Doing it with history: the social construction of sexual deviance

In 1970's Sweden a common joke went like this: why do the soviets always sleep in a bed made for three? Because Stalin is always with them. This joke can be seen as a construction of sexuality, were the normative way to have sex is a intercourse between two persons. For the past year I have thought alot about sexuality and none the least the construction of sexual deviance. 

In history of sexuality Foucault develops a notion of sexuality as a social construct. Foucault does not deny that there exist a objective reality surrounding sex, but he however makes an important observation: the field known as sexuality is largely constructed by social norms. In this perspective people will always have intercourse, but sexuality only exists once it has been determined as a field. The creation of this field of sexuality is usually done to control people, were for instance the church during 16th century invoked harsh restrictions on sexuality. This was later underscored by the 19th century medical Sciences who for instance viewed masturbation as harmful, since it could lessen the possibility to create new life. 

Advertisement for condoms in sweden's 1930's. 
They are here described as tools for sexual
hygiene. 

Within contemporary western society there exists a notion that such limitations on sex is a thing of the past and that sexual freedom today is greater than in any previous historical period. To some extent we have seen such a development due to the rising acceptance of lbtq-persons and that sex before marriage is largely accepted. Still, the area of sexuality is however an area of intervention which became clear in the case of Linda Skugge during the last autumn. 

Linda Skugge was in the early 2000's conceived as a leading Swedish feminist, a labeling she herself object to since were many other more important feminist activist. For the past decades she have worked with as cultural writer in many of the leading newspapers. This autumn however a virtual explosion took place, since Skugge had created an onlyfans with bdsm-content. Therefore, Skugge became the subject of criticism: how could a leading feminist produce porn? And how could she submit to sexual practices aiming at oppressing women? 

Skugge made an excellent defense of her position in Kinkypodden (the kinky podcast) but we can see two important factors at play in the debate. Firstly, pornography even though it is was produced rather voluntarily were seen as violating a discourse on how a feminist should be. Secondly, sexual practices were problematized as unavaible for a feminist since it did not mirror her political positions. In this criticism we can see an important part of the unwritten rules of sexuality. In the first instance pornography is viewed as problematic since it is conceived as involuntarily. Secondly there exist a position were certain sexual practices are seen as uncombinable with the position of being a feminist. 

I personally does not have a strong opinion on wherever or not these assumptions are correct. Onlyfans is a highly problematic platform, but it might also be a way towards dismantling the porn-industry. Only time will tell. What the debate surrounding Skugge however shows is that there still exist strong social norms surrounding sex, and even though they may not be as strict as in Victorian England, they still manage our identity. How to get around these formulations is yet to be discovered, but Foucaults notions are still as valid in contemporary debate as in the historical phenomenas he originally studied.

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