LESBIAN AND GAY

STUDIES READER
EoTreD BY
HENRY ABELoVE
MrcnEle ArNe Bnnele
DevTD M. HALPERIN

Routledg.
New York London

il

"l'

rittrl,iiflt;,liiarrt
,irit

Published

in

1993 bY

Routledge
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New York, NY 10001

Published in Great Britain bY
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on acid-free paper'
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*lrtt""i pit-tssion- in
Data
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
by Henry Abelove' Michdle
The Lesbian and gay studies rcader ledited
Aina Barale, David M' HalPerin'

p. cm.
tncludes bibliographical references'

ISBN 0-41s-90519-2(PB]
ISBN 0-4i5-9OSi[-+tnst
l',A'bgloye' Henry' II' Barale'
1. Gavs. 2.
M'' 1952David
Michdle'Aina. III' Halperin,

H";;J;;;ii'v'

]HQ76.2s.L48 1993
305.9'0564-dc20

Data also available'

British Librrrty Cataloging'in-Publication

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CIP

,,*ir*i

11rr

fhinklng

Sex:
Nofes for a Radical Theory
of the Politics of Sexuality*
Gavrr S. RunrN

S. Rubin is a feminist anthropologist who has written

irdu&rg anthropologieal theory, sf m sex, and moilern lesbian
lGoJe

on a wiile range of subjuts,

literature.

In this asay, frst

@istd in 1984, Rubin argua that in the Wat, the 1880s, the 1950s, anil the contemporary
an Lolc ket periods of sex panie, perioils in which the state, the institutions of medicine, and
fu ptlar meilia haue mobilized to attack and oppress all whose sexual tasta difer fron
{ba rllolr?t by the currently ilominative

model of sexual conectxas. She also sugguts that

contemporary eru the worst brunt of the oytprusion has been borne by those who
mdr." s/m or cross-generational sex. Rubin maintains that if we are to devise a theory to
for the outbreah anil ilirection oJ sexual panics, we shall need to base the theory on

Mry tk

'wt
rm tlua just feminbt thinbing. Ahhough feminist thinking

&lr

roc anil cannot prouide by itself

Grye S. Rubin

m* {

fu gy

full

explanation

for

explains geniler injustices,

the opprasion of sexual

it

minoritia.

pruently at work on a colleetion of her usays-including her well-known

theory, "The Traffc in Women"-and on a historical and ethnographie account of
male leather community of San Franeisco.

I Th

is

Sex Vars

&d Lis advice, Dr.J. Guerin afrrmed that, after all other treatments had failed,
L bd rucceeded in curing young girls affected by the vice of onanism by burning
& GffoEis with a hot iron. . . . I apply the hot point three times to each of the
bF bhi. and another on the clitoris.. . . After the first operation, from forty
n fty tirnes a day, the number of voluptuous spasms was reduced to three or
tE .,.'Ve believe, then, that in cases similar to those submitted to your con*doq
one should not hesitate to resort to the hot iron, and at an early hour,
L -d.r to combat clitotal and vaginal onanism in little girls. (Demetrius
lh}...or)
Ifr titne has come to think

about sex. To some, sexualiry may seem to be an

qlrtat topic, a frivolous diversion from the more critical problems of poverry, war,
d'n, famine, or nuclear annihilation. But it is precisely at times such as these,
,rr

qfu

tffie

$"

trire

with the possibiliry of unthinkable destruction, that people are likely to

Rdin,

hdrqrWw+).

1984, 1992. First published in Carole S. Vance, ed.,

Pleasure arul Danger: Exploring Female

GAYLE S. RUBIN

C:it:in:T. ::*::':
":t"1i;:}#l5
il;;;e;tlhtherelislo::.11:n:T::::'#;
:-T"'ilI'il#?"fi

sexualiry'
.
become dan gerouslv crazv about
u('.rt,v'
rrr
mucn
"^:;;;.;;r:. ,.*r"i behavior often become
and erotic conduct have
wergnt' "'Ti:iJ;rgi;,i.i.
sy-1bolic, wtiqhj.^
emotiond
ii.y,"qrire
Ihev acquire immense sYmbolrc
;;;;;;;.-.,i.r.1
:, ri croi n o .h.i. atrendanr

f :'ffi

-Dt^

"^r,
l,J#il fo. airpt".i"g:q:14 a34$;11 l- ^.^^...i.1,
of great
"^.cirr resoect in times
iH:,H:'::*:rtl:trlil'::rffi *:ffi"ffi:;il;i'h'p'?id"'p"'in'cimesor

,1,.

*"';I:':dm

of sexualitv also has its owninterTl

P-:l'ji::'-:i:::111;#*Ji?il

.rn,Jli":?,1"nT'fi!H::i{i;:itu'h'"io''tt'econcreteinstitutionar
of sexuality at any slven time andplace

;H,.:;}i".il:?'':,'::JJ'il:ffi

fl

n'"11;1';l}f::f"';J#Xfr'.1

"'
ff H##;u"1{ri'u""t"odincidental'

But there
that sense, sex is alwavs political'

"4.|,1l'r"fil,ff'::*jL:ri':i::Xl'
tn'uih periods' the domain

:}ffi ::'iff ; 3#I.'r"l,;'r"i#:;:;,iv p"i'*r"J'

fif. iri ir, .ff.tt, renegotiated
such t
..rii.
**nrll;,:ilTil';'."tffi':;'1i"r.,.
,
:--^-^^-.rL cenrury was
ores one such
the rate nineteenth ^ahr,rff
Durin g that time, powerful

fo**

,,,ot -*t"t'prost
to eliminate ;::T;t;
campai,ns ro encourage chastiry,

soti't
.

3:::1J;l.#?#?",iticat

:il:l"J'#liL

to discourage masf,urDarru,' srPLvror^.l -'^',,-rtUa.ri"n, blrth control information,

andtodiscourase*""I'il*t"'$;;?dlv,'1,3"q"i,l^1"
and
iri.t"to".., otdt paintings' music -hallr
its apparatus of sc
t"tt"lity'

*:,1t::1t:3;,T:hT;

.ir*".

public dancing.2 Tht ;til;il'?io' or vit'"'i*

medical, and legal ."f;;;;i"t't".oo*o""

"td
of a long period of struggle w

;J-'r*':J":i"t;":*r",'ili::,J*"fi
n*;iiyJri,'::,r::::.r,:nil,iJ'-'.'I
chrld-rer
about sex, medical practice,
*.,h'.;'h"::i:ffi;:r"i;;;;;;:iitod.,
sex law'
o"r.rr,rl anxieties, police conduct' and
rheideathat*"J#il;:;;;;i:"lthvP?*f
:l',1::::::l::'t::'i:.-.:;?rn
thought rhat "premature" interest
,h. #:.'.T,1':#;, ffirr^."**""ry

ffi

st

a,' rL^s4r rvrv*--' "

^
sexuarexcitement,,"d:il;;i1,",;i;;i'1ffi;1i^':l:::Y*:f
sexual excrtement' ano' aDuvc
precocity.:T:
Lali::*Iff
actual consequences of sexu
of a child. Theorists [tr;;;J;" the
S<

rlpw;;*;
tot",,"t?,iijr;;;; l{*'f',,*':::':i','*:'flil;tl?'illi,li
,t ,ri[ht so they would
-"':hlljT:*
;i'5;. ;d'iii"i*'^'i"*"i"i"
i':i':.
produced them
that
,t'. attitudes
[::]JI'*']:T;.[l!l;,;;; $ b"..,,
"b",,do".1,
* tf''"'T
uarr'rsr i;
"i;J -;i;r, l"':^':.:T:l'ti:L;;::
that sex
notion,h,,
rhe notion
sist. The
from sexual knowledge
'#;;;;i;;-f"l
insu
to
designed

otncts r'srur/
rhought it led to insamw' wnlte
thought
tied c
parents
young from prematu'e arous"l'
iouch thems.lu., ; do"ii'
Der se

,".1i ""a
exDerlence.

legal structures

' Mo.h of the sex law currentlv on the.books':tOl':t f:i:l:"1'T,':"-t":5::

States was I
anti-obsceni'v r"i 1 :l:^""1'l'd
;il;';,-i;;;i
-*,rH:l:L::
rur 1ur!uv,..l tf:l?llii#:?'$*.i;
Act-narntlr t:'
---comstofi;;;'4
rhe Comstocl(
1873. The

:*.fry-for the Suppresstc )n of Vice-made

roo"dt'-oi tht New York Sociew
Jv'' n*"""J"l'f"o"*":ii:::tk;;;;r"H:tf;
advertise' sell'
rvsv-make, aovcrLrrr'
c
crime to maKer
a federal crlme
banned contracePtrve or abortifacient
also
law
The
ob"t"t'
!
most
;;;;il..*a
federal statute'
them'a In the wake of the
and devices ,rrd i"totrn'tioo 'boot

in

;;;;;;

ti.

i;'*1r'l..t;T.x":"'j,fi U?"'li*f
ab
used ror, and inrormation
'*,.*::*:Ily?::",1il:?"::H';'i:
u"r"Jlitll'3fffiffi:f;.
"i-"*i,r'
although
contraceptior,

i;.'.ffii
utt"

'uottiJ"-t"i

"rta ""t""'iitotio""l'

However'

",td
has
obsceniryprovisionsil;:t#-J;;+'i1+"r:"{*"*:::"*'i:'it;*ilii;
mail, or import material which

::i::,:%ffi"J,Tl'fr,,il'"".T:J'i."',1J., 'i,r,
;;;.t. other than sexual arousal''

THINKING

I
I

SEX

I
I
I

Fal values
fcenturies.
become

trqf

,me

mdomy statutes date from older srrata of the law, when elements of
adopted into civil codes, most of the laws used to arrest homosexuals
@me out of the Victorian campaigns against "white slavery." These
the myriad prohibitions agaiqqgpollgitatro,n, lew.db-eharior,"loitering

bmotional

of g.eat
modes

of

forms
imbued

.In
sexuality

in of
such era.

There
attacked

[ion, and
of social,
whose

still with
rearlng,

During

in

sex,

Some

the

not
the
perextenslve
and

-century
passed

anti-porn
rt
books
drugs
states

laws

about,
the
has been
has no

s,ageoffenses,and.broth_e19,4.g_{barv.dy--,hp.-11qqg._
enses,?n4."9l9!!_ef s,4-r;4baw.dy_-_hp.-11qq1._

L h fi+cussion
of the British "whire
';PlErpses,ageotf
*Rccent

slave" scare, historian Judith 'Walkowitz

research delineates the vast discrepanry between lurid journalistic
& reality of prostitution. Evidence of widespread entrapment of British
rd abroad is slim."6 However, public furor over this ostensible problem

fihrilOr*se of the criminal Law Amendment Ac of 1885, a particularly nasty

piece of omnibus legislation. The 1885 Act raised the age of consent
-mmirins
15rfr &oD 13 to 16, but it also gave police far greater summary jurisdiction over
6p*ing-class women and children ... it contained a clause making indecent
reUrrrcea

consenting male adults a crime, thus forming the basis of legal prose-

rbofmalc homosexuals in Britain until 1967 . . . the clauses of the new bill were
dhdorccd against working-class women, and regulated adult rather than youthmrl
behaviour.T
[hd States, the Mann Act, also known as the'White Slave Traffic Act, was
fo !9t0. Subsequently, every state in the union passed anti-prostiturion
t

hfrc 1950s, in the United States, paj91.1h-!fts in tJre,grg,aniTalion of sexualiry

rc: krad of focusing on proitidutioo ii -"rtoiUiii"n, t[g inxieties of thl

mcd most specifically around the image of the "homosexual menace" and
TEcter of the "sex offender." Just before and after World War II, the "sex
bccame an object of public fear and scrutiny. Many states and cities, including

New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York State, New York City, and
investigations to gather information about this menace to public
TLc erm "sex offender" sometimes applied to rapists, sometimes to "child
I end eventually functioned as a code for homosexuals. In its bureaucratic,
nd popular versions, the sex offender discourse tended to blur distinctions
dotcff sexual assault and illegil but consensual aCts such as sodomy. The
ilodce system incolporated rhese concepts when an epidemic of sexual psy-

r, hnched

[rrs

swept through state legislatures.lo These laws gave the psychological profespolice powers over homosexuals and other sexual "deviants."
lf-.m the late 1940s until the early 1960s, erotic communities whose activities did
Sc pctwar American dream drew intense persecution. Homosexuals were, along
'''rerrrnists, the objects of federal witch hunts and purges. Congressional investxccutive orders, and sensational expos6s in the media aimed to root out
als employed by the government. Thousands lost their jobs, and restricrions
cmployment of homosexuals persist to this day.l1 The FBI began systemaric
and harassment of homosexuals which lasted at least into the 1970s.12
ky states and large cities conducted their own investigations, and the federal
f,-t were reflected in a variety of local crackdowns. In Boise, Idaho, in 1955,
rher sat down to breakfast with his morning paper and read that the viceof,the Idaho First National Bank had been arrested on felony sodomy charges;
brd po,secutor said that he intended to eliminate all homosexuality from rhe comilil- The teacher never finished his breakfast. "He jumped up from his seat, pulled
sitcases, packed as fast as he could, got into his car, and drove straight to San
. . . . The cold eggs, coffee, and toast remained on his table for two days before
ftom his school came by to see what had happened."l3

fimecd

GAYLE S. RUBIN

In

San Francisco, police and media waged war on homosexuals throughout

1950s. Police raided bars, patrolled cruising areas, conducted street sweeps, and trump
their intention of driving the queers out of San Francisco.la Crackdowns against
individuals, bars, and social areas occurred throughout the country. Although anti
sexual crusades are the best-documented examples of erotic repression in the 1950s,

future research should reveal similar patterns of increased harassment against pornographic materials, prostitutes, and erotic deviants of all sorts. Research is needed to
determine the full scope of both police persecution and regulatory reform.ls
The current peri,od bears some uniomfortable similarities to the 1880s and the
1950s. The 1977 campaign to repeal the Dade County, Florida, gay rights ordinance
inaugurated a new wave of violence, state persecution, and legal initiatives directed
against minoriry sexual populations and the commercial sex industry. For the last six
years, the United States and Canada have undergone an extensive sexual repression in
the political, not the psychological, sense. In the spring of 1977, a few weeks before
the Dade Counfy vote, the news media were suddenly full of reports of raids on gay
cruising areas, arrests for prostitution, and investigations into the manufacture and distribution of pornographic materials. Since then, police activiry against the gay communiry has increased exponentially. The gay press has documented hundreds of arrests,
from the libraries of Boston to the streets of Houston and the beaches of San Francisco.
Even the large, organized, and relatively powerful urban gay communities have been
unable to stop these depredations. Gay bars and bath houses have been busted with
alarming frequency, and police have gotten bolder. In one especially dramatic incident,
police in Toronto raided all four of the city's gay baths. They broke into cubicles with
crowbars and hauled almost 300 men out into the winter streets, clad in their bath
towels. Even "liberated" San Francisco has not been immune. There have been proceedings against several bars, countless arrests in the parks, and, in the fall of 1981,
police arrested over 400 people in a series of sweeps of Polk Street, one of the thoroughfares of local gay nightlife. Queerbashing has become a significant recreational
activity for young urban males. They come into gay neighborhoods armed with baseball
bats and looking for trouble, knowing that the adults in their lives either secretly approve

or

will look the other way.

The police crackdown has not been limited to homosexuals. Since 1977, enforcement of existing laws against prostitution and obsceniry has been stepped up. Moreover,
states and municipalities have been passing new and tighter regulations on commercial
sex. Restrictive ordinances have been passed, zoning laws altered, licensing and safety
codes amended, sentences increased, and evidentiary requirements relaxed. This subtle
legal codification ofmore stringent controls over adult sexual behavior has gone largely
unnoticed outside of the gay press.
For over a century, no tactic for stirring up erotic hysteria has been as reliable as

the appeal to.protect.Lildr.n. The current-*are of erotic terror has reached deepest
into those areas bordered in some way, if only symbolically, by the sexualiry of the
young. The motto of the Dade County repeal campaign was "Save Our Children" from
alleged homosexual recruitment. In February 1977, shortly before the Dade County
vote, a sudden concern with "child po.rrog.rphy" swept the national media. In Man
the Chicago Tribune ran a lurid four-day series with three-inch headlines, which claimed
to expose a national vice ring organized to lure young boys into prostitution and pornography.l6 Newspapers across the country ran similar stories, most of them worthy
the National Enquirer, By the end of May, a congressional investigation was underway.
W'ithin weeks, the federal government had enacted a sweeping bill against "child pornography" and many of the states followed with bills of their own. These laws h

THINKING
throughout the
and trumpeted
aganst gay

ffirre'd
ry

anti-homo-

in the

1950s,

For the last six

repression in
weeks before

of raids on

gay

and dis-

the gay comof arrests,

San Francisco.

ities have been

busted with
tic incident,

with
in their bath
cubicles

have been profall of 1981,

of the thorrecreational

with baseball
$cretly approve
1977, enforceup. Moreover,
on commercial
sing and safery

This subtle
gone largely
as reliable as

rcached deepest
lity of the

Children" from
Dade County
media. In Man
which claimed
ion and porworthy of
was underway.

inst "child porlaws have

restrictions on sexual materials that had been relaxed by some of

the imCourt decisions. For instance, the Court ruled that neither ,rudity nor
Y^.
*ldcdm
1T"y per se were obscene. But the child pornography laws define as obscene
of minors who are nude or .og"g.d'io ,.iori
means rhat
"'"ti"iry.ir.is
of
naked children in anthropology te*tbooks and many
of th. .thrrographic
@

ir sffin in.college classes t.ih"ilrfly ilregal io r.r..rl ,trt.r. Io fa"ct,'the

"r. felony .harge ior showing
n rre liable to an additional
such images to each

against pornois needed to

1880s and the
rights ordinance
iatives directed

SEX

the age of 18. Although the Suprete courr has"also ruled thar it is a
right to possess obscenJmaterial ior private use, some child pornographf
Qnl even the
qlivate possession of any s.iurl -"t.rirl involving minors.
Hfrtit
Th. lzws produced by the child porn panic are ill-conceived
and mijirected.
:r fir-reaching alterations.in tle regulation of sexual behavior and abrogateThey
im'nsul civil liberties. But hardly
noticed as they swept through iorgr.r,
'with
"oyor.
the
of the North am..ic"n tvt ,"/8""y rorre"arryrc bgislatures.
diilir a,d the American civil-exception
Liberties union, no one raised a peep of protest.,,
e w and even tougher federal child pornography bill has justieacfred House[h s-rference. It removes anyre-quirem."i thrt"pror..oro., *or, prolr. that alleged
was distributed dr.o--.rcial sale. once this bill becomes law,
a
9l*"g*rhy
n uely possessing^a nude snapshot of a r7-year-old lover or friend
may go roirii
frlarn ycars, and be fined s100,000. This bill passed the House
400 to r.18
T-hr
of art photographer Jacqueline Livingrtoo .*.rrrplify the climate
rpr{..}:.r
F:'d E +. child porn_panic. An aisistait p^.of.sso. of pfrotogrrphy 6o.rr.tt uni"t nudes which
!E|fu'r,ivingston was fired in r97g after exhibitiog ptt.rr.r"of -d.
of her seven-year-old son mrrto"rb"tiog . Ms. Magazine, Chrysalis,
i*3-pbto,Braphs
refused ro.run ads for Livingston'sposters oimrle ood?r. at o".
ioi"t,
some of her film, and for"severrf
Li;t;;r;;;l;;#fir",h.
-oothr,
HS
fnfiscated.
=!1f_soall
of prosecution under the child
raws. ru. t ri.fti". coo.rty o..p.orno-graphy
r of Social Services investigated-her
fiiness ,, , prr.rrr. Living'ston,s posters have
tlt T.d by the Museum of Modern Art, the ^Metropolita"] ,"a other major
n** Rut
D'L has
u4D paid
rugrr cost
pdru a high
cosr in
ln harassment
narassment and
ancl inxiew
"-:' she
anxlety for her efforts to
m 6lm the uncensored male body at different ages.le
h-ir easy to see someone like.Livingsron as a victiir of the child porn wars. It is
r fu.most people to sympathir. *ith actual boyJovers. Like cimmunists and
'!F*.''als in tie i950r, boy-ior..,
,h*;, L aim.rt, to find de_
liberdes, let alone"r.for theii erotic orienration. Consequently, the
,*
:ivil
harr Peir
feasted on them. Local police, the FBI, and watchdog postal
iorpl..tors h"rr.
a huge apparatus *Lor. sole aim is to wipe oo, It. .o--o'oiry of
men
ry m build
underaged.yoolL..t, twnryyears or so, when ime of the smoke has cleared,
Fb*
ftnie bc much easier to show that'these men have been the victims of , ,rorg. ,rrj
'" red witch hunt. A-lot of people will be embarrassed by their collaboration with
bur it will be tol laie to do much good for riror.
{iry.-ation,
-.r, who have spent
& Eues in prison.
vhile the misery o-f ,I. boyJovers affects very few, the other long-term legacy
county repeal affects ,l-ort everyone. The success of the anti-gay campaign
P+Pd.
hng-simmering
passions of the American right, and sparked an extensive movebfud
E to oompress the boundaries of acceptable sexual behavilor.
nigh-t-wing ideology linking non-iamilial sex with communism and
political
is nothing new. During tle Mccarthy period, Alfred rirrr.y
and his I'nstitote
F

Tr+r

* ;6;rt#

h$r

Rcsearch were attacked fo"r weakening the moral fiber ofAmericans

and rendering

GAYLE S. RUBIN
them more vulnerable to communist influence. After congressional investigations and
bad publiciry, Kinsey's Rockefeller grant was terminated in 1954.20
Around 1969, the extreme right discovered the Sex Information and Education
Council of the United States (SIECUS). In books and pamphlets, such as The Sex
Education Racket: Pornography in the Schools and SIECUS: Corrultter of Youth, the right
attacked SIECUS and sex education as communist plots to destroy the family and sap
the national will.21 Another pamphlet, Paulou's Children (They May Be Yours), claims
that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
is in cahoots with SIECUS to undermine religious taboos, to promote the acceptance
of abnormal sexual relations, to downgrade absolute moral standards, and to "destroy
racial cohesion," by exposing white people (especially white women) to the alleged
"lower" sexual standards of black people.22
New Right and neo-conservative ideology has updated these themes, and leans
heavily on linking "immoral" sexual behavior to putative declines in American power.
ln1977, Norman Podhoretz wrote an essay blaming homosexuals for the alleged inabiliry
of the United States to stand up to the Russians.23 He thus neatly linked "the anti-gay
fight in the domestic arena and the anti-communist battles in foreign policy."zt
Right-wing opposition to sex education, homosexuality, pornography, abortion,
and pre-marital sex moved from the extreme fringes to the political center stage after
1977 , when right-wing strategists and fundamentalist religious crusaders discovered that
these issues had mass appeal. Sexual reaction played a significant role in the right's
electoral success in 1980.25 Organizations like the Moral Majoriry and Citizens for
Decenry have acquired mass followings, immense financial resources, and unanticipated
clout. The Equal Rights Amendment has been defeated, legislation has been passed that
mandates new restrictions on abortion, and funding for programs like Planned Parenthood and sex education has been slashed. Laws and regulations making it more difficult
for teenage girls to obtain contraceptives or abortions have been promulgated. Sexual
backlash was exploited in successful attacks on the 'W'omen's Studies Program at California State University at Long Beach.
The most ambitious right-wing legislative initiative has been the Family Protection
Act (FPA), introduced in Congress h 1979. The Family Protection Act is a broad assault
on feminism, homosexuals, non-traditional families, and teenage sexual privacy.26 The
Family Protection Act has not and probably will not pass, but conservatiye members of
Congress continue to pursue its agenda in a more piecemeal fashion. Perhaps the most
glaring sign of the times is the Adolescent Family Life Program. Also known as the
Teen Chastity Program, it gets some 15 million federal dollars to encourage teenagers
to refrain from sexual intercourse, and to discourage them from using contraceptives if
they do have sex, and from having abortions ifthey get pregnant. In the last few years,
there have been countless local confrontations over gay rights, sex education, abortion
rights, adult bookstores, and public school curricula. It is unlikely that the anti-sex
backlash is over, or that it has even peaked. Unless something changes dramatically, it
is likely that the next few years will bring more of the same.
Periods such as the 1880s in England, and the 1950s in the United States, recodifr
the relations of sexuality. The struggles that were fought leave a residue in the form of
laws, social practices, and ideologies which then affect the way in which sexuality is
experienced long after the immediate conflicts have faded. All the signs indicate that
the present era is another of those watersheds in the politics of sex. The settlements
that emerge from the 1980s will have an impact far into the future. It is therefore
imperative to understand what is going on and what is at stake in order to make informed
decisions about what policies to support and oppose.

