When Sex and Power Collide: An Argument for Critical Sexuality Studies

Abstract

Attentive to the collision of sex and power, we add momentum to the ongoing development of the subfield of critical sexuality studies. We argue that this body of work is defined by its critical orientation toward the study of sexuality, along with a clear allegiance to critical modalities of thought, particularly feminist thought. Critical sexuality studies takes its cues from several other critical moments in related fields, including critical psychology, critical race theory, critical public health, and critical youth studies. Across these varied critical stances is a shared investment in examining how power and privilege operate, understanding the role of historical and epistemological violence in research, and generating new models and paradigms to guide empirical and theoretical research. With this guiding framework, we propose three central characteristics of critical sexuality studies: (a) conceptual analysis, with particular attention to how we define key terms and conceptually organize our research (e.g., attraction, sexually active, consent, agency, embodiment, sexual subjectivity); (b) attention to the material qualities of abject bodies, particularly bodies that are ignored, overlooked, or pushed out of bounds (e.g., viscous bodies, fat bodies, bodies in pain); and (c) heteronormativity and heterosexual privilege, particularly how assumptions about heterosexuality and heteronormativity circulate in sexuality research. Through these three critical practices, we argue that critical sexuality studies showcases how sex and power collide and recognizes (and tries to subvert) the various power imbalances that are deployed and replicated in sex research.

Pathways to Pleasure and Protection: Exploring Embodiment, Desire, and Entitlement to Pleasure as Predictors of Black and White Young Women’s Sexual Agency

“…In particular, she urged a turn to not only examine the many dangers of sexuality for women, but to “identify what is pleasurable and under what conditions, and to control experience so that it happens more frequently” (p. 6). Female sexual agency is increasingly understood as crucially important for girls’ and women’s navigation of sexuality (Fahs & McClelland, 2016). In this study, we focus on better understanding how young women’s sexual agency may be supported by other elements of sexual subjectivity.…”

Supporting the Sexual Rights of Women Living With HIV: A Critical Analysis of Sexual Satisfaction and Pleasure Across Five Relationship Types

“…First and foremost, critical sexuality researchers have emphasized the importance of centering discussions of abject bodies within the sexuality field (Fahs & McClelland, 2016). This study constitutes an important example of how to engage with this goal.…”

“…Yet sex and sexual gratification can also encompass broader experiences such as kissing, hugging, or fantasizing (Fahs & McClelland, 2016), which women living with HIV themselves Running head: PLEASURE AND SATISFACTION AMONG WOMEN WITH HIV 5 report are important aspects of a pleasurable sexual life (Taylor et al, 2016).…”

“…Yet sexuality is also political, and is "moderated by and unfolds within a particular and cultural milieu" (Abramson & Pinkerton, 2002, p. 10). A key feature, then, of critical sexuality research is attention to the ways in which disparate socio-political conditions may shape not only how women experience but also how they evaluate their sexual lives within specific social contexts (Fahs, 2014;Fahs & McClelland, 2016;McClelland, 2011McClelland, , 2013).…”

Theorizing Conscious Black Asexuality through Claire Kann’s Let’s Talk about Love

“…Asexuality has been included in recent calls for greater inclusivity and representation in sexuality literature (Cerankowski and Milks 2010). As part of a call for critical sexuality studies, asexuality was situated as a necessary topic of further exploration to adequately explore power and privilege as they intersect with sexuality (Fahs and McClelland 2016). Additionally, a recent study of asexual women of color found that the identity construction processes tied to self-definition and acceptance are strongly shaped by the inseparability of race, gender, and asexuality (Foster et al 2019).…”