Pedophilia, Patriarchy & the Conservative Agenda (Part 2)
An important thing to consider when talking about the Conservative agenda is that sex is something bad -- and by extension nudity is also bad because nudity=sex.
But why is sex bad? Why do Conservatives -- in every country and in every time -- fear sex (unless it's going to result in a new generation of little Conservatives)?
When we peel back the various layers of moralistic rhetoric and dogma, we find, at the core, that this is actually about choice and autonomy. The most basic of freedoms is the freedom to control one's own body without outside interference, it is the ownership of one's physical self (my body, my choice). Moralistic philosophies, on the other hand, are universally about controlling the actions of others through some external authority (U'r body, God's/King's/Slave Owner's choice). Moralistic philosophies exist to support systems of power by some people over others.
Now, we can all agree that sex is a very powerful force within human existence; and, that sexuality (who we want to do it with, when, and for what reasons) is one of the most fundamental parts of human individuality. What this means is that if U can control sex -- that is, determine what are 'acceptable' manifestations of sexuality, and by extension what is an 'acceptable' identity -- then U can control the entire (non)person. Conversely, when a person manages to liberate their sexuality from external control -- when they become sexually autonomous -- the potential exists for that liberation to permeate into other areas of life. What this means on the most basic level, is that the individual starts to question an Authority which requires blind obedience in order to maintain a system of power. Worse, that questioning individual may inspire others to question the external Authority and a Power which cannot get its subjects to do as they're told, is powerless.
I won't spend much time discussing how sexuality is controlled, except to say that it usually includes mechanisms of social shaming, victim blaming/separating 'deserving' victims from 'nondeserving' victims (I am especially thinking of rape victims here, but the principle applies to other areas of life), and terror actions (institutionalised rape, criminalising acts between consenting adults, etc.).
*This should be finished up next time, when I talk about how pedophilia interacts with patriarchy and the Conservative agenda*
But why is sex bad? Why do Conservatives -- in every country and in every time -- fear sex (unless it's going to result in a new generation of little Conservatives)?
When we peel back the various layers of moralistic rhetoric and dogma, we find, at the core, that this is actually about choice and autonomy. The most basic of freedoms is the freedom to control one's own body without outside interference, it is the ownership of one's physical self (my body, my choice). Moralistic philosophies, on the other hand, are universally about controlling the actions of others through some external authority (U'r body, God's/King's/Slave Owner's choice). Moralistic philosophies exist to support systems of power by some people over others.
Now, we can all agree that sex is a very powerful force within human existence; and, that sexuality (who we want to do it with, when, and for what reasons) is one of the most fundamental parts of human individuality. What this means is that if U can control sex -- that is, determine what are 'acceptable' manifestations of sexuality, and by extension what is an 'acceptable' identity -- then U can control the entire (non)person. Conversely, when a person manages to liberate their sexuality from external control -- when they become sexually autonomous -- the potential exists for that liberation to permeate into other areas of life. What this means on the most basic level, is that the individual starts to question an Authority which requires blind obedience in order to maintain a system of power. Worse, that questioning individual may inspire others to question the external Authority and a Power which cannot get its subjects to do as they're told, is powerless.
I won't spend much time discussing how sexuality is controlled, except to say that it usually includes mechanisms of social shaming, victim blaming/separating 'deserving' victims from 'nondeserving' victims (I am especially thinking of rape victims here, but the principle applies to other areas of life), and terror actions (institutionalised rape, criminalising acts between consenting adults, etc.).
*This should be finished up next time, when I talk about how pedophilia interacts with patriarchy and the Conservative agenda*
posted by ARConn at 3:11 p.m.
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