\h,

THINKING

SEX

It

and Education
such as The Sex

of Youth, the right

the family and sap
n3 Yours), claims

(uNESCo)
: the acceptance

and to "destroy

to the alleged
themes, and leans

in American power.
the alleged inability
linked "the anti-gay
ign policy."'za
center stage after
rs discovered that

role in the right's

irv and Citizens for
and unanticipated
h"s been passed that
ffte Planned Parentine it more difficult

lnomulgated. Sexual
Program at CaliFamily Protection

Act is a broad assault

privacy.26 The
ive members

of

Perhaps the most

Also known as the
cncourage teenagers

irrg conraceptives

[n the last few

if

years,

cducation, abortion

that the anti-sex

&amatically, it

ird

States, recodify

in the form of
which sexualiry is
signs indicate that
The settlements

- It is therefore
mmake informed

is difficult to make such decisions in the absence of a coherent and intelligent

of radical thought about sex. (Jnfortunately, progressive political analysis of sexis relatively underdeveloped. Much of what is available from the feminist movehas simply added to the mystification that shrouds the subject. There is an urgent
to develop radical perspectives on sexuality.
Paradoxically, an explosion of exciting scholarship and political writing about sex
been generated in these bleak years. In the 1950s, the early gay rights movement
and prospered while the bars were being raided and anti-gay laws were being
In the last six years, new erotic communities, political alliances, and analyses
been developed in the midst of the repression. In this essay, I will propose elements
a descriptive and conceptual framework for thinking about sex and its politics. I hope
mtribute to the pressing task of creating an accurate, humane, and genuinely libbody of thought about sexualiry.

II

Sexual Thoughts

*You see, Tim," Phillip said suddenly,

')our argument

isnnt reasonable. Suppose

I granted your first point that homosexuality isjustifiable in certain instances and
uader certain controls. Then there is the catch: where doesjustification end and
degeneracy begin? Society must condemn to protect. Permit even the intellectual
homosexual a place of respect and the first bar is down. Then comes the next and
the next until the sadist, the fagellist, the criminally insane demand their places,
and society ceases to exist. So I ask again: where is the line drawn? W'here does
degeneracy begin ifnot at the beginning ofindividual freedom in such matters?"
(Fragment from a discussion between two gay men trying to decide if they may
love each other, from a novel published in 1950.")

rdical theory of

sex must identify, describe, explain, and denounce erotic injustice

sexual oppression. Such a theory needs refined conceptual tools which can grasp
mbject and hold it in view. It must build rich descriptions of sexualiry as it exists
mciety and history. It requires a convincing critical language that can convey the
ity of sexual persecution.
Several persistent features of thought about sex inhibit the development of such
tfcory. These assumptions are so pervasive in'W'estern culture that they are rarely
. Thus, they tend to reappear in different political contexts, acquiring new
expressions but reproducing fundamental axioms.
One such axiom is sexual essentialism-the idea that sex is a natural force that
prior to qgqfe|-l-|lh-affisfip;:-|s..$it"d6*.-Selua[ essentialiirn iir'embbdcletl-infie
of Western societies, which consider sex to be eternally unchanging,
, and transhistorical. Dominated for over a century by medicine, psychiatry, and
, the academic study of sex has reproduced essentialism. These fields class-{y2s a p,ropqryy
9f indjy(gals. It may reside in their hormones or their psyches. It may
Snstrued iJ physiological or psychological. But within these ethnoscientific cateies, sexualiry has no history and no significant social determinants.
During the last five years, a sophisticated historical and theoretical scholarship has
sexual essentialism both explicitly and implicitly. Gay history, particularly
work of Jeffrey'Weeks, has led this assault by showing that homosexualiry as we
it is a relatively modern institutional complex.2s Many historians have come to
the contemporary institutional forms of heterosexualiry as an even more recent
&rlopment.2e An important contributor to the new scholarship is Judith 'W'alkowitz,
mhose research has demonstrated the extent to which prostitution was transformed

GAYLE S. RUBIN

10

descriptions of how the interplay

around the turn of the century. She provides meticulous
?.r., politi.rl agitation, 1'egal reform, and medical

of social forces such "r^A..if.g,,

lf t.*o^A behavioi and alter its consequelt:t''o
.
practice can change ,h; ;#;
influential and em-'
most
the
been
has
sr*uolity
oj
""""^i,ri.[.]-i;;:;rir;; ;;-;;';;

criticizes the traditional underblematic text of the new scholarship on sex. ioo.rrlt
o"*ot lib'ido y.".rring to break free o{ social constraint' He
of sexualiry
standing
-"'*'t'hat.desires

:hffiffiffH

stiruted

", "
u"'
;9:1,9r;;i;1pir;'s
'"'t""
91'a'Sicientities' He emph
in the course tf ni"i;rff)rupgtlfrt-iff3t.p1;cgices'

L,.

^^i-tirc
ir'h.i it,h irs repressive elements bv pointins
:#;# ;il;i;i;;;;;:r#
discontinuiry
major
a
to
And he points
:'ff;i;;;J,;;;;lilr;;;;;;y;;*.d.
more.mod'1
and
*!'i3t1w
of
kt;rt ip-u"'.a'y*ems
**?iJ,i':;'-1,oilitr"o,,
;;;;;
created t
^-, .,.tteA
a. hisrory and
;;J;;il;"; has given sex I'S:jl-.
UnLrlying

'hll !:11 ?|.:t*j:,

"lr.rrr"ri.'i";-;;il;tt"ii"rit*'
ir.orrrtitrt.d i,r ro.i.ty and history,"notbiologicallv ordained'32
:fr',:#tffii#:.ffi;

constructivis,

for human sexuality'

This does nor mean ,hJbi.i".'gi.rf;;;;;iti.t.i. oo, prerequisites
biological terms'
purely
It does mean rhat human sexuality is not comprehensiblJin
but no examcultures,
for human
Human organisms with human b,,i,,, a,. neces.sary
human social
of
variew
;.*plri" ii. ir"ror. and
ination of the body o, ;;;;,
The body'
cuisine'
of
,o-ilre complexities
systems. The belly,s hunger gives no .t,r., ",
human
for
necessarv
all
;il; b-"il^;ir. gJ"irriir,'and the capacity for la"gu'gJ are.
institutional
it'
or
sexualiry. But they do not determirie it, .orrt.nt,"itr-.rp.,i."tes,
forms. Moreover,

*. ;;;;;;";er

the body unrnediated by

',l#i;1ll'fJ;ffi;;':1;t$1i;;*v

tl. r":31"8j :9 tll.::

bewveen biorogv

p.:i'i'",'":8,',',t::':,thip

i'K"rrti"nism without a trantcendental libido"'33

a'nd sexualiry i, ,
of race or gender as
It is impossibl. ,;;i;;f ;*h ,rry clariry about the.politicssocial constructs' Simas
thlan
long as these are,t."gliri"s biological.otiti., rather
1""-s,11]t-:
ilarly, sexuallty i, i*pJ*t;;'-;';;lHJ'"av'i'':
is as much a

t':iilY:"'::'::17
human product as are diets, methods' 1'*:ili#' ;,;:ft
*':t"once
:i
of oppression.
-: i:1::X
of production, and modes

xTni.';,:r;,i.;#fi;;;;;":p.";l

i"Ji.liau

p,yJhorogy. 3exuariw

ffiii'nln^]i#."i..*r"*."if.or.rr.,
sex is understood

in

r.r-, Li ,.iial

analysis and historical understanding:

tllt^tjj'I

'

=-tlt^
;;il;J'.;b..o-.,-f o,sible'one,mZm:::**1"'il**i**Hffi
settlement patteiis, $ g-rlqtr[-sd'a*'onhb*lr"ots,
;ilil5;;
il'#,,,il";
".i
moie fruitful categories of thought
Th.r.
,J;il;rffi;I"g)"
gf

flicr, epideml"ology,
"r. pathology, decadence' pollution'
than the mo.e tradit'ronai ones of sin, diiease, neurosis,
or the decline and fall of emPires'
and the social
By detailing tt . r.l"tio,ihips between.stigm-atized lgtil gogulations
D'Emilio'
Jeffrey
B6rub6'
alho
iohn
;;;,;;;I *th
forces which regulate

"' 'h""Jcategories of political analysis and critimplicit

lirt displayed some political weakof Foucault's position'.
nesses. This has b..n *ort evident in riisc6ostructions
been
that sexuality is produced, Foucault has
hi, ;;;;i;;;;i.-*"ys
Because
"f
the,'eality:l:t1T1,t:f::t:f.i:
vulnerable ,o io,.rp..r"1it*-ti"' Jtny or minimizt
it ruo"a""trv clea' that he is not denving the
it *ithi" a large.dvnamic'3a Sexuality
existence of sexual repression so much ", ior"ribiog
umvj]!=
P;""ifl"; socrar
in western societies has been structured within an extremely Punlrrve
in'Western
3i'.nt
to
necessary
is
It
controls'
informal
and has been subjectJ;;;;ry real formal and

.Weeks,

and Judith

W;ik;;it;

"orrr"irrt
icism. Nevertheless, the constructivist persp.rtirr.

;il:"ff.?;:irtili'l;;".r"r, id.,

h;;;;; il;'J'"i'h;;;';;;'ry

recognize repressive

P;;;*;

*iiioo"t*t'iis '" :h-t-,t:t-t::ltl:::?::tt::::*;|1:

pracrices. in focui, even while
to hotd ,.p*r,-ii.

ffii['.'.ritiliili,t;;il;;;r
them within r-Jif.r.", totality
;;;;?;i,i_

llgy|

"rid "

refined terminology'3s
*ot.'.xual

THINKING
the interplay
and medical
30

and em-

underconstraint. He
they are con-f-%

generatrve

by pointing
discontinuity
and created a

of work is

an
ordained.32

sexualiry.
ical terms.
but no exam-

human social
ine. The body,

hry for human

lfo institutional
lgs that cultures
htween biology

hn''s-l

fty conceived as
hy is as much a
pette, forms of
ftression. Once
le more realistic
h terms of srrch
F6an,urh"n 66s-

lries ofthought
lcnce, pollution,
ts and the social
)Tmilio, Jeffrey

hlysis and crit-

lplitical

weak-

kitioo.
hcault has been
il repression in

int

denying the

Enic.3a

Sexualiry

Fdfrqr":*
ts necessary to
I

hmotions of the
Fmptions

[us,

rgy-"

even

while

thought about sex has been embedded within

a model of the instincts

n*eints. Concepts of sexual oppression have been lodged within that more
illd rd.rsmrding of sexualiry. It is often easier to fall back on the notion of a
3i1

Eilo robjected to inhumane repression than to reformulate concepts of sexual

lrtin a rnore constructivist framework. But it is essential that wi do so. 'We

[dErt

critique of sexual arrangements that has the conceptual elegance of Fou-

d 6c rrccarive passion of Reich.

i!&e rr scholarship on sex has brought a welcome

insistence that sexual terms

fond m t[eir proper historical and social contexts, and a cautionary scepticism
i'mcping generalizations. But it is important to be able to indicate groupings
h*esior and general trends within erotic discourse. In addition to sexual
&cre are at least five other ideological formations whose grip on sexual
fo ro suong that to fail to discuss them is ro remain enmeshed within them.
pcElrryJbe &!1".v- ef .nrcp-l-aps-d*-s-c-rls,-rb.- hi-.:srq!,-19?!rtbgggjf_ssr
E_c
SE dg3qiqs qheory of sexqal pe_qil,.-pn{ the -t4-k__9*f*1-g9*g9pa{ @-ig}-j:Ig{

rr

,L.*

6ve, the most important is sex negativity. Western cultures generally

m be a dangerous, destructive, negative force.36 Most Christian tradition,
hE h[ holds that sex is inherently sinful. It may be redeemed if performed
r mi'gr
for procreative purposes and if the pleasurable aspects are not enjoyed
r& h tura, this idea rests on the assumption that the genitalia are an intrinsically
r Xrt of the body, much lower and less holy than the mind, the "soul," the

h'u

Irc*tn

the upper part of the digestive system (the status of the excretory organs
Such norions have by now acquired a life of their own
Imger depend solely on religion for their perseverance.
ffiir cuhure always treats se-T,.with*_q**14"o*. Ir construes and judges almost any
$ nrrttLe in terms of its woiai poisiblJ?xpression. Sex is presumed guilry until
mmaeffi Virtually all erotic behavior is considered bad unless a specific reason
qlr it hs been established. The most acceptable excuses are marriage, reproduclfie. Sometimes scientific curiosiry, aesthetic experience, or a long-term inrdrimship may serve. But the exercise of erotic capacity, intelligence, curiosity,
irir"r a[ require pretexts that are unnecessary for other pleasures, such as the
r of food, fictitin,"iji astronomy.
I c'll the fallrcy of misplaced scale is a corollary of sex negativity. Susan
me corrmented that since Christianity focused "on sexual behavior as the root
q everything pertaining to sex has been a 'special case' in our culture."3s Sex
*orporated the religious attitude that heretical sex is an especially heinous sin
dhurcs t'he harshest punishments. Throughout much of European and American
u e ringle act of consensual anal penetration was grounds for execution. In some
mdomy sdll carries rwenty-year prison sentences. Outside the law, sex is also a
@gory. Small differences in value or behavior are often experienced as cosmic
Ahhough people can be intolerant, silly, or pushy about what constitutes proper
in menu rarely provoke the kinds of rage, anxiety, and sheer terror that
rcompany differences in erotic taste. Se3<lr,al aqtq are burdened;y_lglr_31-_excess
0D

pe or gender as
bnsmrcts. Sim-

tt

SEX

rl',t of the genitalia).3?

rd

Uhr

ffi=n
ehe.

Western societies appraise sex acts according to a l5iggg.-c.fucal system

of

Marital, reproductive heterosexuals are alone at the iop of the erotic pyrbmoring below are unmarried monogamous heterosexuals in couples, followed
otLer heterosexuals. Solitary sex floats ambiguously. The powerful nineteenthttigma on masturbation lingers in less potent, modified forms, such as the idea

f
1

GAYLE S. RUBIN

t2

that masturbation is an inferior substitute for partnered encounters. Stable, long-term

but bar dykes and promiscuous
lesbian and gay mele couples are verging on respectability,
-at
gay men

L*,..iog jrist

above tf,e

the ve.y

of the pyramid. The

lroupr
_bottom
"r! sexual"castes currently lrr.lod.
transsexuals, transvestites' fetishists, sailirt dopir.d
do-"ro.iirt , sex workers such as piostitutes and porn models, and the lowliest of al

those whose eroticism transgresses generational boundaries'

Individuals whose behalvior ,r"id, high in this hierarchy are rewarded with certified
mental health, respectability, legality, social and physical .*11iy, institutional su?Port'
the
and material b.reftr. As se*ui beiraviors or oicupations fall lovrer on the scale,
infividuals who practice them are subjected to " pi.tr-ption.of mental illness' disrecrimin'aliry, resrricted social and physicil mobiliry, loss of institutional sup-

il;tl"y,

port, and economic sancti

r-11lrl9-"194_pgr-$lv",S,

an effective sanctisadfsri
cte{fi 'Western religious traditions. But most
from medical and psychiatric opprobrium.

of its contemPorary content

^ie.e
p.imarily based on kinship forms of social orgaThe old ..ligioor taboos
proper kin. Sex
nization. They weie meant to deter inappropriate
^*... unions and to prwidethe acqrrisition o{
aimed at preventing
laws derived from Biblical proroo.r..ro^.-ot,
kin (incest), the same_gender (homoconsanguineous
p^arto.rs:
of
affinal
kinds
iL. *roog
'When medicine and psychiatry acquired
sexualiry)] or the wrong'rp."i., (bestia[t!,).
than
extensive powers orr., ,Z*ridiry, ,h.y *.# less concerned with uniuitable mates
with unfiiforms of desire. If taboos agrinst incest best characterized kinship-systems of
was
sexual organization, then the shift toln emphasis on taboos against masturbation
around qualities of erotic experierrce'3e
-or. ,pp"orite to ttre newer systems organizJd
triidi.io. and psychiatry multiplied the categories of-sexual misconduct. The sectioo or, f ry.hor.*uidirord.r, i, th. blrg nostic and"statistkal.Manual of Mental and !,hyskdl
Disordei ioStwl of the American Psycliiatric Association (APA) is a fairly reliable
of the current moral hierarchy of sexual activities. The APA list is much more elab
than the traditional condemnations of whoring, sodomy, and adultery. The most recent
edition, DSM-IU, removed homosexualiry from the roster of mental disorders after a
long political struggle. But fetishism, ,riir*, masochism, transsexualiry, ffansvestism,
erhi-bitionism, voy".-urism, and pedophilia are quite firmly entrenched as psychological
malfunctionr.i, Book, are still 6eing written about the genesis, etiology, treatment,
cure
- - of these assorted "pathologies."
Psy"hiat.i" corrdemnationif sexual behaviors invokes concePts of mental and e:

of sexual sin. Low-status sex practices.are vili

tional inferiority rather than categories
-of
d.fecti.re personality integration. In addition,
as mental diseases or symptoms
.il"Iogi."lt..-, .oofl# difficulties of psycho-^dynamic functioning with modes of
<

self-destructive personaliry patterns, sexua

.oodo".t. They equate sexual masochism with

termi
sadism *ith .motional aggression, and homoeroticism 51ith immaturiry. These

oot"gi.rt muddles hrr. 6.".o-. powerful stereotyPes that are indiscriminately appli
individuals on the basis of their sexual orientations'
to -_-

":

qS.p'gl*-f

-c,-gtg-,gre

is permeated with-ideas that erotic variety is dangerous, unhealthy

a.p."rrJJ', iid"i -.o"".'to everything from small children to national securiry..!*o,p3!g

s-in, co19eqtl9'!!sYJ
,.*orl ideslogy
!qau94-".u-t-.stpy madi up of ideas of s.exual
-4\4!#4

ior..i".iry,iiiffi

,*p.b-hyr-li.1ar,*qersaiii;s.i,*-iie-b'-.:?&*-T1
The mass media nouriffilfrcri'iiiit,iJir *it[- r.t."tl..rr p.op"gmdi]T"i6ild?il1 t
t["eleir 3ocfilly"G;il;ia6G f";in of frejiidice if the old for
did.rot show such Jbstinate vitaliry, and new ones did not continually become aPPar

,rri.;;i;;;;;igm;

THINKING

t3

SEX

,,,',{!9* hicrerchies of sexual value-religious, psychiatric, and popular-function

tl&-y.ways as do ideological systemi of ra-cism, ethnocentrism, and religious
fetishists,

liest

of

h-rtryrationalize the well-being of the sexually privileged and the adversity

ruel rebble.
,h|!E I diagrams a general version of the sexual value sysrem. According to this

lanlity
with certified
6.e

that is "good," "normal," and n'natural" should ideally be heterosexual,

reproductive, and non-commercial. It should be coupled, rela-

mgemous,

llintte same generation, and occur at home. It should not involve poirrogr"phy,

scale,

illness, d
titutional

citcle:

fithrl

Natural,

_ll9sge{Se{qaliqL

status and

o
o

tsi

t"h
rocreatrve

Fmography

o
d

1*.u
$r-

l"f
t-,r

.di

rQo

The outer lirnits:

Bad, Abnormal, lJnnatural,
Damned Sexuality
Homosexual

Umaried
Promiscuous
Non-procreative
Commercial
Alone or in groups
Casual

Cross-generational

In public
Pomography
With manufacrured obj ects

the old
aPPare

Sadomasochistic

l-

The sex hierarchy: the charmed circle vs. the outer limits

GAYLE S. RUBIN

l4

fetish objects, sex toys of any sort, or roles other than male and female. Any sex that
violates ihara ,o1., iS "bad," "abnormal," or "unnatural." Bad sex may be homosexual,
unmarried, promiscuous, non-procreative, or commercial. It may be masturbatory or take
may cross generational lines, and may take place. in
place at or!i.r, may be
;'public," oi at least'in the""ro-"1,
bushes oi th. baths. It may involve the use of pornography,
felish objects, sex toys, or unusual roles (see Figure 1).
Figure 2 diagrams another aspect of the iexual hierarchy: the need to draw and
maintain an imaginary line between good and bad sex. Most of the discourses on sex'
be they religious,-psy.Li"t.i", popular, or political, delimit a very small Portion of human
sexual capirity as sanctifiabl.^, irf., healihy, mature, legal, or politically- correct' The
"line" distinglish.s these from all other eiotic behaviors, which are understood to be
the work of ihe devil, dangerous, psychopathological, infantile, or politically reprehensible. Arguments are thenionducLd orr.. "where to draw the line," and to determine
*hat otlier activities, if any, may be permitted to cross-oJ.qr into acceptability.*
line appears to stand
theory of seiual p.ri}.
All these models
"rrorn.
ii permitted to
anything
ihaiif
fear
It
.*p6;;.;t'tnti
berween sexual order
something unand
will
crumble
sex
scary
tt
cross this erotic DMZ, the barrierug"1t

th.

ir-iU"
#a;f"*.

will skitter across.

speakable

Most systems of sexual judgment-religious, psychological, feminist, or socialistattempt to determine on which side of the line a particular act falls. Only sex acts on
the good side of the line are accorded moral complexiry., For instance, heterosexual
..r.o-orrt.r, may be sublime or disgusting, free or forced, healing or destructive, romantic
or mercenary. As long as it does ,iot violrte other rules, heterosexuality is acknowledged
to exhibit the full .aige of human experience. In contrast, all sex acts on the bad side

frc tine are considered d

from the line a scxr
As a result of the

ins across it.

hmexudiry

str

Unrmi

sir

are

iw is sdll on &r

icty is beginning

toru

formus homosexuliY,

encounters are *1
Ln lrye, free choioc' I
Ttfo kiad of sexrnl n
uc ethics- !t g114rs:
ririlesed--A d-mo.rl
the

lcflC

e+frty-""d 1I
in gu
oupled or

uideo, should

ch

LtodiEcuhtodcd
uiatim- Vari:tiafr
isrnqmthcd

[.c
&r

rc a siuglc stad
rzy to do rC ri
pcople 6nJ h

f,

m t*"t"t* afig
"Good"

ttBadtt sex:

sex:

Normal, Natural, Healthy, Holy

Heterosexual

Maried
Monogamous
Reproductive
At home

"The
Line"

Major area of contest

Unmaried heterosenal couPles

Abnormal, tJnnatural,
Sick, Sinful, "Way Out

Promiscuous Heterosexuals
Masturbation

Long-term, stable lesbian and

gay male couPles
Lesbians in the bar
Promiscuous gay men at
the baths or in the park

fsf rct in ondrrt

id1r

l,rt d

Bi$zkc
GErlmc-

thir

of e si;|
*tiol'" ec rEIl

mir dim

Ahlrrych ilr o
mmltitut.drfE

t it irs

er

otfr

q.Li-ky,st
&clffirc

iltr uho m

ffitoamJ
rFcqrlJ

Hndqpr
Frcunr

2.

