Towards a More Sex-Positive -- And More Relevant -- Left

[Gordon Fitch]

I'm not suggesting anyone give up their nipple clamps.  I'm
trying to figure out what Thomas wants us to do, that we're
not already doing.  (1) The Left does not appear particularly
puritanical to me, so self-reform (self-flagellation?) seems
supererogatory.  (2) The non-Left who might be persuaded to
something, while they may be hung-up and square, are not doing
a whole lot of active persecution these days -- to my knowledge.
A few years ago there was a sort of _thrust_ toward puritanism
in the form of government anti-sex posters and billboards in
slum areas, but they seem to have died out.   It may be that
the Right has been sucked up into the Rapture of war and don't
have time to lecture the slum children about dirty things any
more.  I would expect the said children to take up the slack,
while we move along attack the Right for their crazed war
fantasies.

However, maybe Thomas knows something I don't, so I'm asking.
I want to know what the problem is, _specifically_.

-- Gordon

Liza Featherstone:
> I'm all for getting down with all kinds of "not-so-rad" folk, and winning
> them over, and also for the rights of transsexuals and dominatrixes and
> anyone else who's at all unusual.
> 
> I'm not at all convinced there's a contradiction here, but if there is, it's
> one I happily embrace. These are equally important ideals.
> 
> If I can't use my nipple clamps, I don't want to be part of your revolution,
> to paraphrase Emma Goldman.
> 
> Liza  
> 
> > From: Gordon Fitch <gcf at panix.com>
> > Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> > Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2002 12:27:54 -0400
> > To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> > Subject: Re: Towards a More Sex-Positive -- And More Relevant -- Left
> > 
> > Thomas Seay:
> >> Anthony,  Thank you for bringing up this interesting
> >> and important subject and for having the courage to
> >> 
> >> I am going to throw out a few ideas here just for
> >> discussion.  
> >> 
> >> A) Large sectors of the Left have always found biology
> >> and the body problematic.  It, the body, somehow did
> >> not fit in neatly with utopian schemes.  For many, it
> >> was a distraction from the urgent matter of "building
> >> a revolution" (what kind of revoltion without the
> >> body?), hence sexuality, especially erotic sexuality
> >> was seen as a distraction, a bourgeois deviation.
> >> This part of the Left does not see the fulfillment of
> >> human desires as part of the revolutionary agenda.
> >> 
> >> 
> >> More generally, much of the Left has historically
> >> distrusted the topic of biology.  They are stuck in
> >> rationalism...any discussion of genetics raises the
> >> spectre of fascism in their eyes.  No, better abandon
> >> biology to the Right.
> >> 
> >> B)  As part of its general retreat, much of the Left
> >> has abandoned any positive demands.  Instead, many
> >> prefer the safe territory of identity politics where
> >> they can be victims and/or framing everything in
> >> moralistic terms.  Raising a radical demand, like
> >> greater sexual freedom would be too risqe'.
> > 
> > I wish you'd be more specific about which parts of the Left
> > you believe are anti-sex.  It's not something I perceive
> > generally, which is remarkable given I'm living in the U.S.,
> > a country which has historically been obsessed with sex.
> > Note that a lot of lefitsts are concerned with food, housing,
> > drugs, medical care and physically livable environments, which
> > except for teen-agers, constitute more immediate problems
> > of the body than getting laid when they're unavailable.
> > 
> > Also, I'm wondering what you mean, specifically, by demanding
> > greater sexual freedom.  One of my friends is a sort of
> > transsexual, and takes a certain amount of abuse for it, but
> > it's typically been from Gay politicals rather than from the
> > government, conservative institutions, bourgeois philistines,
> > or street thugs.  What could be done in the way of expanding
> > this person's political space?  Again, some of my web site
> > clients are professional dominatrixes, who are under a
> > certain amount of legal restriction and social deprecation,
> > but I'm not sure how we could approach liberating them at
> > the same time as we're getting down with the common, not-
> > so-rad folk as so many others are advising us to do lately,
> > right on this mailing list.
> > 
> > 
> > -- Gordon
> > 

-- 

                (<><>)         /*/

       }"{   G*rd*n   }"{   gcf at panix.com   }"{ 
{ http://www.etaoin.com | latest new material 8/5/02 <-adv't