Sex, law & posthuman encounters: an examination of sexual deviance at the coast
Brooks, V. 2014. Sex, law & posthuman encounters: an examination of sexual deviance at the coast. Democracy, rights and reason(s). University of Westminster 13 Feb 2014
Brooks, V. 2014. Sex, law & posthuman encounters: an examination of sexual deviance at the coast. Democracy, rights and reason(s). University of Westminster 13 Feb 2014
| Title | Sex, law & posthuman encounters: an examination of sexual deviance at the coast |
|---|---|
| Authors | Brooks, V. |
| Type | Conference paper |
| Abstract | Sexuality and sexual deviance are traditionally characterised as exclusively human concerns; that is, legally speaking, sex is thought of as taking place only between human bodies. The legally attributed characteristics of these bodies interact in sexual encounters which, on one level of interaction, protect and affirm legally imparted subjectivity allowing law to recognise the encounter as legal or deviant. Drawing on Deleuzian and posthuman thought, I explore ways of problematizing the subjective construction of sexuality by characterising the coast as a space in which the decision to have sex is made, as a space alive with vital matter. By considering the act of sex as taking place in spaces that are ‘alive’ and generative of affects and sensual experience, sexuality can be conceived of as in line with the posthuman project. In order to demonstrate the power of spaces to draw out sexual behaviours that are often contrary to laws in particular spaces, this paper will focus on the seductive physicality and underlying sensibility of the French coastal terrain of Cap D’Agde, which is a site that draws bodies to it, inviting them to take part in openly transgressive sexual acts, such as public sex, partner swapping and voyeurism. The consideration of sexual subjectivity in this way generates an embodied line of flight, which allows situation of sexuality as material and comprised of genuine encounters between flesh, blood, fluid, material sensing bodies, and active terrain, as opposed to purely encounters of recognition and legal affirmation. |
| Keywords | Deleuze, coast, materiality, law, sexuality |
| Year | 2014 |
| Conference | Democracy, rights and reason(s) |
| Publication dates | |
| Completed | 2014 |