Overview
In this Independent Study, which serves as capstone experience for a major in LGBT Studies, we will learn about and interrogate the theories, discourses, and practices associated with sex-radical (also known as sex positive) lesbian feminism. While lesbian communities have long debated what constitutes proper lesbian sexuality, sex-radical lesbian feminism has presented a particularly tenacious and persistent challenge to central tenants of feminism.
Traditional lesbian-feminists emphasize distinct differences in men’s and women’s sexuality by valorizing specific sexual practices, while sex radicals advocate for all manner of consensual sexual expression. These rhetorical constructions of “traditional” versus “sex radical” and their attendant arguments persist today and lesbian-feminists continue to debate and discuss issues such as pornography, role-playing, S/M, toys, and sex work along with the ways that these practices influence lesbian identity. The discourse of these “sex wars” highlights how categories of identity and alterity and naming are created and maintained through social systems of varying degrees of power and tenacity. The differences between how sex radicals and lesbian-feminists construct their own identities and that of other lesbians have a direct impact on how individual lesbians envision and act out their sexual, cultural, and political lives.
Purpose and Goals
This independent study is intended to challenge you to consider various perspectives on lesbian sexuality and sexual politics. In order to answer the questions above, you will need to be able to critically analyze and assess those perspectives and decide whom they most benefit and under what social conditions those benefits are gained/lost. Thus completing this course should increase your ability to think critically about sexuality through analyzing competing theories and arguments and should also increase your ability to communicate about those competing theories and arguments. Finally, through your independent research project, you will practice articulating your own arguments about lesbian-feminist sexuality.