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mindbook.ws/group/pomosexuality
The Future of Sexuality
Pomosexuals shun essentialist ‘homo/hetero’ notions of sexual orientation, instead choosing to embrace the plurality of human sexuality. As someone with great disdain for pigeonholing (and being pigeonholed), I’ve become an ardent fan of pomo and all it embodies.
Larry D. Lyons, a Princeton doctoral candidate and blogger, best explains pomosexuality’s objection to categorization: “Sex-centric labels function to designate one’s sexual preference as his or her primary identificatory determinant. What one does in bed literally defines him or her. I could say something trite like ‘I am more than who I fuck,’ but I think that kinda thing goes without saying, and it’s high time that our language caught up. Color me pomosexual.”
We pomos have come to realize that there’s no such thing as a heterosexual or homosexual person. These categories are no more than social constructs and have only been around since the 19th century, as observed by Michel Foucault, Gore Vidal, David F. Greenberg, and other social critics. In reality, there are only homo and hetero impulses and acts. Most people, according to Kinsey’s famous 1950s study on the sexual behavior of 18,000 Americans, are a mixture of homo and hetero impulses, if not practices. In other words, much of the population is capable of responding erotically to both “genders” even though we’ve seen that gender is a social construct as well, since gender presentation and ideals change over time and culture.
Pomosexuality may well be onto something, since Kinsey’s findings support the notion that, for many people, sexuality really isn’t cut and dry: nearly half of his male sample admitted to having erotic responses to members of both sexes during their adult lives, with a whopping 37 per cent admitting to having sexual experiences with other males that lead to orgasm—and these are only the folks who admitted it. Some academics and conservative groups argue that Kinsey’s data are skewed because his sample was comprised of only those who were willing to discuss taboo topics. Despite this criticism, it is hard to dispute that the findings reveal sexuality as something far more fluid and porous than previously imagined.
The world is dynamic, complex, and in constant flux. Human beings are, too. Thus, it’s time we abandon the overly simplistic and inherently mischaracterizing gay/straight dichotomy so we can look at sexuality, in all its fluidity and unpredictability, as an aspect of a person rather than the defining element of one’s identity. That way we’ll be less apt to stigmatize and stereotype, and start to see people, including ourselves, as we really are.
mindbook.ws/group/pomosexuality
The Future of Sexuality
Pomosexuals shun essentialist ‘homo/hetero’ notions of sexual orientation, instead choosing to embrace the plurality of human sexuality. As someone with great disdain for pigeonholing (and being pigeonholed), I’ve become an ardent fan of pomo and all it embodies.
Larry D. Lyons, a Princeton doctoral candidate and blogger, best explains pomosexuality’s objection to categorization: “Sex-centric labels function to designate one’s sexual preference as his or her primary identificatory determinant. What one does in bed literally defines him or her. I could say something trite like ‘I am more than who I fuck,’ but I think that kinda thing goes without saying, and it’s high time that our language caught up. Color me pomosexual.”
We pomos have come to realize that there’s no such thing as a heterosexual or homosexual person. These categories are no more than social constructs and have only been around since the 19th century, as observed by Michel Foucault, Gore Vidal, David F. Greenberg, and other social critics. In reality, there are only homo and hetero impulses and acts. Most people, according to Kinsey’s famous 1950s study on the sexual behavior of 18,000 Americans, are a mixture of homo and hetero impulses, if not practices. In other words, much of the population is capable of responding erotically to both “genders” even though we’ve seen that gender is a social construct as well, since gender presentation and ideals change over time and culture.
Pomosexuality may well be onto something, since Kinsey’s findings support the notion that, for many people, sexuality really isn’t cut and dry: nearly half of his male sample admitted to having erotic responses to members of both sexes during their adult lives, with a whopping 37 per cent admitting to having sexual experiences with other males that lead to orgasm—and these are only the folks who admitted it. Some academics and conservative groups argue that Kinsey’s data are skewed because his sample was comprised of only those who were willing to discuss taboo topics. Despite this criticism, it is hard to dispute that the findings reveal sexuality as something far more fluid and porous than previously imagined.
The world is dynamic, complex, and in constant flux. Human beings are, too. Thus, it’s time we abandon the overly simplistic and inherently mischaracterizing gay/straight dichotomy so we can look at sexuality, in all its fluidity and unpredictability, as an aspect of a person rather than the defining element of one’s identity. That way we’ll be less apt to stigmatize and stereotype, and start to see people, including ourselves, as we really are.
mindbook.ws/group/pomosexuality
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