Politics of Sexuality Identity, Gender, Citizenship

216 Pages·2013·14.213 MB·English

by  Mottier, Veronique

Politics of Sexuality
We live in an age when sex, gender and sexualities can no longer be presumed to
be non-political, pre-political or even marginal. Political activity and activism
around sexual politics have pervaded and transformed the political agenda. As a
consequence, these developments have given rise to significant changes in all
areas of political life, from electoral politics and local government to public
policy and international relations.
This book recognises sexuality as a mainstream concept in political analysis
and explores issues in the politics of sexuality that are highly salient and contro-
versial today These include conceptions of citizenship and nationality linked to
gender and sexuality, the legislation about the age of consent, prostitution and
‘trafficking in women’, the international politics of population control, abortion
and sexual harassment, and sexuality in the military The international team of
contributors provides a wide range of perspectives in a variety of contexts. On a
national level they offer illustrative case studies from the UK, Ireland, the
Netherlands, Spain and Israel, among others, and on an international plane they
cover the European Union, the UN Conference on Population and Development
and the role of the Vatican as an international arbiter. Moreover, the volume
addresses the interaction between political discourse and the work of major
theorists such as Weber, Freud, Foucault, Irigaray and Butler.
Politics of Sexuali proposes new methodological enquiries on the definition of
sexuality and its role in politics, and furthers the debate on how sexual politics
determines and constructs the identities of citizens. A rich and challenging addi-
tion to the literature of political science, this volume will interest all those who
seek to explore the political and intellectual changes associated with the emer-
gence of sexuality as a political issue.
Terrell Carver is Professor of Political Theory at the University of Bristol,
UK. Viironique Mottier teaches social theory and interpretive methodologies
at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.
The contributors are: Delila Amir, Mark Bell, Orly Benjamin, David
Boothroyd, Terrell Carver, Alan Finlayson, John R. Gibbins, Katrina
Gorjanicyn, Gail Hawkes, Stevi Jackson, Moya Lloyd, Veronique Mottier,
Palena R. Neale, Joyce Outshoorn, Momin Rahman, Paul Skidmore, Celia
Valiente and Matthew Waites.
ROUTLEDGE/ECPR STUDIES IN EUROPEAN
POLITICAL SCIENCE
Edited by Hans Keman, Vie Universi& the JVetherlunds, and
Jan W van Deth, Universip of Mannheim, Germany, on behay
of the European Consortium for Political Research
The Routledge/ECPR Studies in European Political Science Series is published in associ-
ation with the European Consortium for Political Research - the leading organisation
concerned with the growth and development of political science in Europe. The series
presents high-quality edited volumes on topics at the leading edge of current interest in
political science and related fields, with contributions from European scholars and others
who have presented work at ECPR workshops or research groups.
Regionalist Parties in Western Europe
Edited by Lieven de Winter and Huri Tursan
Comparing Party System Change
Edited by Jan-Erik Lane and Paul Pennings
Political Theory of European Constitutional
Choice
Edited Jy Michael Nentwich and Albert Weale
Politics of Sexuality
Edited lp T&e11 Carver and Kronique Mot&r
Autonomous Policy-making by International
Organisations
Edited by Bob Reinalda and Bertjan VZbeek
Social Capital and European Democracy
Edited bJan van Deth, Marco Maraji, Km Newton and Paul
Wbiteley
Also available from Routledge in association with the ECPR:
Sex Equal@ Policy in Western Europe, edited by Frances Gardiner; Democracy and Green
Political Thought, edited by Brian Doherty and Marius de Geus; The New Politics of
lJnem&yment, edited by Hugh Compston; Citiznship Democracy and Justice in the New
Europe, edited by Percy B. Lehning and Albert Weale; Private Croups and Public L&
edited by Jan W. van Deth; The Political Context of Collective Action,, edited by Ricca
Edmonson; Theories of Secession, edited by Percy Lehning; Regionalism Across the
North/South Divide, edited by Jean Grugel and Wil Hout.
Politics of sexuality
Identity, gender, citizenship
Edited by Terrell Carver and
Wronique Mottier
London and New York
First published 1998
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
0 1998 Terrell Carver and VCronique Mottier, selection and editorial
matter; individual chapters, the contributors
Typeset in Baskerville by Routledge
Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd,
Padstow, Cornwall
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Libra? of Congreu Catalogirg in Publication Data
Politics of Sexuality / edited by Terrell Carver and Vtronique Mottier.
p. cm. ~ (Routledge/ECPR Studies in European Political Science ; 4)
‘Initially and largely the result of a workshop on The Politics of Sexuality
at the joint sessions of the European Consortium for Political Research,
held at Oslo in the spring of 1996’ - Editorial introd.
