From: Jerry Levy (Gerald_A_Levy@MSN.COM)
Date: Mon Apr 03 2006 - 21:19:05 EDT
Hi Jurriaan, Previously I asked: > How is it that you were able to arrive at this generalization? You replied, in part: > It's just my experience of life, that is all. I don't deny that we can do > some pretty whacky things in sexual relations, but usually people rather > quickly find out what their limits and abilities are, in that area. Your (or my) individual experience can not serve as a basis for a critical understanding of sexuality in late capitalism any more than your (or my) consumption habits can serve as a basis for comprehending patterns of consumption under late capitalism. This is a _social_ question which can not be reduced to individual experience (in part, but only in part, because of the fallacy of composition). The marginal utility theory of consumer choice assumes that consumers have perfect information about the prices and qualities of commodities which they might purchase (and, hence, there is no advertising and marketing) and, on that basis, make rational choices about what to purchase and at what prices. In that theory, *consumers are simply assumed to have preferences -- there is no critical interrogation into the social processes which create, reinforce and change preferences*. Once these assumption are made then consumer choices appear to be merely private, individual choices by rational agents pursuing self-interest. A critical theory of consumer behavior must *challenge* these assumptions. It must, for example, not simply consider consumer preferences to be exogenous. It must consider the ways in which preferences are *manufactured*. A necessary but not sufficient condition for a critical analysis of sexuality under capitalism requires that we do the same. I.e. that rather than simply accepting that individuals have their own preferences and leave it at that, we consider the _social_ forces which help to create, perpetuate, and shape our preferences. Just as we are little aware of the extent to which advertising has shaped our preferences for consumer goods, so too we are little aware of all of the myriad ways in which social forces helped to shape our ideas about sexuality. The reason for this is simple -- from the time we were born, advertising has impacted our lives (indeed, long before we had any conscious memories of _anything_ we were exposed to corporate advertising in a variety of forms). So too with sexuality -- from the moment of birth we were exposed to and taught conceptions of gender. Every social institution, from our parents and (patriarchal) family to the state, corporations (and hence advertising), educational institutions, religious institutions, the media, etc. has had a hand in our socialization to gender roles and ideas about sexuality. How can we _possibly_ make rational choices about sexuality when we are not fully aware of the extent to which those social forces created our preferences? Of course, each of us _have_ preferences and we make choices based on those preferences which we consider to be rational, but rational behavior assumes that we have more information about ourselves than we have. If we are rational about sexuality, then it is the rationality of the hearing- and sight- and knowledge- and GENDER-impaired. We can not legitimately assume away the critical ways in which gendered conceptions of sexuality and "beauty" and romantic "love" shape our own sexual preferences (not only for gender, but for many other physical characteristics and social appearances). It's little wonder that psychologists and therapists do such a booming business in the advanced capitalist nations. See what I'm saying? Imagine a world in which human beings have full knowledge about themselves. Imagine a world in which "our" beliefs weren't shaped by patriarchy, capital, and the state. What would sexual behavior be like then? I don't know. I _really_ don't know. I _do_ know that our choices _now_ about sexuality do not take place in that setting. The process of creating communism is -- to no small extent! -- a process of liberating ourselves from the straightjackets of gender. So long as patriarchy exists neither men nor women can be truly and fully rational. Sexual rationality presupposes the liberation of women. Jut as the English can not be free so long as the Irish are oppressed, so too men can not be free so long as women are not. Oh well, it's time for me to get off of the soapbox .... In solidarity, Jerry
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