Sexual Deceit is an extended ethical analysis of the phenomenon of sexual identity passing - i.e. socially presenting as X, when one understands oneself as Y, where the variables represent any contemporary sexual identity - alongside identity passing in the contexts of race, gender, and briefly, religion and class. The analysis of passing utilizes and challenges traditional moral understandings of identity falsification, complicating our understandings of moral obligations under systemic oppression. Tracing the intervention of social construction theory on contemporary political understandings of LGBT communities and activism, Sexual Deceit argues against social construction models of identity - notably performativity, promulgated by the work of Judith Butler and consumed and repeated by many scholars and theory educated queer people. A new model of identity is constructed, based on a phenomenological concept of style that provides for a socially adjustable yet rooted notion of sexual identity. The ethical implications of sexual identity passing are considered in the context of eschatological images of social justice and within practical matters such as military service, leadership, and sexual harassment law.
Autorentext
By Kelby Harrison
Zusammenfassung
Sexual Deceit is an extended ethical analysis of the phenomenon of sexual identity passing i.e. socially presenting as X, when one understands oneself as Y, where the variables represent any contemporary sexual identity alongside identity passing in the contexts of race, gender, and briefly, religion and class. The analysis of passing utilizes and challenges traditional moral understandings of identity falsification, complicating our understandings of moral obligations under systemic oppression. Tracing the intervention of social construction theory on contemporary political understandings of LGBT communities and activism, Sexual Deceit argues against social construction models of identity notably performativity, promulgated by the work of Judith Butler and consumed and repeated by many scholars and theory educated queer people. A new model of identity is constructed, based on a phenomenological concept of style that provides for a socially adjustable yet rooted notion of sexual identity. The ethical implications of sexual identity passing are considered in the context of eschatological images of social justice and within practical matters such as military service, leadership, and sexual harassment law.
Inhalt
Introduction: Many Have Passed; Some Have Failed
Chapter 1: Passing in Abstraction: The Theoretical Organization of Passing
Chapter 2: The Good, The Bad, and The Oppressed: Ethical Considerations
Chapter 3: Thoughtfully Produced Sexuality: Sexology and The Queer Academy
Chapter 4: Those Shoes Look Pretty Gay, Or at Least Bi-Curious: Style and Sexual Identity Passing
Chapter 5: Political Pervasity: Queer Sexuality and the Moral Majority
Chapter 6: Practicing to Preach: Gayness as a Practical Identity
Conclusion: Social and Legal Implications of Sexual Deceit
Bibliography