Katha Pollitt on Andrew Sullivan

kenneth.mackendrick at utoronto.ca kenneth.mackendrick at utoronto.ca
Fri Jun 1 12:25:37 PDT 2001


On Fri, 01 Jun 2001 14:51:27 -0400 kelley <kelley at interpactinc.com> wrote:


> sexual enjoyment is socially constituted.

Yes and yes again. Not only is it constituted, but it is also organized.


> no PVC? no PVC fetish.

Give thanks for PVC, otherwise we wouldn't be PVC fetishists!


> we learn how to have sex and, as a consequence, what we desire is related to
the social circumstances within which we live.

Awkward.

We don't have sex, which is why we desire sex... this desiring is related to the social organization of the fantasy (of having sex) [fantasy is a wish after all] through we derive enjoying what we don't have (sex). The problem is, million and millions of people actually think they are having sex: which is to say - the possession of sex, marking a massive cultural obsession, is the praxis of an embodied fantasy. It is no wonder we've got body trouble, everybody is getting off on something that does not exist yet is experienced as never having been lost. The sexual imaginary, welcome to denial and the end of desire.

welcoming myself back, ken

ps. nah, the dissertation isn't finished... something about a chapter on adorno and psychoanalysis i think... it is mostly done... i'm just breaking up with it for a weekend or so...



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