitimacy with an aim of accruing mainstream support. However, exploration of the two changes will show that, despite efforts to obscure the point, gender critical feminism continues to rely on transphobic tropes, moral panics and essentialist understandings of men and women. These factors also continue to link trans-exclusionary feminism to anti-feminist reactionary politics and other ‘anti-gender’ movements.
In it together! Cultivating space for intergenerational dialogue, empathy and hope in a climate of uncertainty
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Erotic capabilities: A feminist analysis of sexual justice and pleasure in heterosexual sex partying
Sexualities, Ahead of Print.
In gender and sexuality studies, heterosexual sex has often been portrayed in terms of inequality and injustice; however, there has been scant discussion of what social conditions may cultivate a democratic and egalitarian culture that sustains sexual autonomy. Developed from Nussbaum’s capabilities approach, I propose the erotic capabilities approach to assess and promote entitlement to erotic choices and erotic freedoms in everyday practice. I argue that erotic capabilities should consist of the following: (1) freedom from sexual coercion and deprivation; (2) democratized sexual knowledge; (3) sexual health options; (4) inclusive space for diversified erotic expressions; (5) erotic affiliation and negotiation; and (6) diversified erotic aspirations, fulfilments and experimentations. Drawing on a 29-month ethnography of a sex party club in Hong Kong, I demonstrate how the erotic capabilities approach can be used in a meso-level analysis to evaluate a sexual space or community which, while situated in the overarching patriarchal ideology, may or may not offer a reflexive space for its participants to define their erotic selves. As this study formulates sexuality as a vehicle of empowerment that can and should be cultivated and actualized, it illuminates the possibility to imagine and create agentic and pleasurable opportunities for people in different social locations under the patriarchy we still live in.
In gender and sexuality studies, heterosexual sex has often been portrayed in terms of inequality and injustice; however, there has been scant discussion of what social conditions may cultivate a democratic and egalitarian culture that sustains sexual autonomy. Developed from Nussbaum’s capabilities approach, I propose the erotic capabilities approach to assess and promote entitlement to erotic choices and erotic freedoms in everyday practice. I argue that erotic capabilities should consist of the following: (1) freedom from sexual coercion and deprivation; (2) democratized sexual knowledge; (3) sexual health options; (4) inclusive space for diversified erotic expressions; (5) erotic affiliation and negotiation; and (6) diversified erotic aspirations, fulfilments and experimentations. Drawing on a 29-month ethnography of a sex party club in Hong Kong, I demonstrate how the erotic capabilities approach can be used in a meso-level analysis to evaluate a sexual space or community which, while situated in the overarching patriarchal ideology, may or may not offer a reflexive space for its participants to define their erotic selves. As this study formulates sexuality as a vehicle of empowerment that can and should be cultivated and actualized, it illuminates the possibility to imagine and create agentic and pleasurable opportunities for people in different social locations under the patriarchy we still live in.
Aging out: Place and sexuality
Sexualities, Ahead of Print.
This paper explores LGBT retirees as agents of change who are renegotiating the terms of healthy aging in place and expanding our understanding of lifestyle and retirement migration. For the first time in history, a generation of self-identified lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender individuals have entered retirement. However, their subjective experiences have largely been glossed over in popular discourses of successful aging and migration in heteronormative society. This article explores why and how older LGBT people are choosing housing options to age “out of place” in order to support their sexual lives and identities. Examining the everyday experiences of these seniors—members of a double minority, both aged and LGBT—allows us to disrupt the idea of what healthy “aging in place” means and when it might actually be unhealthy. Employing standpoint theory pushes the analysis of marginalized voices to the fore and allows us to ask about these seniors’ subjective realities. What results is a reimagining of the aging landscape. Interview data from LGBT seniors who have migrated to LGBT naturally occurring retirement communities or LGBT-focused housing complexes in France, Sweden, and Germany are used to stretch our notions of wellbeing and aging in place for these diverse retirees. One finding is that for these LGBT seniors, disrupting social norms by aging out of place is not escapist or amenity-seeking, but is key to honoring their sexuality and aging process in a safe and supportive environment.
This paper explores LGBT retirees as agents of change who are renegotiating the terms of healthy aging in place and expanding our understanding of lifestyle and retirement migration. For the first time in history, a generation of self-identified lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender individuals have entered retirement. However, their subjective experiences have largely been glossed over in popular discourses of successful aging and migration in heteronormative society. This article explores why and how older LGBT people are choosing housing options to age “out of place” in order to support their sexual lives and identities. Examining the everyday experiences of these seniors—members of a double minority, both aged and LGBT—allows us to disrupt the idea of what healthy “aging in place” means and when it might actually be unhealthy. Employing standpoint theory pushes the analysis of marginalized voices to the fore and allows us to ask about these seniors’ subjective realities. What results is a reimagining of the aging landscape. Interview data from LGBT seniors who have migrated to LGBT naturally occurring retirement communities or LGBT-focused housing complexes in France, Sweden, and Germany are used to stretch our notions of wellbeing and aging in place for these diverse retirees. One finding is that for these LGBT seniors, disrupting social norms by aging out of place is not escapist or amenity-seeking, but is key to honoring their sexuality and aging process in a safe and supportive environment.