The sex hierarchy: the struggle over where to draw the line

*FN 1992. Throughout this essay I treated transgender behavior and individuals in terms of the

sex-system
trrn.restft.. and transsexuals are clearly transgressing,gender bound,rth.. th.r, th. g.frd.. ryrt.r.,,
"lihoogh
aries. I did ro bf""rrr" tirnsgende.ed leople a.e stigmatized, t'arassed, persecuted, and generally treated like
..*;;a""i"ntr" ,.rd p.*.rtr."But cleariy tiri, ir iritance of the ways in which my.classificatory.sylgm doel
the existing complexities."oThe. schematic renderings of sexual hierarchies in Figures I
not quite
p^oitrt. Although the point remains valid, the actual power relationships
i *.r."o.o-prr',
overs'implified to

-"i.

"rrasexual variation are considerably "more complicated.

of

EE'Ed

f,htE
Irlilld;
hnuLr

|m.fir
mt
Ln

THINKING
Any sex that
homosexual,
or take

ake place in
pornography,
to draw

and

on sex,
ion of human
correct. The
to
reprehen-

SEX

15

rLc line are considered utterly repulsive and devoid of all emotional nuance. The
from the line a sex act is, the more it is depicted as a uniformly bad experience.
As a result of the sex conflicts of the last decade, some behavior near the border
Lting across it. Unmarried couples living together, masturbation, and some forms

it includes the full range of human interaction.

homosexuality, sadomasochism, fetishism, transsexuality, and cross-genencounters are still viewed as unmodulated horrors incapable of involving
love, free choice, kindness, or transcendence.
This kind of sexual morality has more in common with ideologies of racism than
is beginning to recognize that

to determi
to sta
permitted
mg

video, should not be ethical concerns.

is difficult to develop a pluralistic sexual ethics without a concept of benign
veriation. Variation is a fundamental property of all life, from the simplest bio-

or
sex acts

the bad

Unnatural,
, "wry

organisms to the most complex human social formations. Yet sexualiry is supposed
to a single standard. One of the most tenacious ideas about sex is that there
best way to do it, and that everyone should do it that way.

people find it difficult to grasp that whatever they like to do sexually will
repulsive to someone else, and that whatever repels them sexually will
most
treasured
&e
delight of someone, somewhere. One need not like or perform
sex act in order to recognize that someone else will, and that this difference
m indicate a lack of good taste, mental health, or intelligence in either parry.
pople mistake their sexual preferences for a universal system that will or should
,Drtroat

thoughly

&r

cveryone.

This notion of a single ideal se}:qgl_iry characterizes most systems of thought about
fu religion, the idEal ls piolreative marriage. For psychology, it is mature heter. Although its content varies, the format of a single sexual standard is conreconstituted within other rhetorical frameworks, including feminism and soIt is just as objectionable to insist that everyone should be lesbian, nonor kinky, as to believe that everyone should be heterosexual, married, or
the latter set of opinions are backed by considerably more coercive power

6c

former.

to display cultural chauvinism in other areas

exhibit it towards sexual differences. 'We have learned to cherish different
as unique expressions of human inventiveness rather than as the inferior or
ing hrbits of savages. We need a similarly anthropological understanding of dif-

Progressives who would be ashamed

hlv

rcxual cultures.
of the

sex

y treated
system
Figures

in

nnpiricel sex research is the one field that does incoqporate a positive concept of
ruiation. Alfred Kinsey approached the study of sex with the same uninhibited
Ey he had previously applied to examining a species of wasp. His scientific degave his work a refreshing neutrality that enraged moralists and caused imcmtroversy.al Among Kinsey's successors, John Gagnon and'William Simon have
the application of sociological understandings to erotic variety.a2 Even some
ddcr sexology is useful. Although his work is imbued with unappetizing eugenic

GAYLE S. RUBIN

76

observer. His monumental

beliefs, Havelock Ellis was an acute and sympatt-retic
detail'a3
with
in the Psychology of Sex is resplendent

"ffi.h p3"liti."t ;id.; ;exualiry ttY?\ complete"igno'?f-':l-br*,:

colleses and universiti
,.-.r"!?""a"-.i.';;;;;?;;h:;;#' rhi, i, b.."or. ,o f.i,,adhtrt"'
even to *htl,.1
bother ro teach human sexualiry, ,od

b..rrr."r;;;;h-;ig"r,

nor sex research har 6.eo immune to the prevaili

investigation of sex. Neither r.*Jogy

sexual value system. fi.i-i ..","i"'issumptions and

uncritically.
acceoted
t-

B;;J;gy

,rrd

,.i

information,whilh-11t1L::l

research provide abundant detail, a wek

*:*

::l{,:']:T5::t:::
"'*.iiJ."Jrffed
fields can provide an emp-iri
* bi exterminated. These
::iil';"r"# ffi;;rhi'g
or p
*r.i,i,..'"v"9i'..$"v T:1' ""11. :l::.:l:^::*ination
s.,Jt;;r;;l
:h;;;ddt ;;Jr.t"i"it, first principles to which so many texts resort'*

posture ot calm,

III

abiliry

,"o

SexualTtansformation

civil or canonical codes, sodomy was-a category of

the 3utdical subject of
forbidden acts; theit PerPetrator was nothilq more than
a case

As defrned by the ancient

nineteenti-ce'ntury homosexual became a Personage,-a Past'

tif"' a life. form' and a
history, and a childh""J;i; iddi.ioo to being -t typ"-g}
a mysterious physiolplssibly
."ta-y
morphology, with an -irt."""i
"ia
now

ii"-. m"

h;;t;

;::.d::oio-it"

atemporaiT aberration; the homosexualwas

a species. (Michel Foucault")

ancestral forms, modern sexual arrange

froP preexisting,systems' In IW
have a disiinctive character which sets them aPart
traditior
uoit.diili.s,industrializatioiand urbaiization reihaped the
workforce'
service
and
industrial
urban
new
rural and peasant populations into a
^-^ ^r.^*^l
gen<
altered -^-,
srate appaptu:, reorganized family.relations,
new varieties of social inequali
roles, made possible new forms oi id.otiry,_p.Jdo".d

In spite of many continuities with

;;il;;;h;

;H.#; ""#?;.t#of

andcreatednewformatsforpoliticaland'ideologicalconflict.Italsog'"tti::j:^1.1
persons, populations, stratificati
sexual system characterized by distinct ryp., of ,.irral

"" t;i:;;;ili
nineteenth_centu,ry sexology suggest the appearln:: :"f *:"1
were \
outlandish thiir explana:l"T"ll':lllvsexologists
.."ri. ri*i";;.i1;;;
t|.j.lr::::::? j
nessing the emergen.;';i;;kird, of erotic indivia*lr.""d
of these sexual
sets.
contains
system
sexual
ffiil:& ..*ir""rrr.s. The modern ideological,and social hierar:-ll,D^lT:::
ularions, stratified by ,h.;;;;,;of an
in political tl"":'i
and oolitical conflict.

in social value create f;i;riil;;;g these gtooi" who engage

sexual Potltlcs
alter or maintain their place in the ranking' Contemporary

snourcr

*FN 1992. The intention of this section was not to appeal to scientific authoriry, not to claim
social
models as "iools
obiectiviry for sexology,

*i^*ri"r"fy *rt ".i i" ptitifll.6i"L*itd

[for]

;;J itt":*'::':::::*::.:i*i':'::,':l1::iu
'
(Marrana Valverde,-'-beyono \'enscr uauBsr)
6ffi;'v;i';;;;;;#il,i;6ffi'b;;-s."
It was to suggest that ,*olosv would be a ric
Feministsrulies, vol. rs, no. zlsu--t' i?al, pp' 237-54)'
st

,.".r;l;;;.;;;;;;?fl";

vein ro mine for analyses of sexualiry, although..it

irrt.rrd"r-h-J"t"isublect sexological texts,o rrr"Gi" Jcruti.ry. idid

..rivance than the .,dr.*

felt then,

tt'"t

;:f:Iffi;'J:?'ffiilJ;;;-;" ;ilil;;

those.who

d'ii

so

would fail

,ry'1"1'-:i11'-*.':.91:^::r:'i,*
analvsis is derived a oriori from fem
,,:iit;;:;, ,il;;; ;;;[f;i"i;; sexual like
huropean -'o' Lf tht world bt
"rd
bit
6rst principles mixed with psychoanalysis' Such topogr"phie' "" "
cultural strucr
t49i.Th;ysuffer from empirical depiivation' I am not fi;;;;;i;;*;u"'l"di""dbv
,r"it{:l1i+:,":*i:;::,*i*i;::t'X,""1ffi;'l:'il*:?
;:liiJ.
or understanding.,ro*.,.,,'i'it
most
pr-imarily as calisthenics' outside of mathematrcs
::.:f i#;i:'i.r."*i*r"r-"ii." -. "*i"t
For an exe
exceotion'
an
hardly
is
feminism
anaiytic
r.a pt'f.tt
l"""ii"J ir---. ,.. of pri.,iiffiarr.,American
;i;;i;; i*i"''oiioa"" oJDu;re' Phila<
feminist history of rwentieth-century
",.tl'g;
1990.
UniversitY Press,

been based. r

Temple

sexologicat.studies have more diro

THINKING

t7

in terms of the emergence and on-going development of this system,

the ideologies which interpret it, and its characteristic modes of

[ronumental

of both

SEX

classi

and universiti
even to scholar

to the prevaili

should not
detail, a
as something th
provide an empiri

mm.Eexuality is the best example of this process of erotic speciation. Homosexual

b fo elways present among humans. But in different societies and epochs it may
pdcd or punished, required or forbidden, a temporary experience or a lifeJong
In some New Guinea societies, for example, homosexual activities are oblig&'{l rneles. Homosexual acts are considered utterly masculine, roles are based
rd prtners are determined by kinship status.45 Although these men engage in
hom<rsexual and pedophile behavior, they are neither homosexuals nor

ombination of
*

&*r*zs

a category
subject

a past, a

the sixteenth-century sodomite a homosexual. In 1631, Mervyn Touchet,

Cidcheven, was tried and executed for sodomy. It is clear from the proceedings
rryl was not understood by himself or anyone else to be a particular kind of
Llvidual. "'While from the fwentieth-century viewpoint Lord Castlehaven obfrom psychosexual problems requiring the services of an analyst, from
ft
century viewpoint he had deliberately broken the Law of God and the
Drtlrnd, and required the simpler services of an executioner."46 The earl did
hD his dghtest doublet and waltz down to the nearest gay tavern to mingle
glow sodomists. He stayed in his manor house and buggered his servants. Gay

of
of

case

form, and a
physiolwas now

gay pubs, the sense of group commonaliry, and even the term homosexual

sexual arrangeme

In
the traditi

systems.

workforce.
altered

ofsocial inequali
gave rise to a
ions. stratifica

of a kind
rexologists were
aggregatlon

ofthese sexual
political contests
politics should
not to claim
[for] social i
ics io the Sex Debates,
sexology would be a

r.

who did so would fail

snrdies have more

inist thought on sex

a priori from
of the world
by cultural
rccognize, assimilate,
'mathematics

most th
ion. For an

ofDairq Phi

of the earl's universe.

r
,lrlc IrEtrt

Ncw Guinea bachelor and the sodomite nobleman are only tangentially related
gay man, who may migrate from rural Colorado to San Francisco in order
L e gay neighborhood, work in a gay business, and participate in an elaborate
rh"t includes a self-conscious identiry, group solidariry, a literature, a press,
Hh lcyel of political activiry. In modern, 'W'estern, industrial societies, homo}a acquired much of the institutional structure of an ethnic group.aT

lfc

rclocation of homoeroticism into these quasi-ethnic, nucleated, sexually consrrrnunities is to some extent a consequence of the transfers of population
*wt by industrialization. As laborers migrated to wo"lk in cities, there were
uppo.*oiri.s for voluntary communitie"s to for-. fio-osexually inclined
td men, who would have been vulnerable and isolated in most pre-industrial
!rya1 Eo congregate in small corners of the big.citiS\Most large nineteenthriti.s in \Mestern Europe and North America had areilwhere men could cruise

m-

Lesbian communities seem to have coalesced more slowly and on a smaller

by the 1890s, there were several cafes in Paris near the Place Pigalle
to a lesbian clientele, and it is likely that there were similar places in the
capitals of Western Europe.
lite these acquired bad reputations, which alerted other interested individuals
fo rirncs and location. In the United States, lesbian and gay male territories
mf cstablished in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles in the
Smally motivated migration to places such as Greenwich Village had become
h uiological phenomenon. By the late 1970s, sexual migration was occurring
d rc significant that it began to have a recognizable impact on urban politics
ird States, with San Francisco being the most notable and notorious example.as
hhtion has undergone a similar metamorphosis. Prostitution began to change
qoraryjob to a more permanent occupation as a result of nineteenth-century
q lcgal reform, and police persecution. Prostitutes, who had been part of the
lding-class population, became increasingly isolated as members of an outcast

rf,r
rb

GAYLE S. RUBIN

18

and other
ofo't)-4e Prostitutes and other sex workers differ from homosexuals
o.."frrio", while sexual deviation is ancrotic prel
Like homosexui
"'o
r.l.r..rt.t.rr, they share **. .oir*on features of social organization.
..iroiJri;-;J;;il1ation. stigmatized on
prostitutes

lr#tn*r.i.;;k';
ffi

';iffi

:n:^lf:'^*-::1;1,:::tll
"..,
;;;il;;"**o"l"*theprimJvrr:#,1Jf:,*Tffi

gay men, prostitutes occuPy

i:Tlff;1.1;

well-demarcated

t
is ji
----:^- of
^rL^rr.
-^^,.l.tinns is
both populations
lesal persecution

5:f#;5';;t"*t;;;:"*'i.'Jihe
tified by an elaborare ;;;l;;_hi.t

.t"rrifrJr ,h.,,, ,, dangerous and inferior unde

ables who are not entitled to be left in peace'
into'::11'* :^ *::f?
Besides orgroirirr;*Lo;o'**tt ind pro'titutes.
..modernization of ,.r;It rr-g.rrerated ,yrt.- of continual sexual ethnogenesis'
-(
"
p.p"r;;il of ..oti.
T :l:-?::.':;'.1':
ff,"*'^,',,
out of the Diagnostic
Hil;:'i.;'b# i "orl.r... Sexualities Fkeep marching
;"s.' of social history. At piesent,
'.Y?l "I'1,-91
individr
;;;6il;; .-rf "r. th. ro.".rr"', Jf ho-or.*oals. Bisexuali, sadomasochists'
"'*ii,ri
who prefer.rorr-g.o..*iorr"1 .o"ootters'.transsex".'lt' "*.'11:::::i:t::t:31'::::
not Pro
and identity acquisition. The perversions are
#;J;I;;;"iti;adon
politi
businesses,
spaceismall
erating as much as they are attempting to.".q.rii. social
heresy'
,.rorr-..r, and a measure of reliei froi' the penalties for sexual

di"iJ.;;;;;:lt,
ii,;';;;;i;

Mexual

*"

Stratification

Anentitesub.racewasborn,different-despitecertainkinshipties-fromthelib.
'eighteenth century to
they
9ur own,
ertines of the past. ,r"- iil"-""i of th"
circulated throogh

tt"

po"". of society; they iere always hounded' but not always

in prisons; were sick pcrhaps' but
;;

r"iiJ
"F,""

6i;;;;;*

"1*'v' elil
"p-,;;;
also bore the name of
scandalous, dangerous victims, prey to, a- strange
'htt
their years, precocious
beyond.
iise
children
vice and som"ti-", .ri.o". ii"i'*eie
cruel or man'
educators'
iitti" gitlr, ambiguous ,"to"iU"yt, dubiorrs servants and impulses; they haunted
bizarre
with
ramblers
iacal husbands, solitary
"ott""to"r, ;onies, the tribunals, tod th" asylums; they
the houses of correctionl;;;;l
to the judges' This was the
carried theit infamy toih" di.tors and their sickness
withdelinquents and
terms
friendly
oo
*"""
numberless famrly
P;;;il
"f
akin to madmen. (Michel Foucaultsl)

'Western Europe and.North America t

The industrial transformation of
inequalities of class are well
about new fo.-, of ,o"i"l ,trrtifi""tiorr. The resultant
t

of mo
detail by a cenrury of scholarship. The construction
asse
critically
and
.;i;Ji;joJti.. h* been well doculmented

U*. .*plor.di'

"".
""t
svsrems of racism ,"d

"/#.tJ,il"#;;;;;;EJih.pre.,ailingorganizati.""ls-.:i:.^-:Lp.::*::
vr 6vr1\
Feminist thought has analyzect the Prevalrlng or6attlLaLLvu
although specific

erot; ;-r;ups, r".i,

th.i.-";;

;;l;;;;";,

as mili"tant-homosexuals and sex workers'

th9l. has
l"
a more g"o"i"r svstem or sexual

t::l

:::T ].:Iit:fl::i:,'
:?ffi::il';'.i#;i:;;;;i;;;;;
form it is
cLntemporary
r"rtr i ryrr.* exists, and in its

agitated against

ff#;:*;.rh.rirr,
'Western

*itt'i"

industrialization'
sequence of
and erotic
adamantine instrument of sexual stratification
most
is
the
Sex law
would not
that
level
a
at
irrr.*.r", in sexual behavior
securion. The state
t^tr,l
extent
of.the
unaware
in other areas of social life. Most people are

r";;;it

{
iff.grL sexual L.h'rrior, ,rd the punitive character of
obscenity and prostitution
;;#;r. ,firfroogi f.J.rri"g."!ies may be involved inlevel,
and enforcem:":. it 1:
most sex laws are ."JJ-;;?e state and municipal
of variation in
amount
p.ir... ih.rr, there is , t..ir.rrdoos

tolerated
the quantiry ,od qo"titi],

;l}.?ffi"#i"#

,i

THINKING
and other sexual
erotic preference.

rike homosexuals,
sexual activity.
.so Like
with police to

rs

Jus-

inferior undesirpopulations, the

roeenesis. Other

"

or the "pare-

t&Le

Diagnostic anil
other groups

ists. individuals
are all in various

are not

prolif-

political

to any given locale. Moreover, enforcement of sex laws varies dramatically

h in the course of a single evening of illegal passion. Once someone is convicted

+- violation, a second performance of the same act is grounds for prosecution as
r* offender, in which case penalties will be erren more severe. In some states,
i&nls hxve become repeat felons for having engaged in homosexual love-making

mo
E rEFr:rte occasions. Once an erotic activity has been proscribed by sex law, the
ryoilcr of the state enforces conformiry to the values embodied in those laws. Sex
moriously easy to pass, as legislators are loath to be soft on vice. Once on the

&ry are extremely difficult to dislodge.

hw is not a perfect reflection of the prevailing moral evaluations of

the lib-

not always
perhaps, but
the name of

euality.Arealg{Exualhehrvior.*come-uudcrtbepq_ry1ey*g{fu_l*11:y}.*th.y

ro$ccts of sogldc-o-rccrn anJ-p-o.litic,al-up,r.o4.q,.4at5se_x scare or moraliry campaign

w regulations as a kind of fossil record of its passage. The legal sediment is
sex law has its greatest potency-in areas involving obsqes_1ry--*l!9-l?_r -.
ad homosexualiw.
ffi"it 6;-."f"r.. a powerful taboo against direct representation of erotic
G*--C"rrL"temphasisontie*aysin}EftTi&,L:ft yhan-beeo-itae%eus-ofi'oa:il
rLn sbould not be misused to undermine a critique of this prohibition. It is one

Precoclous

Ot tllzlltLey haunted
they
This was the

and

&
I

h America brought
well known

tion of modern
assessed-

oppression. But
sex workers, have
attempt to locate
of sexual stratform it is a conand erotic per-

that would not be

extent of sex law,
character of legal

prostitution

sexual

m- Scxual veriation per se is more specifically policed by the mental-health profespo?rrlar ideology, and extra-legal social practice. Some of the most detested erotic
Ln' rmch as fetishism and sadomasochism, are not as closely or completely regh &. criminal justice system as somewhat less stigmatized practices, such as

own, they

critically

t9

&tlocal political climate. In spite of this legal thicket, one can make some tentative
,qllefed generalizations. My discussion of sex law does not apply to laws against
d mion, sexual assault, or rape$ It does pertain to thqmyriad prohibitions on
rx and the "status" offensesluch as statutory rapgi
S.- lxw is harsh. The penalties for violating sex statutes are universally out of
in to any social or individual harm. A single act of consensual but illicit sex,
u plring one's lips upon the genitalia of an enthusiastic partner, is punished in
crtts vilfu more severity than rape, battery, or murder. Each such genital kiss,
Ilmrd caress, is a separate crime. It is therefore painfully easy to commit multiple

si!!r

are

SEX

cases,

nt is largely
of variation in the

in the form of psychoanalysis, or in the course of a

It is quite another to depict sex acts or genitalia graphically. The first

sEetc sexual discourse

crusade.

frdfu pcrmissible in a way the second is not. Sexual speech is forced into reticence,
ion, and indirection. Freedom ofspeech about sex is a glaring exception to the
of the First Amendment, which is not even considered applicable to purely

Gtnrents.

