i guess that this is exactly where i am trying to problemetize my own
underatnding of rape/sex. your need (and mine) to add the qualifiers of
parentheses and asterisks to the notion of the sexual when applied to rape
indicates to me that this word is not suffecient to describe what we are
trynig to say, and instead of qualifying the wrong word i will not use sex
to describe rape. if that leaves me with no word so be it.
this question of wether or not sex can include violence is seemingly
problematized by S/M experiences. i think that the violence in S/M (when
consensual) is not criminal (at least in my mind) and therefore unique. it
is the non-consensuality of rape that makes it, to me, criminal and not
sexual. here i am trying to establish the boudaries of these terms for
myself so that they retain their ability to be expressive.
F L I P
> I agree that rape is about psychic and physical violence--it's not
> about sexual desire (depending, of course, on how you want to define
> that) but about marking/establishing one's territory, one's mastery, one's
> privilege...But this particular act of violence manifests itself in a
> *sexual* way. That is, it's violence through sex, which seems to me to
> make it a very particular kind of violence.
>
> I'm not sure. Again, I have mixed feelings about this.
>
> ddd
underatnding of rape/sex. your need (and mine) to add the qualifiers of
parentheses and asterisks to the notion of the sexual when applied to rape
indicates to me that this word is not suffecient to describe what we are
trynig to say, and instead of qualifying the wrong word i will not use sex
to describe rape. if that leaves me with no word so be it.
this question of wether or not sex can include violence is seemingly
problematized by S/M experiences. i think that the violence in S/M (when
consensual) is not criminal (at least in my mind) and therefore unique. it
is the non-consensuality of rape that makes it, to me, criminal and not
sexual. here i am trying to establish the boudaries of these terms for
myself so that they retain their ability to be expressive.
F L I P
> I agree that rape is about psychic and physical violence--it's not
> about sexual desire (depending, of course, on how you want to define
> that) but about marking/establishing one's territory, one's mastery, one's
> privilege...But this particular act of violence manifests itself in a
> *sexual* way. That is, it's violence through sex, which seems to me to
> make it a very particular kind of violence.
>
> I'm not sure. Again, I have mixed feelings about this.
>
> ddd