Includes bibliographical references @. ) and index.
1. Sex-Political aspects. 2. Sex and law. I. Carver, Terrell. II. Mottier,
VCronique. III. Series.
HQ23.P66 1998
306.74~21 98-21485
ISBN o-415-16953-4
Contents
. . .
Contributors Vlll
Seriese ditor’sp reface Xl
. . .
Acknowledgements x111
Introduction 1
TERRELL CARVER AND VkRONIQUE MOTTIER
PART I
Citizens’ sexualities: (difference’ and unequal
treatment
1 Sexual citizenship: gendered and de-gendered narratives 13
TERRELL CARVER
2 Sexual citizens: legislating the age of consent in Britain 25
MATTHEW WAITES
3 Sexuality and the law: the body as politics 36
JOHN R. GIBBINS
4 Sexuality and the UK armed forces: judicial review of the
ban on homosexuality 46
PAUL SKIDMORE
5 Sexual orientation and anti-discrimination policy: the
European Community 58
MARK BELL
vi Contents
6 Sexual politics: feminist politics, gay politics and the
problem of heterosexuality 68
STEVI JACKSON
7 Sexuality and rights: problematising lesbian and gay politics 79
MOMIN RAHMAN
PART II
Theorisationsofsexuality:identities andpolitical
agency
8 Sexuality and nationality: gendered discourses of Ireland 91
ALAN FINLAYSON
9 Sexuality and civilisation: Weber and Freud 102
GAIL HAWKES
10 Sexuality and sexology: Michel Foucault 113
VkRONIQUE MOTTIER
11 Sexual politics, performativity, parody: Judith Butler 124
MOYA LLOYD
12 Sexual politics and sexual difference: Lute Irigaray 135
DAVID BOOTHROYD
PART III
Commodificationofsexuality:economicactivityand
publicpolicy
13 Sexuality and the International Conference on Population
and Development: the Catholic Church in international
politics 147
PALENA R. NEALE
14 Sexuality and the female national subject: contraception
and abortion policy in Israel 158
DELILA AMIR AND ORLY BENJAMIN
Contents vii
15 Sexual harassment in the workplace: equality policies in
post-authoritarian Spain 169
CELIA VALIENTE
16 Sexuality and work: contrasting prostitution policies in
Victoria and Queensland 180
KATRINA GORJANICYN
17 Sexuality and international commerce: the traffic in women
and prostitution policy in the Netherlands 190
JOYCE OUTSHOORN
Index 200
Contributors
Delila Amir teaches in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Tel-
Aviv University, and she is the Coordinator of the Women’s Studies Forum
there. Her recent research is about ‘being an immigrant and a woman’, docu-
mented in research reports and articles in Hebrew and English. She is the
author of The Politics of Abortion in Israel, and of the forthcoming book Abortion
in Israeljom an International and a Fminist Perpective. She was a member of the
Israeli Government Commission on Reproductive Technologies and
Surrogacy, and a Government Delegate to the UN Conference on Population
and Development in Cairo in 1994.
Mark Bell is a graduate in Government and Law from the University of Ulster.
Currently he is undertaking doctoral research at the European University
Institute on EU policy concerned with discrimination on grounds of race and
sexual orientation. He has published an article on the 1996
Intergovernmental Conference and has written a chapter on racism and the
European Community for an edited volume on racism, ethnicity and
Northern Ireland.
Orly Benjamin is a junior member of the faculty in the Department of
Sociology at Bar-Ilan University. Her teaching .and research interests are in
gender relations and the sociology of emotions. She is co-author of articles on
‘Abortion approval as a ritual of symbolic control’ and ‘The importance of
difference: reconceptualizing the increased flexibility in gender relations at
home’.
David Boothroyd studied philosophy at the universities of Essex and Warwick
and is Course Leader for Cultural Studies at the University of Teesside. He
has published articles and chapters on European philosophy and cultural
theory, and is currently working on a book entitled Culture on Drugs: flarco-
Cultural Studies of H@h Moderni~, for Manchester University Press.
Terrell Carver is Professor of Political Theory at the University of Bristol. He
has written many books and articles on Marx, Engels and Marxism, and has
recently re-translated Marx’s Later Political Writings. In the area of gender
studies and sexuality he has published Gender Zs Not a Synonym for Women, a
Contributors ix
chapter ‘A political theory of gender: perspectives on the universal subject’ (in
Gendq Politicsa nd the State), and two articles: ‘Theorizing men in Engels’s Or&n
of th Farnib’ and “‘Public man” and the critique of masculinity’.
