Final Exam Review Sex Relationships and Communication 1 Rachel Jermansky April 15 2014 Sex Relationships and Communication COMM 1131 01 CRN 36714 Chpt 9 M Dragonfly Two Spirit an the Tafoya Principle of Uncertainty Terry Tafoya 1 Question 1 Choosing the name two spirit for oneself as opposed to berdache sic from the history of non Native people is to speak in a dissident vernacular a Away from model of scientific ideas needing translating for those people w out dominant culture s language skills or concepts b Suggests meanings created by and in communities are upsetting to the dominant culture precisely because speaking in one s own fashion is a means of resistance a strengthening of the subculture that has created the new meaning 2 berdache is frequently glossed in the literature with English classifications as hermaphrodite transvestite or homosexuals we might do well to question the context in which these terms are used a labels of bisexual heterosexual and homosexual suggest an isomorphism to a person s sexual behavior sexual fantasies erotic arousal and affectional relationships that are not consistent with research evidence i e context in which terms are used change their meanings b such categories emphasize discontinuities rather than consistencies along the full range of variations in erotic and affectional preferences 3 only one type of homosexuality indeed a What is the sexuality of the one who partners a two spirit i If one accepts the concept of more than two genders then such a man or woman is not having a homosexual relationship but is fundamentally engaged in a heterosexual encounter by being involved with a third or fourth or fifth or sixth gender Chpt 10 Migrancy and Homodesire Myron Beasley 1 question Reflections of a traveler 1 Hall reminds us that it is always narrative that situates who we are and where we come from geographically politically sexually a Sensual geographic experiences are fundamentally mediated by the body it begins and ends with b Being open frank and explicit about his or her life allows others to identify and empathize with the the body narrative c Performing stories allow us to make sense of who I am and how I negotiate my multiple identities African American Ethiopian Jewish academic same gender loving man d Explore borders as conditions from which I turn as I move through questions of identity 2 By telling my story I create something new and alter and reconfigure my map of desire a Told through framework of homodesire for Silence equals death and silence will not protect you Audre Lorde b Not sharing same sex desires would have denied who I am c Could have sought refuge in the terrain of silence but that silence is deadly and not affirming 3 Telling our stories against cultural backdrops that nourish them we transcend self indulgence and contribute to rewriting of the governing cultural narrative Final Exam Review Sex Relationships and Communication 2 a Narratives disrupt heteronormativity b The body which has been colonized by cultural law is policed not only by border control but also by the capacities of language i Stories construct forms of identity reshape memory Chpt 11 Performing I Do Weddings Pornography and Sex Elizabeth Bell 2 points 1 Weddings and porn seen as opposites a Weddings represents enact and perform social order b Porn represents enacts and performs social chaos c From performance perspective both are the same i Cultural performances ii Depend on the intent and consent of their participants iii Arise from historical conventions determined by church and state iv SEX at their center 2 Wedding consummated by sexual intercourse 3 Hard core porn must depict penetration and ejaculation 4 Wedding and porn are not opposites they are mirror doubles of the cultural performance of sex a Both socially and politically organized to serve culture i Create insiders and outsiders rules for appropriate sexual behavior performance frames ii Depend on successful enactment of conventions and scripts consciousness of performers that fluctuate b w play and belief imposition of frames of belief and play iii Both hold consent and sexual intercourse as their sine qua non iv They are complementary and mutually dependent if no socially sanctioned coupling through weddings there would be no socially demonized coupling through porn 5 Construction of weddings and pornography as complementary cultural performances shifts the emphasis from sex as the operative term in the pornography debates to performance a In rhetoric of pornography debates different camps are condemning embracing displacing the term performance in describing sex in performance b Show how weddings and porn are similar in culture c Show how performance is used in pornography debates i How both serve to control sex how it is constructed enacted and policed in contemporary culture Chpt 14 Disciplining the Transgendered Brandon Teena Public Representation and Normativity John M Sloop 2 questions Conclusions 1 The Brandon Teena story provides us with a number of observations about doxastic understandings of gendered sexuality a First discourse is part of a cultural ideology that affects all of us a discourse that is defining disciplinary even while we negotiate within its boundaries i Critical readings of disciplinary discourses about transsexualism transgenderism or intersexualisms are simultaneously critiques that help everyone understand their own interpellation hailing within gender and sexual discourses ii Brandon and ourselves are shaped in the same ways we all negotiate them so they should be our shared critical responsibility Final Exam Review Sex Relationships and Communication 3 b Second when a subjectivity is either not represented symbolically annihilated or represented negatively those people including adolescents who are developing a similar subjectivity are more likely to do so relatively alone without the idea that supportive community might exist i Tragic implications with adolescent homosexuality more of a problem with transgendered individuals ii Critical work that underscores the naturalness of transgenderism and highlights the complexity of desire would be in service of those whose desires and identities are outside of cultural norms c Third the Brandon Teena case is one site where the meaning of gender in dominant culture remains fairly constraining i Signifiers of masculinity and femininity ii Metaphors of deception iii The idea that transgenderism is an