1 Page Number 1 Rachel Jermansky March 11 2014 Sex Relationships and Communication COMM 1131 01 CRN 36714 Chapter 11 Class Notes Weddings Pornography and Sex Performing I Do Main idea o Sex and marriage are both institutionalized acts of sex o Both consensual o Both structure society Problems with weddings o Can t have a good time because she s annoyed with weddings demands placed upon bride for time and energy and only time when women can shine o Weddings are the one place women can shine on their big day Why does it have to be only one time o Celebration of passing the father to the husband o Idea of perfection how can someone live up to that Set idea in mind o As often as she gets invited she watches porn Pornography o Makes her just as angry as weddings o Both socially constructed o Emotional costs o Who can replicate such perfection The women in porn are super beautiful Another moment where women are center of attention few moments Woman is passed from male to male o Porn and weddings are mirrored doubles o If we didn t have sanction coupling of wedding there would be no demonized coupling of pornography o Porn serves to construct and control sex o Sex is controlled through marriage and porn Culture Every culture has a moral center o Center fuge culture is a center fuge o Throws off centers of its self Cultural performances are at center of culture Marriage isn t about you or your pleasure it reinforces a cultural script that solidifies the current cultural structure of society Marriage reinforces status quo 2 Pornography Weddings How does pornography solidify personal norms Contract between two people where you are bound to have sex with particular people Women are more visible and revealing while male s are hidden demonstration of male It s a performance and socially constructed power Marriage and porn are both performances For marriage to be legal you must have sex after to consummate the marriage Pornography is contractual and consensual similar to marriage Performance has to do with making breaking and faking Rights of passages that get at moving from one social space to another o Marriage o Joining and serving in the military o Sweet sixteen s o Getting driver s license o Bar Bart Mitzvah o Turning 18 or 21 The kiss is a promise or a note for sex to come or a passage of space o Kiss hello or goodbye Gay Marriage benefits Why are so many people in opposition to gay marriage in America Marriages grant political social and economic privileges If gay people can participate in these opportunities they can participate in economic Gay marriages gives you the ability to see how heterosexuality is upheld Being married later in life makes you lose economic privileges Making Breaking and Faking Pornography Porn use to be books o Cultural elite and educated could read about porn o Became problematic when 16th century Italy when artists started to paint it Porn was accessible to everyone Assumption was upper class could control themselves with sex o State and church created a list of banned books Porn could be filmed o Don t need to know how to read to understand porn because it is all visual The difference between hardcore and soft core porn is the difference between real and Marriage and porn has to do with church and state and sets up our way of being in the fake sexual acts world with sex Four Performances with Pornography Debates Marriage and porn have to be consummated through sex Performance as a term is doing acting or representation through sex 1 Pornography is not fake it s real sex 3 o Female orgasm isn t presented in film because you can t see it happen power domination of men since male s orgasm is visual o Female orgasm as unperformable females are not represented in porn and don t have a voice 2 Sex workers are acting 3 Real people having sex o Sex workers similar to athletes most athletic of all performers in this world o Women counted for 40 of X rated video rentals in 1989 3b Watching real people not acting married Watching real people acting badly o People making their own sex tapes and selling it to company o Amateur porn o Women have a right to their desires as well 3c Watching real women who are really hated o Male dominance over woman o Any woman involved in porn is a victim 4 There is no real really Mirror Mirror on the Wall Looking at the mirror at sex o Marriage and porn are the same thing o Always treat sex with suspicion o Culture used to block sexual drives o Assumption sex is uncontrollable thing Have to put it in category of marriage or porn to live with it End men remove their ring but women don t remove theirs Same Sex Ideologies in LGBT Communities in the U S Chapter Twelve Sexual Ideologies Similar to religious or political beliefs Mental framework that we have that we develop socially and in groups Reflect and reproduce relations of power o What counts as normal and proper Functions o Functions to reify cultural practices o Reifying thing a fying process to make a process a material thing o Always happens to shore up particular positions of power to make things actually constructed processes natural o Example Marriage does that to uphold a heteronormative ideal Childbirth women are at risk during childbirth but set up childbirth as worth the risk in order to hold up notions of patriarchy and heterosexuality Church religion and rituals process of church but made to shore up beliefs of church to enact particular ideas Virginity emphasized by society made into a big deal but isn t actually 4 Two Competing Ideologies Assimilationist position o Has to be controlled o Decreasing STD s HIV AIDS o Sexuality is tamed again o By getting married society sustains economic benefits Same sex marriage position o Marriage controls sexuality o Should same sex marriage succeed the consequences are stronger o Don t want the heteronormative limiting intuition o Radical critique of marriage not about control but desire