Alan Finlayson is Lecturer in Politics and Cultural Studies at The Queen’s
University of Belfast. He is author of articles on theories of nationalism and
national identity, and is currently working on a study of the concept of
community in Western politics and political theory
John Gibbins is Principal Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of
Teesside, and is a member of Wolfson College, Cambridge. He is co-founder
of the journal Theory, Culture and So&p, and his teaching and research are in
philosophy and social theory, sexuality and politics. He is the author (with Bo
Reimer) of the forthcoming book The Politicso f Postmodernip.
Katrina Gorjanicyn is Associate Lecturer in Politics and Policy Studies at
Deakin University. She has also taught at the departments of political science
at the University of Melbourne, and at Swinburne University. She is currently
completing her PhD dissertation, which focuses on prostitution law reform in
Victoria and Queensland 1982-1992, and she has published articles and
chapters on Australian and European politics.
Gail Hawkes has degrees in sociology from the Victoria University of
Manchester, and is currently researching and writing on historical construc-
tions of sexual pleasure. She is author of A Sociologyo f Sexa nd Sexualig.
Stevi Jackson is Professor of Women’s Studies and Director of the Centre of
Women’s Studies at the University of York. She is the author of Christine
Delphr and co-editor (with Sue Scott) of Feminisma nd Sexualip and (with Jackie
Jones) of ContemporaryF minist Theories. Forthcoming books include Concerning
Heterosexualip.
Moya Lloyd was educated at the University of Warwick and teaches politics
and political theory at The Queen’s University of Belfast. She has written arti-
cles and papers on Foucault and feminism, and feminism and the body She
has co-edited The Impact of Michel Foucault on th.eS ocial Scienceas nd Humanities,
and is currently working on a book entitled A FeministP oliticso f oi$-ence.
VBronique Mottier teaches in the Department of Political Science at the
University of Geneva, specialising in social theory and discourse analysis. She
has degrees in sociology and political science from the University of Geneva,
and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. She has published on
Foucault, sexual politics, and interpretative methodologies.
Palena R. Neale has recently completed her Ph.D. at the University of Wales,
Aberystwyth, entitled ‘Construction, Catholicism and Cairo: the Catholic
construction of woman, the Holy See, and the International Conference on
Population and Development (ICPD)‘. She holds degrees from the University
of Manitoba and the University of Hull. She has presented numerous
x Contributors
conference papers, and has conducted interviews with UN, governmental and
Vatican diplomats who were negotiators at the UN-sponsored International
Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, 1994.
Joyce Outshoorn studied political science and contemporary history at the
University of Amsterdam, and is currently Professor of Women’s Studies at
the University of Leiden. Her publications include chapters on ‘The stability
of compromise: abortion politics in western Europe’ (in Abortion Politics: Public
Policy in Cross-cultural Perspective), and (with J. Swiebel) ‘Feminism and the state
in the Netherlands’ (in Women’s Movements and Public Policy in Europe, Latin
America and the Caribbean).
Momin Rahman is completing a Ph.D. at the University of Strathclyde and is
currently a Teaching Fellow in Sociology at the University of Stirling. His
main areas of research are the social construction of sexuality and difference,
and democratic theory His forthcoming publications include Sexual@ and
Democracy: Identities and Stratqiks in L.esbian and Gay Politics.
Paul Skidmore is Lecturer in the Department of Law at the University of
Bristol, and is a graduate of the University of Cambridge and the European
University Institute. He is currently researching legal issues that arise around
gays and lesbians in the workplace, and he has published articles in the field
of UK employment law.
Celia Valiente is Lecturer in Sociology at the Universidad Carlos III de
Madrid. Her major area of research is comparative public policy with an
analytical focus on gender. Her Ph.D. dissertation was on ‘Public Policies for
Women Workers in Italy and Spain 1900-1991’ (in Spanish), and she has
published a chapter ‘The Power of Persuasion: The Instituto de la Mu& in
Spain’ in Comparative Statz Feminism.
Matthew Waites is an ESRC-funded Ph.D. student at South Bank University,
having previously studied politics at the University of Bristol and gaining a
Masters degree in sociology of culture from the University of Essex. His
research interests are in examining the relationships between consenting
sexual relations and citizenship in the UK. His publications include an article
‘Lesbian and gay theory, sexuality and citizenship’, in Contemporary Politics.