Ihc

uti-obsceniry laws also form part of a group of statutes that make almost all
.mmerce illegal. Sex law incorporates a very strong prohibition against mixing
meT, except via marriage. In addition to the obsceniry statutes, other laws
LUFE on sexual commerce include anti-prostitution laws, alcoholic beverage regiitm. lod ordinances governing the location and operation of "adult" businesses. The

ilIhin, but that process has not been easy or simple. The underlying criminality of
kmd business keeps it marginal, underdeveloped, and distorted. Sex businesses
ily operate in legal loopholes. This tends to keep investment down and to divert
acial activiry towards the goal of staying out of jail rather than the delivery of
md rcrvices. It also renders sex workers more vulnerable to exploitation and bad
mditions. If sex commerce were legal, sex workers would be more able to
ud agitate for higher pay, better conditions, greater control, and less stigma.

20

cAyLE s. RUBrN
'Whatever

one thinks of the limitations of capitalist commerce, such an

: exclusion from the market process would hardly be socially acceptable in other areas
activity. Imagine, for example, that the exchange of money for medical care, phar
, cological advice, or psychological counseling were illegal. Medical practice would
place in a much less satisfactory fashion ifdoctors, nurses, druggists, and therapists c<
;be hauled offto jail at the whim of the local "health squad.';Bur that is essentially
situation of prostitutes, sex workers, and sex entrepreneurs,
Marx himself considered the capitalist market a revolutionary, if limited,
He argued that capitalism was progressive in its dissolution of pre-capitalist superstiti
prejudice, and the bonds of traditional modes of life. "Hence the great civllizing infl
of capital, its production of a state of society compared with which all earlier
appear to be merely local progress and idolatry of nature."s2 Keeping sex from realizi
the positive effects of the market economy hardly makes it socialist.
The law is especially ferocious in maintaining the boundary befween child
"innocence" and "adult" sexuality. Rather than recognizing the sexualiry ofthe youn
and attempting to provide for it in a caring and responsible manner, our culture deni
and punishes erotic interest and activiry by anyone under the local age ofconsent.
amount of law devoted to protecting young people from premature exposure to sexuali
is breath-taking.
The primary mechanism for insuring the peparation of sexual gener?tio4lil
of consent laws. These laws make no distinction betweenTlie mosftitrtil'ra[i and
most gentle romance. A 20-year-old convicted of sexual contact with a l7-year-old wi
face a severe sentence.in virtually every state, regardless ofthe nature ofthe relationship.
Nor are minors permitted access to "adult" sexualiry in other forms. They are forbi
to see books, movies, or television in which sexualiry is "too" graphically portrayed.

is legal for young people to see hideous depictions of violence, but not to see expli
pictures ofgenitalia. Sexually active young people are frequently incarcerated injuveni
homes, or otherwise punished for their "precociry."
Adults who deviate too much from conventional standards of sexual conduct
often denied contact with the young, even their own. custody laws permit the state
steal the children of anyone whose erotic activities appear questionable to a judge
siding over family court matters. countless lesbians, gay men, prostitutes, swingers,
workers, and "promiscuous" women have been declared unfit parents under such
visions. Members of the teaching professions are closely monitored for signs of se
misconduct. In most states, certification laws require that teachers arrested for sex offe
lose their jobs and credentials. In some cases, a teacher may be fired merely because
unconventional lifesryle becomes known to school officials. Moral turpitude is one
the few legal grounds for revoking academic tenure.sa rhe more influence one has
the next generation, the less latitude one is permitted in behavior and opinion.
coercive Power of the law ensures the transmission of conservative sexual values
these kinds of controls over parenting and teaching.
The only adult sexual behavior that is legal in every state is the placement of I
penis in the vagina in wedlock. Consenting adults statutes ameliorate this situation
fewer than half the states. Most states impose severe criminal penalties on consensr
sodomy, homosexual contact short of sodomy, adultery, seduction, and adult i
Sodomy laws vary a great deal. In some states, they apply equally to homosexual
heterosexual partners and regardless of marital status. Some state courts have ruled
married couples have the right to commit sodomy in private. only homosexual sodo
is illegal in some states. Some sodomy statutes prohibit both anal sex and

othcr

sE$E$

stanrcls
lilathercll

crnEEti
-tr arE aod
@fficl
is tekcn n I
lcgrlizcd

rr;r

r*c holm

bms prrm
6c ec, &cr
of di
iC Whcn rh.t
cffirwmcor g

r- Ttc oq*r

-dsc&I
Jso qdr
poticy still p

$.tr

ho

thc

LM

frrm-* ThcE
s:rrr ktd ft

8r
pccdmfiolt
Thcsc eretra
o{rl-liqf- m
FEtsdc.Ate
Sc kg{l

rcsr formd,

rr-rl ?ql*l
L tcr marrdm r
frt6chm
"1mrrtr" ab
xnnitr, *cm
mdy, tlc

I
ro*uodl,l

othm
e

'fuEh

frhc lhri
thi{ tid

FrthJl
n"ficmci
k dcrire" fi
re prm4 ii

Icrfti

n mocd llri"a
frG oScE- IIl!
rho ae

ur

tuerudflB
fad;0r tTLkm

THINKING
, such an
in other

areas

ical care,

SEX

21

Lother states, sodomy applies only to anal penetration, and oral sex is covered
,ItrF?ate statutes.ss
Imtrike these criminalize sexual behayior th+t".iaf_q9Jy,shorcn-anila:ddly.,sought.

practice would
and therapists
is essentially

ffiEsy d"E-"aGa ilIffim;;ffi;-th.;il; hi.rarchils discussed above. ThaI is,

'G- rts are considered to be so intrinsically vile that no one should be allowed
qr circumstance to pedorm them. The fact that individuals consent to or even

civilizing influe

hgalized racism. State prohibition of same sex contact, anal penetration, and
homosexuals a criminal group denied the privileges of full citizenship.
& l:rws, prosecution is persecutionl,Even when they are not strictly enforced,

nle

all earlier
sex from reali

between chi
ity of the you
our culture
age of consent.

generat

rape and
a 17-year-old
the relationship.

They are forbi

ically portrayed.
not to see expli
rnJuve
sexual conduct

permit the state

to ajudge
swingers,

under such

for signs of
for sex offe
merely because

turpitude is one
nce one has

and opinion.
sexual values
placement

of

this situation
on

and adult i

to homosexual
have ruled

Lomosexual
sex and oral

Irthe case, the members of criminalized sexual communities remain vulnerable

trma+ry of arbitrary arrest, or to periods in which they become the objects of

ldc.

fWhen those occur, the laws are in place and police action is swift. Even
rffircement serves to remind individuals that they aregqglbg[s*o&a-"urhiect
The ocqasional arrest for sodomy. ,. 19wd._b-phayior,"-soliciratiog*-q-g**o-ggl_.;ex

[e

a*-.f*laji*;;.rd-i#;"rp;;

rtate also upholds the sexual hierarchy through bureaucratic regulation. Imh p"liry still prohibits the admission of homosexuals (and other sexual "deirc the United States. Military regulations bar homosexuals from serving in
forces.* The fact that gay people cannot legally marry means that they cannot
Sc same Jegal rights as heterosexuals in many matters, including inheritance,
Irotrction from testimony in court, and the acquisition of citizenship for foreign
Ttese are but a few of the ways that the state reflects and maintains the social
of, sexuality. The law buttresses structures of power, codes of behavior, and
j,rejudice. At their worst, sex law and sex regulation are simply sexual apartheid.
ItLtough the legal apparatus of sex is staggering, most evqly_dayjgcial control is

!Ed- kss

formal, bui very .&StiyS.-$s.jel

sexual populations.

g3.gg!_igls

"rffi

hcr marvelous ethnographic study of gay life in the 1960s, Esther Newton
tlret the homosexual population was divided into what she called the "overts"
*Goverts."
"The overts live their entire working lives within the context of the
rnity;
ity; the coverts live their rcrfiire
euntire nonworkinglives within it."s6 At the time
s; study, the gay communify provided far fewer jobs than it does now, and
work world was almost completely intolerant of homosexualiry. There were
&ronate individuals who could be openly gay and earn decent salaries. But the
rf;ty of homosexuals had to choose between honest poverty and the strain of
a false identity.
Though this situation has changed a great deal, discrimination against gay people
mpaft. For the bulk of the gay population, being out on the job is still impossible.
ily, the more important and higher paid the job, the less the society will tolerate
mic deviance. If it is difficult for gay people to find employment where they do
lhrc to pretend, it is doubly and triply so for more exotically sexed individuals.
ists leave their fetish clothes at home, and know that they must be especially
H o conceal their real identities. An exposed pedophile would probably be stoned
d ttc office. Having to maintain such absolute secrecy is a considerable burden.
r rl.ec *ho
# secrefive mry b.

"rltoni-.;fi;

I!,

For

.iffiT'i;;"e

"..*i-ffitrrcfeft.

wonderful history of the relationship berween gays and the United States military, see Allan
New York, The Free

trniry Out (Jniler Fire: The History oJ Cay Men and Women in Worlil War II,

22

GAYLE S. RUBIN

Individuals who are erotically unconventional risk being unemployable or unable

pursue their chosen careers.

Public officials and anyone who occupies a position of social consequence

especiallyvulnerable.4q.:lqaqd?t_ir:he*r-ulsUlgg-t-h.4&_t
o$-tt "-o: 4s$lqyt+-g*?- P9 !iq"g?l- -ta.reer' The fac t that important
inform to th. rtiiii.ii itandards of erotic conduct discourages sex perverts of all
from seeking such positions. Instead, erotic dissidents are channeled into positions
have less impact on the mainstream of social activity and opinion.
The expansion of the gay economy in the last decade has provided some
ment alternatives and some relief fromjob discrimination against homosexuals. But
of the jobs provided by the gay economy are low-status and low-paying.
bathhouse attendants, and disc jockeys are not bank officers or corPorate exec
Many of the sexual migrants who flock to places like San Francisco are dor
mobile. They face intense competition for choice positions. The influx of sexual
provides a pool of cheap and exploitable labor for many of the city's businesses,
gay and straight.

Families play a crucial role in enforcing sexual conformity. Much social pressu
b.r. to deny erotic dissidents the comforts and resources that famili
provide. Popular ideology holds that families are not supposed to produce or
erotic non-conformity. Many families respond by trying to reform, punish, or
sexually offending members. Many sexual migrants have been thrown out by t
families, and many others are fleeing from the threat of institutionalization. Any ra
collection of homosexuals, sex workers, or miscellaneous Perverts can provide
stopping stories of rejection and mistreatment by horrified families. Christmas is
great family holiday in the United States and consequently it is a time of consider
tension in the gay communiry. Half the inhabitants go off to their families of ori
many of those who remain in the gay ghettos cannot do so, and relive their anger
grief.
In addition to economic penalties and strain on family relations, the stigma
erotic dissidence creates friction at all other levels of everyday life. The general
helps to penalize erotic non-conformiry when, according to the values they have
taught, landlords refuse housing, neighbors call in the police, and hoodlums co
sanctioned battery. The ideologies of erotic inferiority and sexual danger decrease
pov/er of sex perverts and sex workers in social encounters of all kinds. They have
protection from unscrupulous or criminal behavior, less access to police protection,
l.r, ,..oorr. to the courts. Dealings with institutions and bureaucracies-hospitals, poli
coroners, banks, public officials-are more difficult.
Sex is a vector of oppression. The system of sexual oppression cuts across ot

is brought to

modeiffi;-ffi6utindividualsandgrouPsaccordingtoitso
intrinsic dynamics. It is not reducible to, or understandable in terms of, class,
ethnicity, or gender. Wealth, white skin, male gender, and ethnic privileges can

miti

the effects of sexual stratification. A rich, white male Pervert will generally be
affected than a poor, black, female pervert. But even the most privileged are not immu
to sexual oppression. Some of the consequences of the system of sexual hierarchy
mere nuisances. Others are quite grave. In its most serious manifestations, the
system is a Kafkaesque nightmare in which unlucky victims become herds of
cattle whose identification, surveillance, apprehension, treatment, incarceration, and
ishment produce jobs and self-satisfaction for thousands of vice police, prison offici
psychiatrists, and social workers.sT

THINKING
or unable
consequence

perverts ofall
into positions
some em
uals. But
ins. Bartende

executl
are down

of sexual mi
s businesses,

Much social
that
produce or

system is not a monolithic, omnipotent structure. There are continuous

def,nitions, evaluations, arrangements, privileges, and costs of sexual
b- frlitical struggle over sex assumes characteristic forms.
llcology plays a crucial role in sexual experience. Consequently, definitions
as-oTExual conduct ire objects of Sitter ciinteit. The confrontations between
fiil'.ntion and the psychiatric establishment are the best example of this kind
h thcre are constant skirmishes. Recurrent battles take place between the
meccrs of sexual ideology-the churches, the family, the shrinks, and the

rr

llh

they have
hoodlums com
danger decrease

tinds. They have

ice protection,
hospitals, poli

Erms of,

can

ill

mltl

generally be
are not rm
sexual hierarchy
ions, the sex
herds

of hu

ion. and
, prison offici

fic groups whose

experience they name, distort, and endanger.

h3d regulation of sexual conduct is another battleground. Lysander Spooner

&c system of state-sanctioned moral coercion over a century ago in a text
hrrily by the temperance campaigns. In Vica Are Not Crima: A Vindication
Spooner argued that government should protect its citizens against crime,
unjust, and ryrannical to legislate against vice. He discusses ra-

h foolish,

bs still heard today in defense of legalized moralism-that "vices" (Spooner

ir6 m drink, but homosexuality, prostitution, or recreational drug use may

be

lcad to crimes, and should therefore be prevented; that those who practice
Gm cornpos mentis andshould therefore be protected from their self-destruction
nimplished ruin; and that children must be protected from supposedly harmful
&foc-r B.jpSgy5. on victimless crimes hry pt__q!rpge! much. Legal struggle
will continui-iiniit-bas'ii fieedijms of sexual- action and.expression are
This requires the repeal of all sex laws except those few that deal with
vice squads, whose job it
n ltzurtory, coercion; and it entails the abolition of ..-':-_..
-.-*-r...
lcsislated morality.
&
ilfiIed-G t-heibtrnffinal and legal wars, there are less obvious forms of sexual
fl odict which I call the territorial and border wars. The processes by which
crities form communities and the forces that seek to inhibit them lead to
cr the nature and boundaries of sexual zones.
lhdtrrt sexualiry is rarer and more closely monitored in small towns and rural
Ctcquently, metropolitan life continually beckons to young perverts. Sexual
h crcates concentrated pools of potential partners, friends, and associates. It

G lil

r
class,

&

ization. Any ra

the stigma
The general publi

|Srglal Conficts

flk*?F)
m*.''2l

punish, or

time of consi
families of
their anger

23

ft-f
lnnic crystallizes widespread fears and anxieties, and often deals with
* ty:Li"g the real causes of the problems and conditions which they
b
but by displacing them on to "Folk Devils" in an identified social
blc
;-r ft&:o the *immoral" or "degenerate"). Sexuality has had a peculiar cen,*lr L rh lnnics, and sexual "deviants" have been omnipresent scapegoats.

drown out by
can provide
. Christmas is

SEX

hf,riduals to

create adult,

kinJike networks in which to live. But there are

lfmi.tr which sexual migrants have to overcome.

dl@eng to the mainstream media and popular prejudice, the marginal sexual
xJa-lr and dangerous. They are portrayed as impoverished, ugly, and inhabited
and criminals. New migrants must be sufficiently motivated to resist the
r[ qch discouraging images. Attempts to counter negative propaganda with
ffic information generally meet with censorship, and there are continuous
flel snggles over which representations of sexual communities make it into the

ds

rdia-

i}&rnetion

on how to find, occupy, and live in the marginal sexual worlds is also
Navigational guides are scarce and inaccurate. In the past, fragments of rumor,

24

GAYLE S. RUBIN

distorted gossip, and bad publicity were the most available clues to the location
underground erotic communities. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, better information became available. Now groups like the Moral Majority want to rebuild the
ideological walls around the sexual undergrounds and make transit in and out of them

difficult as possible.
Migration is expensive. Transportation costs, moving expenses, and the necessiry
of finding new jobs and housing are economic diffrculties that sexual migrants must
overcome. These are especially imposing barriers to the young, who are often the most
desperate to move. There are, however, routes into the erotic communities which mark
trails through the propaganda thicket and provide some economic shelter along the way.
Higher education can be a route for young people from affluent backgrounds. In spite
of serious limitations, the information on sexual behavior at most colleges and universities
as

is better than elsewhere, and most colleges and universities shelter small erotic nefworks

of all sorts.
For poorer kids, the military is often the easiest way to get the hell out of wherever
they are. Military prohibitions against homosexuality make this a perilous route. Al-

though young queers continually attempt to use the armed forces to get out of intolerable
hometown situations and closer to functional gay communities, they face the hazards

of exposure, court martial, and dishonorable discharge.

Once in the cities, erotic populations tend to nucleate and to occupy some regular,
visible territory. Churches and other anti-vice forces constantly put pressure on local
authorities to contain such areas, reduce their visibility, or to drive their inhabitants out
of town. There are periodic crackdowns in which local vice squads are unleashed on
the populations they control. Gay men, prostitutes, and sometimes transvestites are sufficiently territorial and numerous to engage in intense battles with the cops over particular
streets, parks, and alleys. Such border wars are usually inconclusive, but they result in
many casualties.
For most of this century, the sexual underworlds haye been marginal and impoverished, their residents subjected to stress and exploitation. The spectacular success
gay entrePreneurs in creating a variegated gay economy has altered the qualiry of life
within the gay ghetto. The level of material comfort and social elaboration achieved by
the gay communiry in the last fifteen years is unprecedented. But it is important to
recall what happened to similar miracles. The growth of the black population in New
York in the early part of the rwentieth century led to the Harlem Renaissance, but that
period of creativity was doused by the Depression. The relative prosperity and cultural
florescence of the gay ghetto may be equally fragile. Like blacks who fled the South
for the metropolitan North, homosexuals may have merely traded rural problems for
urban ones.
Gay pioneers occupied neighborhoods that were centrally located but run down.
:quentlv. thev
Consequently,
they border poor
ooor neighborhoods.
neishborhoods. Gays,
Gavs- especially
esoeciallv low-income gays,
savs- end
up competing with other low-income groups for the limited supply of cheap and moderate housing. In San Francisco, competition for low-cost housing has exacerbated both
racism and homophobia, and is one source of the epidemic of street violence against
homosexuals. Instead of being isolated and invisible in rural sertings, ciry gays are no\r
numerous and obvious targets for urban frustrations.
In San Francisco, unbridled construction of downtown skyscrapers and high-cost
condominiums is causing affordable housing to evaporate. Megabuck construction is
creating pressure on all city residents. Poor gay renters are visible in low-income neighborhoods; multimillionaire contracters are not. The specter of the "homosexual invasion"
is a convenient scapegoat which deflects attention from the banks, the planning com-

.4f

mnH
F

&

i'E4r

ua

Ilry.il

atr

".d1

rre&
iif:Itil

[m3q
"*c.f

-iilqr
=LEr
*lrer

fice
*!
o5!ili

qlmdn

d
hGL
rnry rlEGErltr

illorffi

TtEr&
H;,Ei

hfur

&ufrp,r

qheh

hd
{:qF dAS

rdri
lli*

ril{r

tu

r[p

bHn

THINKING

fic

to the location
i
want to rebuild
in and out of

dtc

1970s, better

expansion affects all the territorial erotic underworlds. In both San

hDend New York, high investment construction and urban renewal have intruded

r5g_d_to.dj

E years, most of
=llF_+g
Gf,teri, iiiiiffi;aiontl

along the
rounds. In soi
and universiti
I erotic networ

for

qnd hopplng.fg_q

ll.

