scholarly journals Gender and the Problem of Universals: Catholic Mobilizations and Sexual Democracy in France

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Éric Fassin
Keyword(s):  
Gender Studies ◽  
Gay And Lesbian ◽  
Gay And Lesbian Studies ◽  
Lesbian Studies

In the 1980s, John Boswell analyzed the controversy between ‘essentialists’ and ‘constructionists’ in gay and lesbian studies in the light of the medieval ‘problem of universals.’ This paper revives this analogy to understand the controversy launched by Catholic authorities against the (so-called) ‘theory-of-gender’ pitted against gender studies at the risk of equating God with Nature.

scholarly journals Kvinders smag for mænd, mænds smag for kvinder. Heteroseksualitet som smagsfællesskab

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morten Emmerik Wøldike
Keyword(s):  
Queer Theory ◽  
Judith Butler ◽  
Gay And Lesbian ◽  
Scientific Integrity ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Gay And Lesbian Studies ◽  
Lesbian Studies ◽  
Late Modern

Heterosexuality has been largely untheorised within both sociology, feminism and gay and lesbian studies, which have traditionally been focusing on hierarchical dichotomies between men and women, heterosexuality and homo- sexuality. As the most prominent tales of heterosexuality today, post-structuralism and queer theory have contributed fruitfully to the denaturalisation of heterosexuality, but have also gained a monopoly of telling stories which are neither necessarily productive in terms of the scientific integrity nor no longer helpful for people in general. The article puts forward a critique of these scientific tales, among others the work of Judith Butler, as contributing to a rather monolithic concep- tualisation focusing on heterosexuality as on- ly a ‘discourse’, an ‘institution’, an ‘identity’ or a ‘norm’. Moreover, by constructing a new binary between ‘queer’ and ‘normal’, queer theory fails to transgress the logics and con- cepts of dichotomies and identity. The article argues that people in late modern Denmark in fact no longer strictly conforms to a hete- rosexual norm and therefore, it alternatively suggests a tale of heterosexuality as ‘a tribe or community of taste’ inspired by the sociolo- gists Michel Maffesoli and Henning Bech, addressing perspectives and categories such as lust, taste, aesthetics, sociality, sensation and emotions. This new tale is not intended to re- place post-structuralism or queer theory, but as both an adequate and a very productive qualified tale, it should be supplementary in respect of the fact that heterosexuality is a multifarious phenomenon which must be studied from various angles in different con- texts.

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