[Intro]Gayle S. Rubin is a feminist anthropologist who has written on a wide range subjects, including anthropological theory, s/m sex, and modern lesbian literature. In this essay, first published in 1984, Rubin argues that in the West, the 1880s, the 1950s, and the contemporary era have been periods of sex panic, periods in which the state, the institutions medicine, and the popular media have mobilized to attach and oppress all whose sexual tastes differ from those allowed by the currently dominative model of sexual correctness. She also suggests that during the contemporary era the worst brand of the oppression has been borne by those who practice s/m or cross-generational sex. Rubin maintains that we are to devise a theory to account for the outbreak and direction of sexual panics, we shall need to base the theory on more than just feminist thinking. Although feminist thinking explains gender injustices, it does not and cannot provide by itself a full explanation for the oppression of sexual minorities. Gayle S. Rubin is presently at work on a collection of her essays — including her well-known work of theory, “The Traffic in Women" — and on a historical and ethnographic account of the gay male leather community of San Francisco. First published in Carole S. Vance, eds., Pleasure and Danger: Exploring Female ... - (1984). |