!'h mst important and consequential kind of sex conflict is what Jeffrey Weeks
dthe "moral panic." !!-...l*panicsa.e the.jlpolitical mp.ms5r1ll-gfqe,"5,1+"rlhich

of

afoudes are channeled into political action and from there into soci*l-.9hggge.60
hysteiia-iif tht I'840S;thd diiti;8ffi6i#ffiru;mfiil'ns of t[J 1950s,
efild pornography panic of the late 1970s were rypical moral panics.
lrensc sexualiry in'Western societies is so mystified, the wars over it are often
* oblique angles, aimed at phony targets, conducted with misplaced passions,
r hiehly, intensely symbolic. Sexual activities often function as signifiers for
rnd social apprehensions to which they have no intrinsic connection. During
prnic, such fears attach to some unfortunate sexual activify or population. The
&ome eblaze with indignation, the public behaves like a rabid mob, the police
'W'hen
and the state enacts new laws and regulations.
the furor has passed,
rlncent erotic group has been decimated, and the state has extended its power

Silavery

e perilous route.

ofi

face the
Py some regu
Pressure on I

ir inhabitants
are unleashed
tes are

ia areas of prostitution, pornography, and leather bars. Developers are salivating

Square, the Tenderloin, what is left of North Beach, and South of Market.

fc

ities which

out

political establishment, and,the big developers. In San Francisco, the wellgay communiry has become embroiled in the high-stakes politics of urban

ilhmwn

and the
mrgrants
are often the

hell out

25

SEX

coPs over Partlcu

but they result

of erotic behavior.
of sexual stratification provides easy victims who lack the power to
6cmselves, and a preexisting apparatus for controlling their movements and
their freedoms. The sti gma a g ainst sexgal dips !.{eqt1- f"gnde,r.j*ltryIl lgg;Ally
tdcss" Every mo;a[-pagic has consequences on rwo levels. The target population
rG, but everyone is affeCted by the soiial and legel'chrnges: -: -* - 'ilIrel panics rirely alleviate any real problem, becausd thtiy ire limed at chimeras
They draw on the pre-existing discursive structure which invents victims
to justify treating "vices" as crimes. The criminalization of innocuous behaviors
s homosexuality, prostitution, obscenity, or recreational drug use, is rationalized
pceuying them as menaces to health and safety, women and children, national
the family, or civilization itself. Even when activity is acknowledged to be
it may be banned because it is alleged to "lead" to something ostensibly worse
rnenifestation of the domino theory).51 Great and mighry edifices have been
areas

Ttc

and impov

lar success
the quality of li
ion achieved
it is important
population in N
issance, but t
ity and cultu
fled the Sou
mral problems
but run
EaYs'

of cheap and modexacerbated both

violence against
crty gays are now

system

the basis of such phantasms. Generally, the outbreak of a moral panic is preceded

inensification of such scapegoating.

h is always risky to prophesy. But it

does not take much prescience to detect

bI moral panics in two current developments: the attacks on sadomasochists by
of the feminist movement, and the right's increasing use of AIDS to incite
homophobia.

and high-cost

construction is
income neighinvasion"
planning com-

Feminist anti-pornography ideology has always contained an implied, and somemrt, indictment of sadomasochism. The pictures of sucking and fucking that
the bulk of pornography may be unnerving to those who are not familiar with
Bnt it is hard to make a convincing case that such images are violent. All of the
rnri-porn slide shows used a highly selective sample of S/M imagery to sell a very

26

GAYLE S. RUBIN

flimsy analysis. Taken out of context, such images are often shocking. This shock val
was mercilessly exploited to scare audiences into accepting the anti-porn perspective.
A great deal of anti-porn propaganda implies that sadomasochism is the unde
and essential "truth" towards which all pornography tends. Porn is thought to lead
S/M porn which in turn is alleged to lead tq rape. This is a just-so story that revitali
the notion that sex perverts commit sex crimes, not normal people. There is no evi
that the readers of S/M erotica or practicing sadomasochists commit a di
number of sex crimes. Anti-porn literature scapegoats an unpopular sexual minoriry
its reading material for social problems they do not create.
The use of S/M imagery in anti-porn discourse is inflammatory. It implies. t
the way to make the world safe for women is to get rid of sadomasochism. The use
S/M images in the movie Not a Loue Sfory was on a moral par with the use of
of black men raping white women, or of drooling old Jews pawing young Aryan girls,
to incite racist or anti-Semitic frenzy.
Feminist rhetoric has a distressing tendency to reappear in reactionary contexts.
For example, in 1980 and 1981, PopeJohn Paul II delivered a series of pronouncements
reaffirming his commitment to the most conservative and Pauline understandings
human sexualiry. In condemning divorce, abortion, trial marriage, pornography, prostitution, birth control, unbridled hedonism, and lust, the pope employed a great deal of
feminist rhetoric about sexual objectification. Sounding like lesbian feminist polemicist
Julia Penelope, His Holiness explained that "considering anyone in a lustful way makes
that person a sexual object rather than a human being worthy of dignity."62
The right wing opposes pornography and has already adopted elements of feminist
anti-porn rhetoric. The anti-S/M discourse developed in the women's movement could
easily become a vehicle for a moral witch hunt. It provides a ready-made defenseless
target population. It provides a rationale for the recriminalization of sexual materials
which have escaped the reach of current obsceniry laws. It would be especially easy to
pass laws against S/M erotica resembling the child pornography laws. The ostensible
purpose of such laws would be to reduce violence by banning so-called violent porn.
A focused campaign against the leather menace might also result in the passage of laws
to criminalize S/M behavior that is not currently illegal. The ultimate result of such a
moral panic would be the legalized violation of a community of harmless perverts. It
is dubious that such a sexual witch hunt would make any appreciable contribution
towards reducing violence against women.
An AIDS panic is even more probable. 'W'hen fears of incurable disease mingle
. '-with sexual terror, the resulting brew is extremely volatile. A century ago, attempts to
control syphilis led to the passage of the Contagious Diseases Acts in England. The Acts
were based on erroneous medical theories and did nothing to halt the spread of the
disease. But they did make life miserable for the hundreds of women who were incarcerated, subjected to forcible vaginal examination, and stigmatizedfor life as prostitutes.63
Whatever happens, AIDS will have far-reaching consequences on sex in general,
and on homosexuality in particular. The disease will have a significant impact on the
choices gay people make. Fewer will migrate to the gay meccas out of fear of the disease.
Those who already reside in the ghettos will avoid situations they fear will expose them.
The gay economy, and the political apparatus it supports, may prove to be evanescent.
,,'Fear of AIDS has already affected sexual ideology. Just when homosexuals have had
r some success in throwing off the taint of mental disease, gay people find themselves
i metaphorically welded to an image of lethal physical deterioration. The syndrome, its
. peculiar qualities, and its transmissibiliry are being used to reinforce old fears that sexual
: activity, homosexualiT, and promiscuity led to disease and death.

AIDS isbothapcn
frc gaycommnitf.I

ririms. One oolord

*ibitions on sodmy
an aPProFlt
im as a rad@lBl
A recent isc
Emily of forrm
DISEASESTHNnl
e pamphlct aq-

nd

Llmible

to

"legfi

"55

Cud

ban on

hotrrc

prohibitim
B(rErllment

o ih

markcrs m thc
h is bad ercug!d
i"g b..o thc 14pt

It is worse o

scare, Grecce

1u

frrce them to fr
end its methodrd
it by puaifi

crsc of If,gimd

of the Ao*
Acts in Frrdlr
in.c for the wm
ied new qilc
sneryone

PaESI

poticy initi*ires

TLe lirf,
VeLnorth*Ll
l,i6poruogrdq;

YI

arr;r.r".r*,ti

inablc clr:lJarlrr
gr Hoovcr!)

In the drenc of,

to feminism fr
N!l!}}Thelimlrgcc
{tc inporom tErb't
Itttss' l9B8; Dogbfi
f.ec atrd Dauil I
Hi-hcrh f.et ed [lr
rla Pttss' l99Zd,

ltrm'Itrurtqtrlnq

l&Jia MiEncTfiS]|

{IDS crJ Crl&J

Lodo, RiE(l

[t&rBrm*itIq

THINKING
This shock
is the u

ght to lead
that revitali
is no evide

.It

implies

The
use

use

of
Aryan

uuderstandings

phv,
a great deal

lustful way ma
ih,,,62

nts of fe

movement
defe
sexual

cspecially easy

The ostensib
violent
Passage

result of such
Perverts,

disease

ago, attempts
Iand. The
the spread of

who were i
as

Prostltutes.
sex ln
lmpact on
of the dist

will

expose

to be

eva

SEX

27

fiD6

is both a personal tragedy for those who contract the syndrome and a calamity
gqf oornmuniry. Homophobes have gleefully hastened to turn this tragedy against
One columnist has suggested that AIDS has always existed, that the Biblical
Ums on sodomy were designed to protect people from AIDS, and that AIDS is
an appropriate punishment for violating the Levitical codes. Using fear of
h as a rationale, local right-wingers attempted to ban the gay rodeo from Reno,
A recent issue of the Moral Majority Report featured a picture of a "typical"
hily of four wearing surgical masks. The headline read: "AIDS: HOMOSEXDEEASES THREAIEN AMERICAN FAMILIES."6a Phyllis Schlafly has recently
e pamphlet arguing that passage of the Equal Rights Amendment would make
to "legally protect ourselves against AIDS and other diseases carried by
rnals."6s Current right-wing literature calls for shutting down the gay baths, for
Len on homosexual employment in food-handling occupations, and for stateprohibitions on blood donations by gry people. Such policies would require
to identify all homosexuals and impose easily recognizable legal and
rrters on them.
}fu bad enough that the gay community must deal with the medical misfortune
i'g been the population in which a deadly disease first became widespread and
k is worse to have to deal with the social consequences as well. Even before the
[ *'e, Greece passed a law that enabled police to arrest suspected homosexuals
ha them to submit to an examination for venereal disease. It is likely that until
md is methods of transmission are understood, there will be all sorts of proposals
it by punishing the gay communiry and by attacking its institutions. 'When
,me of Legionnaires' Disease was unknown, there were no calls to quarantine
of the American Legion or to shut down their meeting halls. The Contagious
Acts in England did little to control syphilis, but they caused a great deal of
for the women who came under their purview. The history of panic that has
ied new epidemics, and of the casualties incurred by their scapegoats, should
crcryone pause and consider with extreme scepticism any attempts to justify antifo[cy initiatives on the basis of AIDS.*

Vf

The Limits of Feminism

*
rll

tnow that in an overwhelmingly large number ofcases,

3r

Hoover56)

sex crime is associated

pornography. We know that sex criminals read it, are clearly influenced by
a- I believe that, if we can eliminate the distribution of such items among impresinable children, we shall greatly reduce our frightening sex-crime rate. (J. Ed-

Iu the absence of a more articulated radical theory of sex, most progressives have
to feminism for guidance. But the relationship between feminism and sex is
89!IZ The literature on AIDS and its social sequelae has mushroomed since this essay was published. A
Sfic important texts are Douglas Crimp, ,4IDSr Cuhural Analysis, Cuhural Actiuism, Ctmbidge, Mass.,
lhss, 1988; Douglas Crimp with Adam Rolston, AIDS DEMOGRAPHICS, Seattle, Bay Press, 1990;
ffi f.ee and Daniel M. Fox, AIDS: The Burilens of History, Berkeley, University of California Press,

uals have

find
syndrome,
fears that

r IIDS

anil Cukural Polfuia, London, Serpent's Tail, 1989; Tessa Boffin and Sunil Guptz, Ecstatic
Iondon, Rivers Oram Press, 1990; andJames Kinsella, Couering the Plague: AIDS anil the Americat
No Brunswick, Rutgers Universiry Press, 1989.

E:r"

28

GAYLE S. RUBIN

complex. Because sexualiry is a nexus of the relationships between genders, much

the oppression of women is borne by, mediated through, and constiruted within, s,
uality. Feminism has always been vitally interested in sex. But there have been
strains of feminist thought on the subject. One tendency has criticized the restricti
on women's sexual behavior and denounced the high costs imposed on women for bei
sexually active. This tradition of feminist sexual thought has cilled for a sexual liberati
that would work for women as well as for men. The second tendency has consi
sexual liberalization to be inherently a mere extension of male privilege. This traditi
resonates with conservative, anti-sexual discourse. with the advent of the antiraphy movement, it achieved temporary hegemony over feminist analysis.
The anti-pornography movement and its texts have been the most extensive expre
sion of this discourse.6T In addition, proponents of this viewpoint have condemned vi
tually every variant of sexual expression as anti-feminist. Within this framework,
ogamous lesbianism that occurs within long-term, intimate relationships and which
not involve playing with polarized roles, has replaced married, procreative heterosexuali
at the top of the value hierarchy. Heterosexuality has been demoted to somewhere
the middle. Apart from this change, everything else looks more or less familiar. Tl
lower depths are occupied by the usual groups and behaviors: prostitution, transsexuali
sadomasochism, and cross-generational activities.6s Most giy male conduct, all casr
sex, promiscuiry, and lesbian behavior that does involve roles or kink or nonare also censured.6e Even sexual fantasy during masturbation is denounced as a phal
centric holdover.To

This discourse on sexuality is less a sexology than a demonology. It presents

in the rvorst possible light. Its descriptions of erotic conduct always
the worst available example as if it were representative. It presents the most disgus
pornography, the most exploited forms of prostiturion, and the least palatable or r
shocking manifestations of sexual variation. This rhetorical tactic corxistently mis
resents human sexualiry in all its forms. The picture of human sexualiry that
from this literature is unremirtingly ugly.
is-aqti-porn rhetoric is a massive exercise in scapegoating. It cri
r than routine acts ofoppression, exploitation, or vio
Thii demon sixo
legitimate anger at women's lacli of periiifilsafety ;
innocent individuals, practices, and communities. Anti-porn propaganda often impli
that sexism originates within the commercial sex industiy ,rrd sulsequently infecti
rest ol
of society. This is sociologically nonsensical. The sex industry is
i hardly a femi
utopia. It reflects the sexism that exists in the society as a *hol..
whole. we
We need to anal
anal
,nd oppot. thJilLriffi
of gender inequality specific to the sex industry. But
1
I \ is not the same as attempting to wipe out commercial sex.
Similarly, erotic minorities such as sadomasochists and ffanssexuals are as likely
exhibit sexist attitudes or behavior as any other politically random social grouping. I
to claim that they are inherently anti-feminist is sheer fantasy. A good deal of cur
feminist literature attributes the oppression of women to graphic representations of
prostitution, sex education, sadomasochism, male homosexualiry, and transsexuali
whatever happened to the family, religion, educarion, child-rearing practices, the nie
the state, psychiatry, job discrimination, and unequal pay?
Finally, this so-called feminist discourse recreates a very conservative sexual
rality. For over a century, battles have been waged over just how much shame, dist
and punishment should be incurred by sexual activity. The conservative tradition
promoted opposition to pornography, prostitution, homosexuality, all erotic variati<
sex education, sex research, abortion, and contraception. The opposing, pro-sex traditi
sexual behavior

idriH

froM, cr
arllo*'

nr*rr

lrc

fd f;rr"l f
&cy

ur du
MI

nm.-{oE'n
or&ir&

re o{fic
folr
f rd Sc l9Il,
E&
firmd6"t

Tlrrrn
ilraeird&
d.#rimd
brH
tcl
h
tlir,rily hf
uLrdeyn
h&ic:
eu,nr*" hrrf
ubr 6c m
rfrb

futnnm
ilmn-l

lIllrdridn

Ld

dr
I

errna{tr
!hddhl

Eirirr{

[rtu"Iht
!e flil*{
nda
Wmt

m[&dtu
rh5
rdL

sTe{n;ttLd
ft................Gri

cuadr

r&d
ir &arhr
ddr
lflr
Wm."'ftr

THINKING
genders, much

within,
have been

the restricti
women for
a sexual

li

has consi

. This tradi
the anti
extensive
condemned vi

framework,

which

and

heterosexuali

to somewhere i
less familiar.

transsexuali

all

or nonas a phal

It

presents
always
most

palatable or

)n[ry
that

It
rof

and homosexuals, the reproductive rights movement, and organizations such

(arEt Reform League of the 1960s. This motley

collection of sex reformers, sex

end sexual militants has mixed records on both sexual and feminist issues.
they are closer to the spirit of modern feminism than are moral crusaders,
iry movement, and anti-vice organizations. Nevertheless, the current femdcmonology generally elevates the anti-vice crusaders to positions of ancestral
rhilc condemning the more liberatory tradition as anti-feminist. In an essay that
some of these trends, Sheila Jeffreys blames Havelock Ellis, Edward Carfrlr.zndra Kollantai, "believers in the joy of sex of every possible political per-

- ed

anal

industry. But
are as

likely

grouping.
deal of cu
tations of
transsexuali
ices, the nii
ve sexual
shame,

ve tradition
erotic vari
Pro-sex

the 1929 congress of the World League for Sex Reform for making "a

ffirihution to the defeat of militant

feminism.,,71*

lffc rnti-pornography movement and its avatars have claimed to speak for all
hr Fortunately, they do not. Sexual liberation has been and continues to be a
33mL The women's movement may have produced some of the most retrogressive
:Snking this side of the Vatican. But it has also produced an exciting, innovative,
-'Pro-sex" feminism
:nse of
Iemlnlsm has
na
defense
oI sexual pleasure
anc eroucJusuce.
I nls "pro-sex"
erotic justice. This
Preasure and
by lesbians whose sexuality does not conform to movement standards
ft,rimarily lesbian sadomasochists and butch/femme dykes), by unapologetic
arls, and by women who adhere to classic radical feminism rather than to the
celebrations of femininity which have become so common.72 Although the
forces have attempted to weed anyone who disagrees with them out of the
the fact remains that feminist thought about sex is profoundly polaized.'u
mamcver there is polarization, there is an unhappy tendency to think the truth
cshere in between. Ellen'Willis has commented sarcastically that i'the feminist
L Od women are equal to men and the male chauvinist bias is that women are
h. The unbiased view is that the truth lies somewhere in between."Ta The most
olnrlopment in the feminist sex wars is the emergence of a "middle" that seeks
h dc dangers of anti-porn fascism, on the one hand, and a supposed "anything
fficrarianism, on the other.Ts Although it is hard to criticize a position that is
I LI]f formed, I want to draw attention to some incipient problems.**

irdrte

Ihcsc trends have become much more fully articulated. Some of the key texts are SheilaJeffreys,

hardly a femi

to

29

h'h.lcd individuals like Havelock Ellis, Magnus Hirschfeld, Alfred Kinsey, and
L Voodhull, as well as the sex education movement, organizations of militant

often

tly infects
need

SEX

'dHcrErcmia:

Feminism and Sexuality 1880-1930, London, Pandora Press, 1985; SheilaJeffreys,

re" Ldon, The Women's Press, 1990; Lal Coveney, MargaretJackson, SheilaJeffreys, Leslie Kay,
FJ,-T, Tlu Sexuality Papers: Male Sexuality and the Social Control of Women, London, Hutchinson,

d Dcchen Leidholdt

and Janice G. Raymond, The Sexual Liberals anil the Auack or Feminism,

New

InilUffi, 1990.
EilE Thc label "libertarian feminist" or "sexual libertarian" continues to be used as a shorthand for
adicals. The label is erroneous and misleading. It is true that the Libertarian Parry opposes state
'We
sexual behavior.
agree on the pernicious qualiry of state activiry in this area, and I
L,Actarian program to repeal most sex legislltion superior to that ofany other organized political

n*-Esrr:l

r rd dif,erential powers. In this analysis,

state regulation of sex is part of a more complex system

enforces, and influences. The state also develops its own structures of interests,
sexual regulation.

hrhich it reflects,
fucstments in

dE rd are differentially applied to various sexual activities. People are not called "libertarian" for
7 h tcck freedoms and legal equality for racial and ethnic groups; I see no reason why sexual
lb $nld be denied even the limited benefits of liberal capitalist societies.
[,Hr erryone would call Marx a liberal or libertarian, but he considered capitalism a revolutionary,
rid system. "Hence the great civilizing influence of capital, its production o[ a stage of society

GAYLE S. RUBIN

30

The emergent middle is based on a false characterization of the poles of the debate,
construing both sides as equally extremist. According to B. Ruby Rich, "the desire
a language of sexualiry has led feminists into locations (pornography, sadomasochism
too narrow or overdetermined for a fruitful discussion. Debate has collapsed into
rumble."76 True, the fights between'Women Against Pornography (\MAP) and lesbi
sadomasochists have resembled gang warfare. But the responsibility for this lies primarily
with the anti-porn movement, and its refusal to engage in principled discussion. S/M
lesbians have been forced into a struggle to maintain their membership in the movem
and to defend themselves against slander. No major spokeswoman for lesbian S/M
argued for any kind of S/M supremacy, or advocated that everyone should be a sadomasochist. In addition to self-defense, S/M lesbians have called for appreciation for erotic
diversiry and more open discussion of sexuality.T? Trying to find a middle course
WAP and Samois is a bit like saying that the truth about homosexualiry lies somewhe
between the positions of the Moral Majoriry and those of the gay movement.
In political life, it is all too easy to marginalize radicals, and to attempt to btry

rforcibly
er itdoes

Frtr6
Ttif is61f,3a

mthe assu1
ryeim oztnrc-1 (
&cs of fie Ffiq

bc commiund I
ir thc eggrcs$q, I
md in C-alifcri

bSGl ryubtto:-

&&hinmm
*rtmcs h*l
k stems th

dself rEbm{Marir u
The mo

In contrast to cultural feminists, who simply want to purge sexual dissidents,

sexual moderates are willing to defend the rights of erotic non-conformists to political
participation. Yet this "{efense of political rights is linked to an implicit system"-of i<
ological condescension.* The argument has fwo majoi parts. The first is an accusati
that sexual dissidents have not paid close enough attention to the meaning, sources, or
historical construction of their sexuality. This emphasis on meaning appears to functi
in much the same way that the question of etiology has functioned in discussions
homosexuality. That is, homosexuality, sadomasochism, prostitution, or boyJove
taken to be mysterious and problematic in some way that more respectable sexualiti
are not. The search for a cause is a search for something that could change so that these
"problematic" eroticisms would simply not occur. Sexual militants have replied to such
exercises that although the question of etiology or cause is of intellectual interest, it
not high on the political agenda and that, moreover, the privileging of such questi
is itself a regressive political choice.
The second part of the "moderate" position focuses on questions of consent. Sexual
radicals of all varieties have demanded the legal and social legitimation of iiinienting
sexual behavior. Feminists have criticized them for ostensibly finessing questions

"the limits of consent" and "structural constraints" on consent.Ts Although there are
deep problems with the political discourse of consent, and although there are certainly
structural constraints on sexual choice, this criticism has been consistently misapplied
in the sex debates. It does not take into account the very specific semantic content that
consent has

in

sex law and sex practice.

