Given that sexual fields do not actually exist in a vacuum, these constructions of race, ethnicity, age and class are likely to transverse across different sexual fields. Likewise, Whittier and Simon (2001) argue, sexual desires are often influenced by larger social constructions of race, ethnicity, age and class. Yet as Green (2011) also noted, sexual fields are not isolated arenas, but are embedded within a larger society whose values are reflected in what is considered desirable within a given sexual field. More importantly, imagining erotic worlds as independent social arenas rather than a part of a larger organized social system, leads one to believe that they are self-contained erotic marketplaces where those who possess valued traits are on equal footing, regardless of larger structural factors. This lack of attention to the sexual organization of erotic worlds is particularly problematic given that much of an individual’s sexual life occurs within an erotic world that is “consistently patterned within and organized by particular communities, social networks, organizations, and meaning systems” ( Ellingson et al. While a number of different types of sexual fields that can be found in the gay community have been discussed in the academic literature as well as the popular press, there has been less attention paid to the ways that erotic words are socially organized ( Martin and George 2006). Specifically for gay men, a slim hairless body may provide men who possess those traits with sexual currency at a “Twink bar,” but those same traits would have less currency at a “Leather bar,” where burlier bodies are considered more desirable. According to Adam Isaiah Green (2008: 25), “modern urban life is increasingly characterized by specialized erotic worlds designed for sexual partnership and sexual sociality.” These erotic worlds, marked by high levels of interpersonal interactions between various actors, where individuals come to seek sexual and social partners, can be considered a “sexual field.” As Green (2011) argues, there are many diverse sexual fields where different constellation of traits comes to be seen as more desirable than other traits.
0 kommentar(er)
