Imagining a "Sexual Democracy"



At one point in class, we were asked to consider what a "sexual democracy" might look like. I will include my stream-of-conscious reflection below:

"With the understanding of democracy as “power to the people”, a sexual democracy would be a system in which the power to control, understand, and exercise sexuality is left up to the people/individuals. The idea of democracy is a little confusing given that, in my head, it implies some sort of majority rule/electing/governing body. The “Constructing Disabled Sexuality” section of the reading Disability, Sexuality, and Sexual Health by Rohleder and Swartz brings up the idea of professional sex workers for people with disabilities who feel like they are not given access to sexual opportunity or a chance for sexual exploration. I think this is an interesting and controversial idea. Is this an idea that would exist in a sexual democracy? If a sexual democracy implies a society which does not apply preconceived notions about sexuality to people with disabilities (especially people with disabilities that are immediately visible), then would those people with disabilities still feel that they wanted specifically trained professional sex workers to solve the two issues outlined in the article? That is, “Gaining permission from the self to engage in desired forms of sexual behaviors and access to the experiences that the desired form of sexual behavior is expected to generate.” In this vision, sexual agency looks like allowing individuals the capacity to act on and exert their sexuality. I don’t necessarily think completely unregulated sexuality is a good idea either though, considering the existence of rape and sexual assault would be unchecked by the law in these situations; is it possible to create a society without assigning sexual meaning to the body? Is that desirable? These are more questions than answers I suppose…"
This question also suggested we consider envisioning a "sexual democracy" as a work of science fiction because that reality does not currently exist in the world. 

Comments