As I mentioned earlier, a great deal of sex law does not distinguish berween consensual and coercive behavior. Only rape law contains such a distinction. Rape law is
based on the assumption, correct in my view, that heterosexual activity may be freely
compared

with which all earlier

*FN 1992. A recent example of dismissive ideological

imd repcrrtdyr

SJoEY ;rrert i
mgEthcr:s h
U5rcm itr FiraI
he Emms SAl,
AErEd in ra S/tl
md hE ws Im

iE&rbc h.tl
h rlcirySr
*rrcclr
in e

r fooei
ofep-pn
ftiffir
mcL

i!frflpffintu
dSrGE ftdyt
n a uLi11fr;
$ttil m;
fimc, u{m

ffuanr

tilr, *
hrr&rc mlls

ir-Thr
LIDrII

." (Karl Marx,

York, Harper Torchbooks, 1971, pp. 94-95). The failure to

bring on socialism; it maintains something more akin to feudalism.

condescension is this:

"The

Sadomasochists are not

their freedom rather than someone else's

entirely 'valueless,' but they have resisted any values that might limit
judgement; and in this they show themselves as lacking in an understanding of the requirements of common
life." It appears in Shane Phelan, Identity Politics: Labian Feminism and the Limits of Community, Philadelphia,
Temple University Press, 1989, p. 133.

ftlli

ffiich rlrrJr fr
ilrlrinc tE$&
*ilId bc able o

The Grundrisse, New

support democratic sexual freedoms does not

stages appear to be merely loeal progras. .

mEf,

5r oEEpr
tr-af,

qreinL

retry-

THINKING

SEX

31

or forcibly coerced. One has the legal right to engage in heterosexual behavior
it does not fall under the purview ofother statutes and as long as it is agreeable

of the

"the desire

es

prties.

sado

collapsed into
and
is lies

This is not the case for most other sexual acts. Sodomy laws, as I mentioned above,
on the assumption that the forbidden acts are an "abominable and detestable

rgeinst nature." Criminality is intrinsic to the acts themselves, no matter what

ircs of the participants. "Unlike rape, sodomy or an unnatural or perverted sexual
nry be committed befween two persons both of whom consent, and, regardless of
ffi ir the aggressor, both may be prosecuted."" Before the consenting adults statute
in California in 1976, lesbian lovers could have been prosecuted for comcal
copulation. If both participants were capable of consent, both were equally
iE

pri

discussion. S
the moveme
lesbian S/M

ldbea

,fidnlt lnss5l statutes operate in a similar fashion. Contrary to popular mythology,

brEs $atutes have little to do with protecting children from rape by close relatives. \
t
r r- I
firrrst 5laguges themselves prohibit marriage or sexual intercourse befween
adultsj
dosely related. Prosecutions are rare, but rwo were reported recently. In 1979,
Marine met his 42-year-old mother, from whom he had been separated
The two fell in love and got married. They were charged and found guilry of
q" rhich under Virginia law carries a maximum ten-year sentence. During their
*a Marine testified, "I love her very much. I feel that two people who love each
Smld be able to live together."81 In another case, a brother and sister who had
ded separately met and decided to get married. They were arrested and pleaded

lies

attempt to
rcrals have

Itiss
stlsmatt
dissidents, t
ists to politi

systeo-of i
sources,
pears to functi
in &scussions

or boyJove
e sexualiti
so that

replied to
interest,

of

Ls that he had been involved in a consensual sexual encounter and had assaulted
In rcjecting his appeal, the court ruled that one may not consent to an assault
r *except in a situation involving ordinary physical contact or blows incident

it

such

slch as football, boxing, or wrestling."83 The court went on to note that the
t of a person without legal capaciry to give consent, such as a child or insane
fo inesective," and that "It iia matter of common knowledge that a normal
h full possession of his mental faculties does not freely consent to the use, upon
Lof,force likely to produce great bodily injury."a+ Therefore, anyone who would
ro a whipping would be presumed non con pos mefiis and legally incapable of
*- S/M sex generally involves a much lower level of force than the average
tme, and results in far fewer injuries than most sports. But the court ruled

consent.

i of coru
questions
there
are certai

misappl

content

players are sane, whereas masochists are not.

between
Rape law

may be
The Grundrkse,
&eedoms does

than someone

of
Philadel

Scdmy laws, adult incest laws, and legal interpretations such as the one above
imtdere with consensual behavior and impose criminal penalties on it. 'W'ithin
r, qsntis a privilege enioyed only by tho_s9"who engage in the highest-status

\Xvior.

Those who enjoy low-statris sexriil behavior do not have the legal right
pressures, erotic stigma, social
hiffiion, negative ideology, and the pauciry of information about erotic behavior,
s mrke it difficult for people to make unconventional sexual choices. There
ef,e structural constraints that impede free sexual choice, but they hardly operatc
aEyone into being a pervert. On the contrary, they operate to coerce everyone

ffi6

it. In addition, economic sanctions, family

ryDatity.

32

GAYLE S. RUBIN

The "brainwash theoly" explains erotic diversiry by assuming that some sexual
are so disgusting that no one-would willingly perform them. iherefore,
the reasoning goes' anyone who does so must have been forced or fooled. Even constructivist

in such socidl

acts.

sexualtheory has been pressed into the service of explaining away why otherwise
rational
individuals might engage in variant sexual behavfor. Anlther'posiiion that i, ,rot
y.t
fully formed uses the ideas of Foucault and weeks to imply tt it il. ..perversions,, are
an especially unsavory or problematic aspect of the constr'uction of
-oi..o sexualirir.;t
This is yet another version of the notion that sexual dissidents are vicims
of the subtle
machinations of the social system. Weeks and Foucault would not accept such
an interpretation, since they consider all sexuality to be constructed, the conveirtional no
less
than the deviant.
Psychology is the last resort of those who refuse to acknowledge that sexual dissidents are as conscious and free as any other group of sexual actors. If deviants
are not
responding to the manipulations of the social-systim, then perhaps the source
of their
incomprehensible choices can be found in a bad childhood,^.roro.".ssful socialization,
or inadequate identity formation. In her essay on erotic domination,
Jessica Benjamin
drays uqo.n psychoanalysis and philosophy io explain why what she calls ,,sadoma-omrtiri".iory,sochism" is alienated, distorted,
n imb, poqpor.l.rr, and an attempt to
"11lieve an original effort at differentiation tha; failed."ruthi, essay substitutes
a psy'chophilosophical inferioriry for the more usual means of devaluing diJsident eroricism.
one
reviewer has already construed_ Renjamin's argument as sho*iirg that sadomasochism
is
merely an "obsessive replay of thelnfant poi., struggle.',87

:frc relationship

significant

without completcly

qpeaking ofthe deph;r

is the link between

with the sensatim d

impressions.{

part of the mde dn

ct production and oq
lcr to participate in thc.[
their social mobility, d
tbe.qpS.rettSqof &rr

tions. But al6qt

form the basis of,r
In contrast to my pGq
essential to separate tEr

social existence- I1
, which ffeats
has mostly amlyr

scrl

psychobabble.

However, lesbier i
rcxual, not gender, srd

6ct is that lesbienc hrE

of the same sociel 1n

-rkl

Catherine MacKinm
ity under feminisr frr
work is to marxism- . -r

Ety mto two sexes, m

ision to "use sex and gcrd

I want to challengc-.
There is an instructi-a
inist thought from llu

fu

system extant
explanatory sysromf

in the enl
under capitalismIn the early days of fi

Erost successful

place over the

applicrtl

as modalities

of the same underlying sociil process.

"The Traffic in'women" was-inspirej by the literature on kin-based systems of
--- -----t ---''
social organization. It appeared to me at the time that gender and desire
were systemi

The development ofr

ions. Part of the mo&
of women. It is m m

.
.position which defends the poiitical righis"of perverts but which seeks to
understand their "alienated" sexuality i^s certainly!..f.r"b1. to the
WAp-sryle bloodbaths' But for the most Part, the sexual moderates h"re not confronted
their discomfort
with erotic choices that differ from their own. Erotic chauvinism cannot be redeemed
by tarting.it up in Marxist drag, sophisticated constructivist theory, or retrofeminist p-osition on sexualiry-right, left, or cenrer-eventually attains
dominance, the existence oTsuch a rich discussion is evidence that the feminist
movement
will always be a source of interesting
about sex. Nevertheless, I wanr to challenge
$or1q!rt
the assumption that feminism is or shouli be the privileged site of a'theory
of se*ualifi
Feminism is the theory of gender oppression. To assumi automatically that this
it the theory of sexual oppression ii to fail to distinguish berween g#d.., on rhe one
hand, and erotic desire, on the other.
In the English language, the word "sex" has fwo very different meanings. It means
.
gender and gender identity, as in "the female sex" or "the male sex.,, But sei
also refers
to sexual activify, lust, intercourse, and arousal, as in ,.to have sex.,, This sema
merging reflects a cultural assumption that sexuality is reducible to sexual interco
and that it is a function of the relations berween women and men. The
cultural fusion
of gender with sexualiry has given rise to rhe idea that a theory of sexualiry
-ry b.
derived directly out of a theory of gender.
In an earlier essay, "The Traffic in 'w'omen,', I used the concept of a sex/ge
system, defined as a 'iset
biolo
-of "orrrg.-.rrr, iy which , ,o.i.ry i."nsforms
sexuality into products of_human
,.tirrity."rr i *.rrt or, ,o ,.go. that ..Sex as we knorr
it-gendet identity, sexual desire and fantasy, concepts of cfrildhood-is itself a social
product."8e In that essay, I dld
distinguish b.r*i.o lust and gender, treating boih
1r9t

aumr

Particularly from ttcd

ployed a new aplxrrrE

The

'W'hichever

betru

dcquate formulatim f
fued out, a system of I

publital

I 99-2._ MacKinnon's
oJ the State, Cambridgc,

Discoursa on Life

lL

crdlt

THINKING

formations. This may or may not be an accurate assessment

between sex and gender in tribal organizations. But it is surely not
formulation for sexuality in western industrial societies. As Foucauit has
d-oot, a system of sexualiry has emerged out of earlier kinship forms and has
hd significant autonomy.

rLtioyhip

the
constructl
ratl,
is not

ions"

Grdcdady from the eighteenth century onward, 'western

societies created and deXarycd a new apparatus which was superimposed on the previous one, and which,
."!* completely supplanting the latter, helped to reduce its importance. I am
of the deploymert of sexuality. . . . For the first [kinship], what is pertinent
ft+S
Lrf,c link between partners and defnite statutes; the second [sexuality] is concerned
rih the sensations of the body, the qualiry of pleasures, and the nature of

sexualiry.

of the
such an i
no

that sexual

h1ressions.r

dviants are
source of

which

seeks

their
be

ry, or

to challe

of

sex

that this
, on the

.It

"

sex also

This

li

se

cultural

sxuality may

ofa sex/
bi
as

we

itself

, treatlnS
systems

Thc development of this sexual system has taken place in the contexr of gender
of the modern ideology of sex is that lust is the province of men, puriry
cf women. It is no accident that pornography and the perversions have been connil pert of the male domain. In the sex industry, *o*.o have been excluded from
poduction and consumption, and allowed to participate primarily as workers. In
oparticipate in the "perversions," women have had to overcome serious limitations
ir social mobiliry, their economic resources, and their sexual freedoms.,Gender
&epiqrillsq,sfubs-esluabxq!--e".T,,lt,dfu $"xual ryqtelr b.er_h:.d-s9-rr"dsrffi&
iogs. But although r.* r"ilgi;d;;;; r.lated, ih.y;;ililffi';'#;tfig;
form the basis of two distinct arenas of social pracrice.
trn contrast to my perspective in "The Traffic in 'Women," I am now arguing that
to separate gender and sexualiry analytically to reflect more accurately their
social existence. This goes against the grain of much conremporary feminist
which treats sexuality as a derivation of gender. For instance, lesbian feminist
has mostly analyzed the oppression of lesbians in rerms of the oppression of
However, lesbians are also oppressed as queers and perverts, by tlie operation
Ernel, not gender, stratification. Although it pains many lesbians to think about it,
6ct is that lesbians have shared many of the sociological features and suffered from
of the same social penalties as have gay men, sadomasochists, transvestites, and

n krt

calls
an attemPt

hism

33

lld in such social

some sex

that

SEX

C,atherine MacKinnon has made the most explicit theoretical attempt to subsume

lity under feminist thought. According to MicKinnon, "sexualiry ii to feminism

rwork

iry

Lin

is

to marxism . . . the molding, direction, and expression of sexualiry organizes

into two sexes, women and men."e1 This analytic strategy in turn rests on

to "use sex and gender relatively interchangeably."ez ltis this definitional fusion
r I want to challenge.*
There is an instructive analogy in the history of the differentiation of contemporary
ist thought from Marxism. Marxism is probably the mosr supple and powerful
system extant for analyzing social inequality. But attempts to make Marxism
exPlanatory system for all social inequalities have been dismil exercises. Marxism
successful

in the areas of social life for which it was originally developed-class

under capitalism.
ln the early days of the contemporary women's movement, a theoretical conflict
place over the applicability of Marxism to gender stratification. Since Marxist theory
1992' MacKinnon's published oeuvre has also burgeoned: Catherine A. MacKinnon,Toward a Feuinisr
g ol- the State, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1989; Catherine A. MacKinnon, Feminism
ffuil: Discoursu on LiJe anil Law, Cembidge, Mass., Harvard Universiry press, 1987.

{
34

GAYLE S. RUBIN

is relatively powelful, it does in fact detect important and

interesting aspects of gen
oppression' It works be;g
those issues of geider most closely related ro issues of c
{or
and the organization of labor. The issues mJre specific to
the io"i"l ,t*"t.rre of ge
were not amenable to Marxist analysis.

relationship between feminism and a radical theory of sexual oppression

-r_,,-To:
srmrlar- Feminist conceptual tools were developed to detect
ind analyze g.rd.r_b",
hierarchies. To the ext;r that these overlap with erotic ,rrrrifi.",ioos,
feminist r
to*:. .*p]anatory power..But as issues 6..o-. l.r, tt
oi
g.rrd..
*or.
I

*T,laliry' feminist analysis becomes misleading and often"r.ir..l.?;r. Feminist

"rrd
thoug
simpll lacks angles of vision which can fully"encompass tl. ,o.i"t organization'
sexualiry. The criteria of relevance in feminist thought'do not allow it
to see or
critical p!w9r relations in the area of sexualiry.
.-Io-r!. long run, feminism's critique of gender hierarchy must be incorporated i
a radical theory of sex, and the critiq-ue of s"exual opprerrion
should enrich femini
But an autonomous theory.and politics spe-cific to se'xualiry musr be developed.
It is a mistake to substirute Gminism for Marxism as tL. lart word in social
Feminism is no more capable than Marxism of being the ultimate
and complet.
of all social ine.qualiry-Nor is feminism the resid"ual th.o.f *f.i.t can rake "l.o
care
werythinS^ to which Marx did not attend. These critical tools'were
fashioned to ha
very specifi.c areas of social activity. other areas of social life,
th.i. fo.-, .f p"*;;,
their characteristic modes. of oppression, need their own ,""..pr*r-i-pleme^nts.
In
essay, I have argued for theoretical as well as sexual
pluralism'.
"-f

\III

pleasures which we

lightly call physical

. . . (Colettee3)

It is organized into systems of power, wh

.is -political.
individuals and acti.riities, while p,i"irfr1"g
,rppr.r,
S1:l.o"1s.,.ro-e
Like the capitalist organization of labor and ir, iiroiloiiJoir;"ra,
"r,d ,oi
po,
^.J!:^:
the.
modern sexual systlg has been the_object of political struggle since
it .-.r!ed
as it has evolved. But if the disputes betieen labor and
*dJ ,r. ,rryrtifi.dl r.
confl icts are completely camoufla^ged.
T!. legislative restm-cturing that took place at the end of the nineteenth centr
..
the early. decades of the rientieth w"'s , .ef.act.d ..;p.;;;;o ,h. .-..g.o".
:ll l",h:*ig-a:fierolrcryspgn.
During that period, new erotic comirunitie;.formed k be
possible to be a male homosexual or a lesbian il ;;.t'ilhaa
i;.;;;.*i"orty. r
""i .";;;;;;
produced erotica became available, and the possibilities for sexual
The first homosexual rights organizations were formed, ,rrd th. firrt
analyses o
oppression were articulated.e4

::ff

ts

d EfrtDl

rdiilr- Brr u L
IJhinrcly'ofi
&c? h Ery an
,rear tan, a[

frr

for-L,.a

mr

ET$UEL

h. Tbcrcmu

f}6-.-nrfirf ofi
ilrrtr, at d

it circumlufo

o[;Eq bc S*1
mc fgmh hm{
d&r-..ttr -tr
lltdto.!'r.ior

ir6cirp

Xramlrt

gf r

Conclusion

.. . these
Like

h Vcmrn &

-gender,

sexuality

6ilnirte
[9fl]-*f,hl
nl.hry!I
[sJI ril uq
khnla
rilEg

ril[h

DEt L

&

illrrrtr"

e&

enr{ll
b**
m-X*,9
Eq,fI

:frn
r.pfl
l.r.Paf

pmnfld
Fdn

**l

t,r

ilhi

THINKING
of ge
issues of c

of
oPPressron

gender

t
more tt
.ist thou
10n

to

see or

take care
to
of power,
nts. In

power, whi

.nd
and

it emerged
ified, se
rh
emergence

It

se

During

published,
ve era.

to the
about a uni
occurnng
seeking a
ible for
g once

ln Vlestern

culture, sex is taken all too seriously. A person is not considered

, is not sent to prison, and is not expelled from her or his family, for enjoying
cuisine. But an individual may go through all this and more for enjoying shoe
r- Ultimately, of what possible social significance is it if a person likes to masturbate
e shoe? It may even be non-consensual, but since we do not ask permission of our
to wear them, it hardly seems necessary to obtain dispensation to come on them.
Ifsex is taken too seriously, sexual persecution is not taken seriously enough. There
amatic mistreatment of individuals and communities on the basis of erotic taste
rior. There are serious penalties for belonging to the various sexual occupational
The sexuality of the young is denied, adult sexualiry is often treated like a variety
waste, and the graphic representation of sex takes place in a mire of legal
mial circumlocution. Specific populations bear the brunt of the current system of
power, but their persecution upholds a system that affects everyone.
The 1980s have already been a time of great sexual suffering. They have also been

bexamine their preconceptions, update their sexual educations, and acquaint themwith the existence and operation of sexual hierarchy. It is time to recognize the
dimensions of erotic life.

lclnowledgments
a treat to get to the point in a paper when I can thank those who contributed
ralization. Many of my ideas about the formation of sexual communities first
to me during a course given by Charles Tilly on "The Urbanization of Europe
l5m-1900." Few courses could ever provide as much excitement, stimulation, and
richness as did that one. Daniel Tsang alerted me to the significance of the
1977 and taught me to pay attention to sex law. Pat Califia deepened my

for human sexual variety and taught me to respect the much-maligned fields
rcsearch and sex education. Jeff Escoffier shared his powerful grasp of gay history
cblogy, and I have especially benefited from his insights into the gay economy.
Ddrub6's work in progress on gay history has enabled me to think with more
about the dynamics of sexual oppression. Conversations with Ellen Dubois, Amber
Mary Ryan, Judy Stacey, Kay Trimberger, Rayna Rapp, and Martha Vicinus

the direction of my thinking.

very grateful to Cynthia Astuto for advice and research on legal matters, and
:ll-' Sachs, book-dealer extraordinaire, for pointing out the right-wing pamphlet
on sex. I am grateful to Allan B6rub6, Ralph Bruno, Estelle Freedman, Kent
Bcrb-ara Kerr, Michael Shively, Carole Vance, Bill Walker, andJudy Walkowitz
references and factual information. I cannot begin to express my
m those who read and commented on versions of this paper: Jeanne Bergman,
frfor4 Lynn Eden, Laura Engelstein, Jeff Escoffier, Carole Vance, and Ellen
[Nar*. kger both edited and performed acts of secretarial heroism in preparing
ipt. Marybeth Nelson provided emergency graphics assistance.
I me qpecial thanks to two friends whose care mitigated the strains of writing.
uy back operational and guided me firmly through some monumental bouts
itt'r block. Cynthia Astuto's many kindnesses and unwavering support enabled
working at an absurd pace for many weeks.
0hc of these individuals should be held responsible for my opinions, but I am
lo tLem all for inspiration, information, and assistance.
tr

yses

of

35

of ferment and new possibiliry. It is up to all of us to try to prevent more

bn and to encourage erotic creativiry. Those who consider themselves progressive

social
Iete

e5

SEX

36

GAYLE S. RUBIN

A Note on Definitions
Throughout this

essay,

use terms such as homosexual, sex worker, and pervert.

I
I

"homo-sexual" to refir to both vr'omen and men. If I want to be more specific,

terms such as "lesbian" or "gay male." "Sex worker" is intended to be more inclusi
than "prostitute," in order to encomPass the many jobs of the,sex industry. Sex
includis erotic dancers, strippers, porn models, nude women who will talk to a cus
via telephone hook-up and can be seen but not touched, phone Partners' and the
other employees ofs& businesses such as receptionists,janitors, and barkers.
it also iniludes prostitutes, hustlers, and "male models." I use the term "perverC' as
shorthand for afl the stigmatized sexual orientations. It used to cover male and fema
homosexualiry as well but as these become less disreputable, the term has i
referred to the Other "deviations." Terms such as "pervert" and "deviant" have,
tel
usinq these te
o...rrl use,
rrce a
e connotation
cnilnntation of disapproval,
diseooroval- disgust,
dissust. and dislike. I am using
general
):^^---^-,
1 on
*.,
.
^--^..
my
i*n a denotative fashion, and do not intend them to convey any disapproval

Norss
1. Demetrius Zambaco, "Onanism and Nervous Disorders in Two Little Girls," in
Peraldi (ed.),Polyxxuality, Semiotext(e),vol. IV no. 1, 1981, pp.31,36.
Ell"r, Dubois, "seeking Ecstasy on the Battlefield: Danger and
2.'LitdaGordon
Feminist Sexual Thought," Feminist Stuilies, vol. 9, no. 1, Spring 1
in Nineteenth Century"od
Sreven Marcu s, The Other Victorians, New York, New American Library, 197 4; Mary Ryan, '

Power of 'Women's Networks:

A case Study of Female Moral Reform in America,"

1979;Judith R. Walkowitz, Prostitution and Victorian Society, Camh
Cambridge University Press, 1980; Judith R. Walkowitz, "Male Vice and Feminist Virtue:
.,--- trr^-l^^l-^- r,
inism anJ the Politics of Prostitution in Nineteenth-Century Britain," History Workshop
Stuilies,

vol. 5, no.

l,

no. 13, Spring 1982; Jeffrey Weeks, Sex, Politics and Society: The Regulation of Sexuality Since
New York, Longman, 1981.
3. GJ. Baiker-Benfreld, The Horrors of the Half-Known LiJe, New York, Harper
1976; Marcus, op. cit.;'Weeks, op. cit., especiallypages 48-52; Ztmbaco, op. cit.
4. Sarah Sinefield Beserra, Sterling G. Franklin, and Norma Clevenger (eds.), Ser
California, Sacramento, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, 1977, p. ll3'

s. Ibid., pp. tt3-17.

o. walkowitz, ..Male vice and Feminist virtue," op. cit., p. 83. Walkowitz's entire
cussion of the Maiden Tibute of Modern Babylon and its aftermath (pp' 83-5) is illuminating.
7. Walkowitz, "Male Vice and Feminist Virtue," op. cit., p. 85.
8. Beserra et al., op. cit., pp. 106-7.
9. Commonwealth of Massichusetts, Preliminary Report of the Special Commission Inrtestt
of Sex Crima, 1947; State of New Hampshire, Report of the Interim Comuission
State of New Hanpshire to Study the Cause anil Preventin of Serious Sex Crima, 1949 City of
York,-Report oJ thi Mayor's Committeefor the Study of Sex Ofienca, 1939; State of New York, I
to the Giterni, o, o Study of 102 Sex Ofienderc at Sing Sing Prison, 1950; Samuel Hartw

the Prcvalence

Citizen's Handbook of Sexial-Abnormalitia and the Mental Hygiene Approach to Their Preuention,
of Michigan, 1950; State of Michigan, Report of the Couernor's Study Commission on the
Criminal Sex Ofender, 1951. This is merely a sampler.
10. EstelL B. Freedman, " '(Jncontrolled Desire': The Threat of the Sexual
America, 1935-1960," paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Historical
sociation, San Francisco, December 1983.
11. Allan B6rub6, ..Behind the Spectre of San Francisco," Boily Politic, Lptil l98t;
B6rub6, "Marching to a Different Drumher," Advocate, October 15, 1981; John D'Emilio,
Politics, Sexual Coimunities: The Making oJ the Homosexual Minority in the (Jnited Stata, 1940-1
Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1983; Jonathan Kaitz, Gay American I/istory, New
Thomas Y. Crowell, 1976.

iI

THINKING SEx

, and pervert. I
be more specific, I
to be more inclusi
industry. Sex
will talk to a c
and the
md barkers. Obviousl

tre term "pervert"

wer

as

male and

tcrm has increasin

ad "deviant" have, i
n am using these te
disapproval on my

Little Girls," in
:

Danger and

9, no. 1, Spring
1974; Mary Ryan,

in

America," Femi
Society, Cambrid

Feminist Virtue: Fe

Ilittott

Coile

, p. 113.

Y/alkowitz's entire
5) is illuminating.

Ittaim

Commission

of

1949; City of
of New York,
Samuel Harrwell,

*c

Thcir Preuention,
on the
Sexual Psychopath i

American Historical

, April 1981; Al
John D'Emilio,
ited States,

1940-I

Hisrory, New

Gerassi, The Boys of Boise, New York, Collier, 1968, p. 74.

I tm

indebted to Allan

my atrention to this incident.

[fl"f,[arrBdrub6, personal communication; D'Emilio, op. cit.;John D'Emilio, "Gay Politics,

Experience," Soeialist Review, no. 55, January-February 1981.
examples suggest avenues for additional research. A local crackdown at

San Francisco's

ffi' Thc following

Eriy

of Michigan is documented in Daniel tang, "Gay Ann Arbor Purges," Midwul

iJotmal, vol. 1, no. 1, 1977; and Daniel Tsang, "Ann Arbor Gay Purges," paft 2,
Aeailemic Journal, vol. 1, ro. 2, 1977 . At rhe Universiry of Michigan, the number of

for alleged homosexuality appears to rival the number fired for alleged communist
be interesting to have figures comparing the number of professors who lost
iirrc during this period due to sexual and political offenses. On regulatory reform, many
laws during this period prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages to "known sex
eproviding that bars which catered to "sex perverts" be closed. Such a law was passed
Lb in 1955, and declared unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court in 1959 (Allan
nal communication). It would be of great interest to know exactly which states passed
the dates of their enactment, the discussion that preceded them, and how many are
&c books. On the persecution of other erotic populations, evidence indicates that John
nd lrring Klaw, the fwo premier producers and distributors of bondage erotica in the
ftom the late 1940s through the early 1960s, encountered frequent police harassmenr
fhw, at least, was affected by a congressional investigation conducted by the Kefauver
ht- I am indebted to personal communication from J.B. Rund for information on the
of Ylillie and Klaw. Published sources are scarce, but see John 'Willie, The Ailuentura oJ
New York, Belier Press, D7a;J.8. Rund, "Preface," Bizarre Comix, vol. 8, New
Press, 1977;J.B. Rund, "Preface," BizarreFotos, vol. 1, New York, Belier Press, 1978;
Bond, "Preface," Bizarre Katalogs, vol. 1, New York, Belier Press, 1979. It would be
p have more systematic information on legal shifts and police activiry affecting non-gay
rfused

It would

trrilencs.

Workshop

of Sacuality Since

York, Halper Co
oP. clt.
nger (eds.), Sex

lLn h

t&:elling

37

16- -Chicago is Cenrer of National Child Porno Ring: The Child Predators,"

pL

"Child

Sex:

New Town Tells it All," "[J.S. Orders Hearings On Child Pornography: Rodino Calls
rt an'Outrage,' " "Hunt Six Men, Twenty Boys in Crackdown," Chieago Tribune, Maly
[!Ifi; *Dentist Seized in Child Sex Raid: Carey to Open Probe," "How Ruses Lure Victims
Fornographers," Chicago Tribune, Mzy 17,1977; "Chlld Pornographers Thrive on Legal
&n," "U.S. Raids Hit Porn Sellers," Chicago Tribune, May L8, 1977.
17- For more information on the "kiddie porn panic" see Pat Califia, "The Great Kiddy
$care of '77 md Its Aftermath," Aduocate, October 16, 1980 Pat Califia, "A Thorny Issue
e }lovement," Ailuocate, October 30, 1980; Mitzel, The Boston Sex Scanilal, Boston, Glad
lmls, 1980; Gayle Rubin, "sexual Politics, the New Right, and the Sexual Fringe," in
Tsang (ed.), The Age Taboo, Boston, Alyson Publications, 1981. On the issue of crossimal relationships, see also Roger Moody, Inileeent Assault, London, Word Is Out Press,
Tom O'Carroll, Paedophilia: The Radical Case, London, Perer Owen, 1980; Tsang, The Age
op. cit.; and Paul 'W'ilson, The Man They Called A Monster, New South Wales, Cassell

li.-

1981.

t8. "House

Passes

Tough Bill on Child Porn," San Francisco Chronicle, November 15, 1983,

19- George Stambolian, "Creating the New Man: A Conversarion with Jacqueline Liv" Chrisnpher Sfieet, May 1980; 'Jacqueline Livingston," Clothed With the Saz, vol. 3, no.
1983.
Z). Paul H. Gebhard, "The Institute," in Martin S. Weinberg (ed.), Ser Research: Stuiliu
t Kirsey Institute, New York, Oxford University Press, 1976.
21. Phoebe Courtney, The Sex Education Raeket: Pornography in the Schools (An Exposi), New
c, Free Men Speak, 1969; Dr. Gordon V. Drake, SIECUS: Corrupter of Youth, Tulsa, OklaChristian Crusade Publications, 1969.
2, Paulou's Children (They May Be Yours) , lmpact Publishers, Los Angeles, California, 1969.
23. Norman Podhoretz, "The Culture of Appeasemeit," Harper's, October 1977.

38

GAYLE S. RUBIN

24. Alan'Wolfe andJerry Sanders, "Resurgent Cold War Ideology: The Case of the
mittee on the Present Danger," in Richard Fagen (ed.), Capitalism and the State in U.
American Relations, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1979.
25. Jimmy Breslin, "The Moral Majority in Your Motel Room," San Franciseo
January 22, 1981, p. 41; Linda Gordon and Allen Hunter, "Sex, Family, and the New Ri
Radical America,'Winter 1977-8; Sasha Gregory-Lewis, "The Neo-Right Political Appa
Adtocate, February 8, 1977; Sasha Gregory-Lewis, "Right Wing Finds New Organizing
Ailvocate, Jrne 23, 1977; Sasha Gregory-Lewis, "Unravelling the Anti-Gay Network,"
September 7, 1977; Andrew Kopkind, "America's New Right," New Times, September 30, 1
Rosalind Pollack Petchesky, "Anti-abortion, Antifeminism, and the Rise of the New Ri
Ferninist Stuilies, vol. 7, no. 2, Summer 1981.
26. Rhonda Brown, "Blueprint for a Moral America," Nation, May 23,
27. James Ban, Quatrefoil New York, Greenberg, 1950, p. 310.
28. This insight was first articulated by Mrry Mclntosh, "The Homosexual Role,"
'Weeks, Coming
Problems, vol. 16, no. 2, Fall 1968; the idea has been developed in Jeffrey
York,
Homosexual Politics in Britain from the Nineteenth Century to the Praen\ New
Quartet, 1
and in Weeks, Sex, Politics and Society, op. cit.; see also D'Emilio, Sexual Politics, Sexual
op. cit.; and Gayle Rubin, "Introduction" to Ren6e Vivien, A Woman Appeared n Me,
Lake, Mo., Naiad Press, 1979.
29.Bert Hansen, "The Historical Construction of Homosexuality," RadicalHbnry
no. 20, Spring/Summer 1979.
'Walkowitz, Prostitution and Victorian Society, op. cit.; and Walkowitz, "Male Vice
30.
Female Virtue," op. cit.
31. Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, New York, Pantheon, 1978.
32. A very useful discussion of these issues can be found in Robert Padgug, "Sexual
On Conceptualizing Sexualiry in History," Radical History Reuiew, no. 20, Spring/Summer 1
33. Claude L6vi-Strauss, "A Confrontation," Neru Left Review, rro. 62, July-August 1
In this conversation, L6vi-Strauss calls his position "a Kantianism without a transcendental subj
34. Foucault, op. cit., p. 11.
35. See the discussion in Weeks, Sex, Politics and Society, op. cit., p. 9.
36. See Weeks, Sex, Politics anil Society, op. cit., p. 22.
37. See, for example, "Pope Praises Couples for Self-Control," San Franeiseo
October 13, 1980, p. 5; "Pope Says Sexual Arousal Isn't a Sin If It's Ethical," San Francisco
November 6, 1980, p. 33; "Pope Condemns 'Carnal Lust' As Abuse of Human Freedom,"
Franciseo Chronicle, January 15, 1981, p. 2; "Pope Again Hits Abortion, Birth Control,"
Franeisco Chroniele, January 16, 1981, p. 13; and "Sexualiry, Not Sex in Heaven," Saa
Chronicle, December 3, 1981, p. 50. See also footnote 62 below.
38. Susan Sontag, Stylu of Radical Will, New York, Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1969, p.
39. See Foucault, op. cit., pp. 106-7.
40. American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostie and Statbtieal Manual of Mental and Ph
Disorders, 3rd edn, Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Association.
41. Alfred Kinsey, Wardell Pomeroy, and Clyde Martin, Sexual Behartior in the Human
Philadelphia, W.B. Saunders, 1948; Alfred Kinsey, Wardell Pomeroy, Clyde Martin, and
'W.B. Saunders, 1953.
Gebhard, Sexual Behavior fu the Hunan Female, Philadelphia,
New York, Harper & Row, I
Deuiance,
42. John Gagnon and William Simon, Sexual
Transaction Books, Aldine, I
and
William
Simon,
The
Sexual
Scene,
Chictgo,
Gagnon
John
John Gagnon, Human Sexualitiu, Glenview, Illinois, Scott, Foresmaq 1977.
43. Havelock Ellis, Studia in thePsychology o;lSer (two volumes), New York, Random

t936.
44. Foucault, op. cit., p. 43.
45. Gilbert Herdt, Guardians of the Flates, New York, McGraw-Hill, 1981; Raymond
"'Witchcraft and Sexual Relations," in Paula Brown and Georgeda Buchbinder (eds.), Man
Woman in the New Guinea Highlazls, Washington, DC, American Anthropological
t976; Gayle Rubin, "Coconuts: Aspects of Male/Female Relationships in New Guinea,"
lished ms., 1974; Gayle Rubin, review of Guardians of the Fluta, Aduocate, December 23, 1982;

Hzgt,

Dema, The

tf.

{L

1936.
C-amline

Binghq

Hisnry, Spt\
Sephen O. M I

Rcview of M&t
{& For further el4c
im," op. cit.; B6nrbi,'l

ity," op. ctr+ [

:rscn, op. cit.; Krr-" 1
op- cit.

{}.'Walkowitz,

.M
ha

5O. Vice cops also

and distribm
51. Foucault, op. cfi, t

5a Karl Marx, in Dli

5i. Clark Norton "Sc

of much curreffG
tl. Bessera et al-, opri

h
S

55. Sarah Senefeld

ftds), so

Code of

ediir
giq

This earlier

: end consequendy

55. Esther Newtm,

Prentice-Hall,
57. D'Emilio,

l&

197\1

SEdfr

ofgay oppressioirl
lcs he describes,

periods. The

hmn
qpc*

iate modificatims, no

58.'Weeks, Ser,

A&ir

59. Lysander Spom,

Press, 1977.
60. I have adopted

, op. cit., pp.

ffir
f*-fi

61. See Spooner, op ciln

g attemPts at E

from violence.
62. "Pope's Talk m

In

also footnote 37 ab(rc.

purely sexual" and il.*

which we are not F I
no. 15, Fall 1980, p.
63. See especially fl
anil Society, op. cit
64. Moral

Majority

R#

rmage.

65. Cited in Larry Bd

66. Cited in H. Ivlorg

Lr
krl

67. See for example

Andrea Dworkin,

Against Violence ht
Pornography are erod

THINKING

Ih!,

The Case of the

the Stnte in ll.S.

t[.

and the New

Political

No

Organizing

Bingham, "seventeenth-century Attitudes Toward Deviant sex," Journal of

Hbtory, Spring 1971, p. 465.

lfuphen

tdRa,rir.u
T

39

The Hague, Nijhoff, 1966; F.E.'Williams, papuans of the Trans-Fl7, Oxford,

tw6fi-'c-uoline

? Saa Franeiseo

SEX

o.

Murray, "The Institutional Elaboration of a euasi-Ethnic communiry,"

July-December L979.

of Modern Sociology,

Gor firrther elaboration of these processes, see: B6rub6, "Behind the Spectre of San
cit.; B6rub6, "Marching to a Different Drummer,,, op. cit.; D'Emilio,:,Gay politics,
rity," op. cit.; D'Emilio, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communitia, op. cit.; Foucault, op.
op. cit.; Katz, op. cit.; Weeks, Coming Out, op. cit.; and 'Weeks, Sex, politics anil

hr-op.

Network,"
September 30,

of the New

CIL

l|D- Velkowitz, Prostitution and Victorian Society, op. cit.

n Yrce cops also harass all sex businesses, be these gay bars, gay baths, adult book stores,

23, t98L.

and distributors of commercial erotica, or swing clubs.

'Weeks, Coming

York, Quartet, I

5l- Foucault, op. cit., p. 40.

5a Xd Marx, in David Mclellan (ed.), The Crunilrisse, New york, Harper & Row,

Sexual Commun
to

Mq Weat

5,r-

ry

1971,

clark Norton, "Sex in America," Inquiry, october 5, 1981. This article is a superb
of much current sex law and should be required reading for anyone interested in Jex.

7 Radical History

tz, "Male Vice

hdgug, "Sexual
Spring/Summer

62, July-August
etranscendental

p- e.
San Franeisco

"

San Francisco

Chroa

Human Freedom,"

Birth Control,"
Heaven," San F

& Giroux,
of

1969, p.

Mennl and
in the Human

Clyde Martin, and

1953.

Halper & Row,

Books, Aldine,

1
1

York, Random

1981; Raymond
inder (eds.), Maz

New Guinea," u
December 23, L982;

55- sarah Senefeld Beserra, Nancy M. Jewel, Melody west Matthews, and Elizabeth R.
$-&-), Se* Code of California, Public Education and Research Committee of California, 1973,
[f3-8. This earlier edition of the Ser Code of Califtrnia preceeded the 1976 consenring adults
n and consequently gives a better overview of sodomy laws.
55. Esther Newton, Mother camp: Fenale Im2tersonators in Ameriea, Englewood cliffs, New
Prentice-Hall ,1972, p. 21, emphasis in the original.
57- D Emilio, sexual Politics, sexual communitiu, op. cit., pp. 40-53, has an excellent disr of gay oppression in the 1950s which covers many of thi areas I have mentioned. The
ics he describes, however, are operative in modified forms for other erotic populations, and
r periods.
specific model of gay oppression needs to be generalizeJ to apply, with
-The
modifications, to other sexual groups.
'Weeks,
58.
Sex, Politics anil Soeiety, op. cit., p. 14.
59. Lysander Spooner, vices Are Not crima: A vindication of Moral Liberty, cupertino, cal.,
nfl Press, 1977.
60. I have adopted this terminology from the very useful discussion in'Weeks, Sex, Politics
Srn;r7, op. cit., pp. 14-15.
61. See Spooner, op cit., pp.25-29. Feminist anti-porn discourse fits right into the tradition
dryi-ng attempts at moral control by claiming thit such action will protect women and
n from violence.
62. "Pope's Talk on Sexual Spontaneity," sanFrancisco chronicle, November 13, 1980, p.
re also footnote 37 above. Julia Penelope argues that "we do not need anything that labe^ls
purely sexual" and that "fartasy, as an aspect of sexuality, may be a phallocintric 'need'
which we are not yet free . . ." in "And Now For the Really Hard Questions," sinister
no. 15, Fall 1980, p. 103.
.walkowitz,
63. see especially
Prostitution anil victorian society, op. cit., and 'weeks, ser,
; anil Society, op. cit.
_ 64. Moral Majority Report,July 1983. I am indebted to Allan B6rub6 for calling my attenrion

dnic image.

65. Cited in Larry Bush, "Capitol Report," Advocate, December 8, 19g3, p. 60.
66. cited in H. Montgomery Hyde, A History of pornogralthy, New york, Dell, 1965, p.
57. See for example Laura Lederer (ed.), Take Back the Nrgftr, New york, rJTilliam Morrow,
Andrea Dworkin, Pornography, New York, Perigee, 1981. The Newspage of San Francisco's
n Against violence
york .Women

in Pornography and Media and the Newsreport ofN.*

Pornography are excellent sources.

40

GAYLE S. RUBIN

68. Kathleen Bany, Female sexual slauery, Englewood cliffs, New Jersey, prentice1979; Janice Raymond, The Transsexual Empire, Boston, Beacon, 1979; Kathleen Barry, ..1
masochism: The New Backlash to Feminism," Trivia, no. 1, Fall 19g2; Robin Ruth Li
Darlene R. Pagano, Diana E.H. Russell, and Susan Leigh Starr (eds.), Against Sailomasochism,
Palo Alto, cal., Frog in the well, 1982; ard Florence Rush, T[e Bu1 Kept secrer, New r

McGraw-Hill, 1980.

69. Sally Gearhart, "An Open Letter to the Voters in District 5 and San Francisco's
Community," 1979; Adrienne Rich, Oa Lirr., Secrets, and Silence, New york,'W.'W. Norton, 1

p.225. ("On the other hand, there is homosexual patriarchal culture,

a culture created by
dominance and submission as modes of relati
and the seParation of sex from emotional involvement-a culture tainted by profound hatred
women. The male 'gay' culture has offered lesbians the imitation rol.-rt...otypes of 'butch'
'femme,' 'active' and'passive,' cruising, sado-masochism, and the violent, self-lestructive
of 'gay' bars."); Judith Pasternak, "The Strangest Bedfellows: Lesbian Feminism and the Se
Revolution," womanNews, october 1983; Adrienne Rich, "compulsory Heterosexuality and
bian Existence," in Ann Snitow, christine stansell, and Sharon Thompson (eds.), powers of
The Politics of Sexuality, New York, Monthly Review press, 1983.
70. Julia Penelope, op. cit.
71. Sheila Jeffreys, "The Spinster and Her Enemies: Sexualiry and the Last 'wave of
inism," scarlet woman, no. 13, part 2, Jtly 1981, p. 26; a twther elaboration of this tendency
be found in Judith Pasternak, op. cit.
72. Pat califia, "Feminism vs. Sex: A New conservative 'wave," Aduocate, February
1980; Pat califia, "Among us, Against Us-The New Puritans," Ailuoeate, April 17,1980; ca
"The Great Kiddy Porn scare of '77 and Its Aftermarh," op. cit.; califia, "A rhorny Issue
a Movement," op. cit.; Pat califia, sapphistry, Tallahassee, Florida, Naiad, 19g0; pat califia, "
Is Gay Liberation," Ailuocate, J:une 25, 1981; Pat cali6a, "Feminism and sadomasochism,"

sexual men, reflecting such male stereorypes

as

Euolution Quarterly, no. 33, Spring 1981; Pat cali6a, "Response to Dorchen Leidholdt,"
Women's Tima, October 1982; Pat Califia, "Public Sex,,, Advoeate, September 30 ,1982;ptt C
"Doing It Together: Gay Men, Lesbians, and Sex," Aihtocate, Jdy 7,1983; pat califia, "Gen
Bending," Aduocatrsi September 15, 1983; Pat califia, "The Six industry," Aduoeate, october
1983; Deirdre English, Amber Hollibaugh, and Gayle Rubin, "Talking Sex," socialist
July-August 1981; "Sex Issue," .Fleresies, rro. 12, 1981; Amber Hollibaugh, ..The
voice of women: Building a Movement for the Nineteenth century ," New york Natiue, sepie
26-october 9,1983; Maxine Holz, "Porn: Turn on or Put Down, Some Thoughts on SexualityJ
Procaseil World, r..o.7, Spring 1983; Barbara O'Dair, ',Sex, Love, and Desire: Feminists
over the Portrayal of Sex," Alternative Media, spritg 1983; Lisa orlando, "Bad Girls and
Politics," village voice, Literary Supplement, December 1982; Joannt Russ, "Being Against po
nography," Thirteenth Moon, tol. VI, nos. 1 ar,d 2, 1982; Samois, What Color Is Your Hindkerchit
Berkeley, Samois, 1979; Samois, coming to Power, Boston, Alyson, 1982; Deborah Sundahl, "Srri
ping For a Living," Aibocate, October 13, 7983; Nancy Wechsler, .,Interview with pat
and Gayle Rubin," partl, Gay Community Neus, Book Review,July 18, 1981, and part II,
Community Neus, August 15, 1981; Ellen Willis, Beginning to See the Lrgftr, New york,
1981. For an excellent overview of the history of the ideological shifts in feminism which
affected the sex debates, see Alice Echols, "Cultural Feminism: Feminist Capitalism and the
Pornography Movement," Social Text, no. 7, Spring and Summer 1983.
73.Lisa Orlando, "Lust ar Last! Spandex Invades the Academy,,, Gay Community News,lt
15,7982; Ellen willis, "who Is a Feminist? An open Lerter to Robin Morgan," village ti
Literary Supplement, December 1982.

T4.EllenWillis, BeginningtoSutheLight,op.cir., p. 146.IamindebtedtoJeanne

for calling my attention to this quote.
75. See, for example, Jessica Benjamin, "Master and Slave: The Fantasy of Erotic
nation," in Snitow et al., op. cit., p.297; and B. Ruby Rich, review of powers of Daire, In
Tizes, November t6-22, 1983.
76. B. Ruby Rich, op. cit., p.76.

77. Samois,

WhatC&kY
Sadmr

"Feminism and

78. Lisa Orlando, "PortrFl

.W'ilsoq
1983; Elizabeth

"Th

on Sexuality," Fcmiafut b
79. Taylor v. State,2l4 ul- I
ion, but it is a statemcm ofp
80. Bessera, Jewel, lUrlrltt
81. "Marine and lvlom Gd
82. Norton, op. cic, p !ll83.Peoplev. Samd+ 25oG

m (o
85. Mariana ValYerdc, k
Politic, Februzry 1980, Ilflr
86. Benjamin, op. c"t, p. tl
87. Barbara Ehrenrcii,'I
84. People

v.

Samud+

?47.

88. Gayle Rubin,

"ThcM

New York, Modh ft

89. Rubin, "The TrefficLl

Women,

90. Foucault, op.

ciu p

[I

91. Catherine Mrcrinm! "

i' Signs, vol. 7, no- 3, qFi
92. Catherine

,"

MacKim.'
rcL 8, m.4

Signs,

93. Colette, The Rj;pilfi

h Nelson, Diary {tfi
94. John Lauritsen ald

Dd

York, Times Changc Eq, I

95. D'Emilio, Ssr.d, fttrq
Francisco," op. cit.; Btrt(. 1

Postscript
writing

"fhinkiref,

typographical erml
footnotes. IMhile 'lrl c

J my awareness of

f,

of sexualiry her'E &

rate of such change socf, I
Only four months agoIF
*Thinking Sex" (Linde El

Basil Blackwell, forthor

ich sex-politics and thondl

them here. Neverth&

been several develop"tt *

increasingly giddy pacc *t

:ation of anti-pornogql

histic rePresenE:rErql
sOCnlStlC
represenatim

at
:E

I1

ing place in the 1992 US d

Late in February, thc C.l
dccision (Butler v. Hq M#

THINKING

SEX

41

rJeney, Prentice-

frthlssn 3r.t,

t,

Robin Ruth Li

itst

Sailonasochism,

Kqrr

ld

Secret,

New

San Francisco's

L w.w. Norton,

ilore

created by

n,*Samumrm and Sadomasochism,,' op. cit.; pat Califia, Sapphbtry, op. cit.

* ffando, "Power?lays: coming To Terms with iesbian s/itt," virkge voice, Jury
milk-tlcth w'ilson, "The context of 'Between pleasure ar,d Danger,:
The Barnard conq 6 $mn-ligy," Feminist Reuiew, no. 13, Spring 1983, especially
pp. ZS_+t.
m ffryil,o v- state, 214 Md. 156,765, r33 A.2d 4r4,418. This quote is from a dissenting
fiil,

rfi

hoo

is a sratement of prevailing law.

ilcora,Jewel, Matthews, and Gatov, op. cit., pp. 163-5.

'lilt *![gioe

See note 55 above.

and Mom Guilry of Incesr," san Fraiiisco chronicle, November 16, 1979, p.

fiMr".

of relati

e modes

by profound hatred

M, lrlsem, op. cit., p.

Eotypes of 'butch'

rm[ &oo&

; self-destructive

rrinism and the

hterosexuality and

r(ds.),

fc

Powers

.Wave

tast

n of this

of

of

rendency

llwcate, February

ipril 17,1980;
'A Thorny

Pat

Issue

Cali6a,'

Srdomasochism,"

ficn Leidholdt,"
r30, 1982;

ht

Pat

Califia,
Adaocate, October

*x,"

Socialist

[, "The
WNatiue,
mghts on
r

Feminists
Ded Girls and

,"Being Against
r

Is Your

reh

Sundahl,

riew with Pat

181, and parr II,
L New York,

h.inism which

i:lism

and the

bsmunity News,

ngan,"

Village

toJeanne

ry

of Erotic

ns of Desire, In

,:j:ii
'lill
J*
die

,,&

affi

itG::
.*,

18.

Samuels,250 CaL App.2d 501, 513, 5g Cal. Rptr. 439, 447 (1967).
rflllt{" Ph!E& v. Samueb, 250 CaL App. Zd. at
513-574,5g Cal. Rptr. at 447.
'ffi" ,ll{,rrieaa valverde, "Feminism Meets Fist-Fucking: Getting Lost in Lesbian s & M,,,
frilnslu" Hruary 1980; Wilson, op. cit., p. 38.
lf,t" ffirgrmin, op. cit., p. 292, bur see also pp. 286, 291-7.
tl;t &n&arr rhrenreich, "what Is This Thing called sex," Nation, September 24, 19g3,
rm; Ga,r{. Rubin, "The Traffic in'women," in Rayna R. Reiter (ed.),Toward
an Anthropology
nur, !$tr York, Monthly Review press, 1975, p. 159.
ilm &o&i& "The Traffic in'Women,,, op. cit., p. 166.
ffit E-s,uceulr, op. cit., p. 106.
'il&. cedcrine MacKinnon, "Feminism, Marxism, Method and the State: An Agenda for
tm$,

"

$rrlln;.

rcI. 7, no. 3, Spring 1982, pp.515-16.

'M' crcherine MacKinnon, "Feminism, Marxism, Method, and the

State: Toward Feminist

mriam*-- Srgzs, vol. 8, no. 4, Summer 1983, p. 635.

ffi, c",ofrcce, The Ripening see4 translated anJ cited in Hannah Alderfer, Beth
Jaker, and
5roh l{clson, Diary of a conferlncl on sexuality, New york, Facurry press, L9g2, p. 72.
fifi ]m[[l lauritsen and David Thorstad, The Eaily Homosexual Rights Mouement ii Cermany,

\frti

Imes Change Press, 1974.

f6* DTmilio, sexual

Politics, sexual

communitia, op. cit.; B6rub6, ..Behind the Spectre of

hcdpt
*i.iog "Thinking Sex" in the early Spring of 1984. For this reprinr, I have

qrpographical errors, made some very minor editorial ch".rgesl and added
'while the essay
tfu.omotes.
remains largely the same, going ovlr it again has
uoi
awareness of the extent to whiih the social, politiJ, and int!ilectual
_mrr oa rxuality have changed in the eight years since ii was written. Moreover,
o.,tr
rych change seems to be accelerating madly and exponentially.
foul monlhs ago I prepared a lengthy afterword to ac^company anoth.. reprint

9PP

Sex"
ry^Fry
_(Linda.Kauffrnan, ed., American Feminist Thoug'ht, iggZ-lggZ, O*mui Blackwell,
forthcoming). In that afterword I detailedi f.* of the ways in
and thought have shifted since the essay was published. I neej not
f?olitics

r &em here. Nevertheless, since I mailed offthe afterword in mid-February there

ilii*I' $Yeral developments that illustrate what is at stake in conflicts over slx and
giddy pace at which they occur. Three areas of critical acdviry are the
ryfugly
mino of anti-pornography ideas into law, the growing criminalization of sado!ryr representation and-practice, and the alarming level of political gay-bashing
dlrff in the 1992 US elections.
0,;@ itr February, the canadian Supreme court upheld canada's obsceniry law in
uum {Burler v. Her Majaty the euien) which redifined obscenity along tire lines

42

GAYLE S. RURIN

pursued by anti-pornography feminists since the late sevenries.l The Canadian cor
adopted language similar to the definitions in the MacKinnon/Dworkin so-called "ci
rights anti-pornography" ordinances. In canada, the legal definition ofobscenity is
based, in part, o-n depictions of sexual behavior consiJered to be "degrading and
humanizing." This approach was rejected by the US Supreme court as a viilation
the First Amendmenr. canada has nothing comparable io the Bill of Rights, and
fewer legal
rcBdr protections
pruLruLrorls for
ror speech
speecn and
ano polilical
porl[rcal expression.
expressron.
Although the canadian legal situation is diffirent from that of the United
the increasingly right-wing US Supreme court may be influenced by the canadi
decision when it next considers similar legal wording. The logic of Slnate Bill 15
(the Pornography victims compensation Act) is based on the sime flawed assumpti
as the Butler decision. This bill was just passed out of the Senate
Judiciary commi
late inJune and now heads to the Senat. floor.

_ In addition, it appears that the Butler decision was facilitated by the slow a
mulation of legal precedent in lesser cases. In the US, anti-porn activists and attor
are attemPting to build a similar body of precedent in cases which might initially app
tangential to obscenity law. Anti-censorship feminist and civil rights lawye.s sho,rii
alert to language that treats pornography ai inherently "harmfuli or ..anti-woman,, i
fo1 elampfe, sexual harassment cases (pornography, hke coca-cola cans or any numb
of other objects,_may in fact be used io hr.issfbrt it is far more rempting rorhink
pornography as harmful regardless of context than it is to make siriilaiassumptir
about less demonized items).
M-1.y gay activists in Canada warned that the new obsceniry definitions would
_
used differentially against gay and lesbian media. Glad Day Books, the gay and lesb
bookstore in Toronto, has already suffered through a decade of police hlrassment,
customs confiscations have already made many gay and lesbian puLlications unobtain
in canada. Emboldened by the Butler definitions, police raided Glad Day on April I
and charged the store manager with violating obsCenity law for selling bad Atitude,
US lesbian sex magazine which contained depictions of bondage and penetration.
May 4, the owner and corporation were also iharged with obsceniry.zThe new criteria for obscenity effectively make S/M erotica completely illegal i
canada, since such materials most closely resemble the category of-"degiadin[ an
dehumanizing" pornography.3 Moreover, gey male S/M materials ,pp.r. tJave
a key role in persuading the court to adopt the new obsceniry siandards. one
article praising the Canadian decision contains a disturbing claim ty one of the victori
attorneys. She is quoted as attributing the success of their litigation to showing
justices "violent and degrading ga7 movies. 'We made the point that the abused men i
these_films were being treated like women-.and the judgei got it. otherwise, men can
put themselves in our shoes."a If this report ir
f.minist lawyers sold t
".iu.r1.,
analysis by using gay male S/M movies to .li.it the
predictably defensive responses
homophobic repugnance such films were likely to produce among heteros&ual m
For many years, feminist anti-porn activists have exploited ignoranci and bigotry tow
sadomasochism to substiture for their lack of evidence; in exploiting ig"".r"ce
bigotry toward male homosexuality they have sunk ro new deptls of pilit-ical irres
sibiliry and opportunism.
. This is particularly distressing in the wake of a recent court decision in Englarr
and in the context of significant gay-baiting in the 1gg2 US elections. In fnglird i
1990, fifteen men were convicted on various iharg.r arising from consensual horiosexu
sadomasochistic activities. Many were given priion sentences, some up to four and
half years. None of the participants complained or brought chargesi the men

sm[fucr F,-'iifi,l

mzs rylpEr

0lifom

''

*nfurry
i

am['f,fof

pnrnmmllll

mmrucomumr I

ullqm@F

BFinilF

mEllmru

S*dr."

h65[Lm@@x3d

ffic p

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,0um,r

rtuur

hflefoi

rytu!$@@

&

$mc, hs hffi
Srmah hd
*ffi@ilh mrnmarr-

&c fl

rirtrlniiirq uu

hem6p"

ffin

@Eftfi"

q,fufuh

ilm

Sudllrgfuiffi!"
fry fi*, Mgln

milflmnra

'm,umfl1d

,ii-"-ffirm

ffiurriffiid

uuut00lutut@'fr-

ilmffib'fficffJl,dlto
rumdordhtrlr ifus,r$'.*'
S61odum nFSilflild
thiiin4qspd$m@ii

nffi;md

mrcfui"mm*--mf 6,

rii@,

{d

mpn@ril@

0m mm ryemuqgt
rum "nflFcinilrm Wh I
flffitr f;iriffiiillfr'iltu.q etu
ndm CMryBr

rdrl@

lmqhm

ErD

Inm@rm$

mmmd,{ffliy

hum

dtm'ted

md rdffit ttl,"ttmim
md,flrrammmrg,cm
m@ u@ r'nsrr p66 ffip

ilsmr
Ut ]!h@qr

Lc*rm-'Cmr

iliilrol Fcftrolmr S&

m nhr i!-rm,"* 16$,. J&

ffi11p16, S,rmmu

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*il Cr

m-ar -.ri,"o$l

:lWurui [rilsm, "lr-:fr@

6 fqhrn"o ["
fr

DIEE-

*1[$

THINKING

r The Canadian
in so-called

d efrer police

..

gay men were

fo. pri";;;;ir."rr, adult sexual

is ominous.
Hlrf,:::nsenrences
Lsc
united States, h"mophibi" h"r b;;;; a
"ctirritiis
major political
;.rf:,itrflf[r:l
n' In Februar)' the presidential primary r.rro, wasjust

!ffi

Judiciary

Lc

tactics

in the 1992 election

.*"n*;.,

or "anti-woman, i

to think

.necrophiii, ",
If passed, tnese
these rrutratives
initiatives .worrl.l
nrF'ahr such
r--,
would p-revent
^-^.--- from
",,^L group!
using
lt #;.[ioll:'fft'
civil rights Iegislation ro prorect"sex.ial minoriti.i
f^,[,i, ,-^^Li-^ -^r],r-,1",
by law.

E
jl

ass

l3lg:r:hingpositive"i.*,oF,*h-ts.r*i;;';,i*vi,,il'iiioTjxx'ilTi,
a umversrty.
'lflih the ocA claims its initiative

definitions would

the gay and

would not change the criminal law or increase

i, *,i,i1il;;;rar
of
rd socidist ?'"lT:,.^l.H:.::n^.
3gl;;;
legistation. rhe oca i"".q*
ili;i;;i;...would, if passed,
#li.*t;ili
them "i1,r.fi..,, uy h*;;l
i,"uri. p"ri.y,
:ake
mch inferiorirv in ail sate-supported
educatio;;iffi;ffi
-lmi,,3::*:t,
,:rfi l?;fi3liTX
tion of opinions or eviden# ,rr", *""tJ^.oorr"rr.rr.

harassment,

aspects

Day on April

mandare

Bad Attituile,
penetration.

ompletely illegal
a

such legaily dictated

,#:,Hr.:|"l1i1"#:,?;,i::m:?:.::T:::T::l
#.,xfi
'-&
::1;;l'"',iffi
no rnow what
will elicited, what
*fr hostilities
* *il;;r;'i;".1, the political
"oa
in.order to-k..p po*.;, *.rrii,
privirese
lull,plunge
r^h.ehrr.rA;
u*wilkff;;;;;;ffi .'i:,?,ff illl;i"*fliT*f;.il::ffi
"oa
;':ilT"::
urLu,urrs. w

hysterias

and anragonisms enticed,

to have
One
r

m"en

ad

lhe

devastating consequerrces? By

in o.*t

,ro* tfr.y ,frould all know bettei.

y.i. for aiother *.i,i"g'.pi*a..

Gayle Rubin
San Francisco,

bigotry

July 4, 1992

morrrs
!- Ti-,r r'evin' "canada^court
p-orlography Harms
w'omen and can Be Barred,,,
*Tisa, Februarv 28- 1g.g2,p. ffayl
; f,Ai.n.ru-i"ri.U..g, ..Canada: Antipornography
Break_
,tr, u^y/1u,i,rbi, pp. ioli.
:6. \*:,
}f Slnrn
Syms and a"r.-:,y.trd, .I5b*;Z
Crackdown: Using obsceniry laws,

:
up to four and
the men

^o

Erve responses
heterosexual r

in En

fears drummed

L}i|ll*:::J,*.,.::1f
ud well-intentioned p*pL:,.",,rffi
*"li"r. i" +i'*h;1";;,,;h;.o,t.n,ibryp,o_
air ; ;r#;;:'J,":;:'il:?:]JlI

Iawyers sold

In England

be

as

of the vi

ignorance

pass

"r";;;;;;-d.fi];"#;r:_;Tr:;:
;:rU".;;l ;;;;;;',irirrror"t,

pedophilia, bestialiw. and

curs or any nu

political i

qli1* (og4) is attempting ro

Sffi":,1h.*l:;l:X"?::tffi3".
which would amend t"he state

lawyers

the abused

.r,.

rr" [3rui"r";J;."4;Jffi::

and

n to showins

ilr::f

r.,q

ffi :il:;",',f:;
Patrick Bucha
*&mit.,
*Gmily rrar,,oo ,, ,.l1l'1 "t?-Nazi rantings to- Dan Quayle's eufhemistic emrr
lr*Rrovatues,', both overt il;;;;;;ff;HffH:flilTlr:.;:;

by the slow

of "degradin!

heating up. As the elections

"p;iil B ro ad cas ti n g
r@S),representarionsof
i"*: "**::l hornosex;1rt;;,";;H"rJ#;il,lirTl#llit'#l
1
i,, (ivEal,,i.
h buttoni and hot tarrgets. Iulding.for pBS has been attacked,
and the former
o* *ra NEA
r\rEA has
L^^ L
d6r
-_ slcked
been

flawed assu

similar

confiscated home-made sex videos

which documented their activ_

;il
t;;;;l';"d.. *til the decision is based
ieo
on
earrier
earller
H"::::::?
t1,,,:*,
1,rh prosecutions had blen.*rr.ir.iy1rr.. th. f"., ,rr"i ,.-il""y

"degrading and
as a violation
of Rights, and

ight initially

43

r:
r.**, ir,. .o,., of Appeal upheld the con_
H,ff,f:'..illTl:1,
mlingthat"tLequestionof]:r.
c""*"i*iri-*":r;i,;;f;1rf;:,Hil::iff

of obsceniry is

of the United
by the
of Senate Bill

SEX

U.S.
tcqins new tactic of seizing_ gay
magazine.; fo.o.,ro police raid a gay
booksto rel, Gay

fgYta*""

lra1.zz-Jye c, tgsi, pp."t,7.

E. Diaz,;Th. po.o a.U'"i., .Ligoir.,,,

Gay Community Neuts,
Jwe 6_19, 1992,

44

GAyLE s. RUBrN

4. Landsberg, op. cit., p. 15, my emphasis.

5. "Sado-masochists jailed for 'degrading' sex acrs," The Cuardian, December 1990;
'Wockner,
"SM Crackdown in London," Bay Area Reporter,January 24,1991,p. 16; Rex'
"London S/M Gays Fight Oppression," Ba7 Area Reporter, February 21, 1991, p. ZO;
Liberties," Marxism Today, March 1991, p. 16; T.A. Feldwebel, ..Two Steps
DungeonMaster 43, p.3; "SM Gays-SM and the Law," DungeonMaster 43, p. 4.
6. Chris 'Woods, "SM sex was a crime, court rules,', Capital Gay, Febrtary 21, 1992; An1
Hamilton, "Criminalizing gay sex," The Pinb paper, Febntary ZZ, |SSZ, p. 9; ;.StM is Illegj
England," Growing Pains, May L992, pp. 7-2.
7. "Buchanan's New Anti-Bush Ad Shows Gay Scenes From PBS," San Franeisco t
February 27,1992,p. L-2; Susan Yoachum, "Buchanan Calls AIDS.Retribution,",Saa
Chronicle, February 28, 1992, p. 1; Elizabeth Kolbert, "Bitter G.O.P. Air War Reflects
itiveness of Georgia Race," Neu York Timu, February 28, 1992, p. A-9; ..Hitler,s .Courage,

san Franciseo Examiner, March 8, 1992, p. A-L2; Dxvn Schmitz, "Riggs, Buchanan battle
public TV," Gay Community News, April 5-18, 1992, p.5; Jerry Roberts, .,euayle Blames R
on Decline of Family Values," San Francisco Chronicle, May 20, 1992, p. 1; Carl lrving, .
Marriage is key to ending poverry," San Francisco Examiner, May 20, 1992, p. A-74;
Ginsburg and Larry D. Hatfield, " 'Murphy Brown' furor grows,;' san Francisio Examiner,
20, 1992' p. 1; Jerry Roberts, "Uproar over comments By euayle," san Francisco chronicle,
21,7992, p. 1; George Raine, "Quayle planned attack on.Murphy,,,, San Franeisco
May 21, 1992, p. A-1; "Bush Links Big-Ciry .Woes To Collapse of the Family,', Sar
Chronicle, March 10, 1992, p. A-4; Torie Osborn and David M. S-ith, ..Are iays Being
'92's Hate Symbol?," San Franeisco Chronicle, March 9, 1992, p. A-21; Elaine Herscher,
Under Fire in Presidential Race," San Francisco Chronicle, Jwrc 26, 1992, p, 1.
8. Information about these initiatives based on flyers prepared by the night to Privacy
and the Campaign for a Hate-Free Oregon in Portland, Oiegon.

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