Sexuality and Desire

Why Sexuality and Desire?

Transatlantic Feminisms in the Age of Revolutions and the many readings I explored often dipped in to issues regarding women's sexuality and desire. By sexuality and desire, I mean to say that certain passages and quotes expressed to me ways in which sexuality and desire for sex were explored by these women writing these literary works long ago. Sexuality is literally what kind of sex and relations the women assume, align themselves with, or otherwise embody. Desire is the expression in some way of the want and need for non-platonic relationships, though not necessarily always to have such relations, as desire can be expressed in not wanting these things, being unable to express desire, or being restricted in some way. I chose to place the entries that follow in this category because to me, they spoke more on sexuality and desire than anything else and they explore the ideas of these things in Transatlantic Feminisms. The various pictures that I chose, I did so with purposeful intent to illustrate the affects of what I cannot articulate.

Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz

“Misguided men, who will chastise

a woman when no blame is due,

oblivious that it is you

who prompted what you criticize;

if your passions are so strong

that you elicit their disdain,

how can you wish that they refrain

when you incite them to their wrong?

You strive to topple their defense,

and then, with utmost gravity,

you credit sensuality

for what was won with diligence.”

-Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz “ A Philosophical Satire: She proves the inconsistency of the caprice and criticism of men who accuse women of what they cause”

In naming this piece of work as a satire, Sor Juana casts men right away as the one's in the wrong and those she is chastising in society. She calls them misguided, perhaps in interpretations of the bible and Christianity, as she herself is a nun. She also calls them hypocrites for making placing women in to situations to which men are to blame for women's actions, and ironically points out that men take away women's defenses and blame them for having sexual desire and using their sexuality to win positions of power, and to get ahead in life in general, when in fact they were won by intellectual thought and hard work. She criticize men for telling women they must not be passionate and give in to their own sexual desires, but that they cannot engage fully in Christianity either, and be fully chaste in that way.

This poem is highly ironic and relates back to feminist theory in that men are the ones blamed here for the oppression of women, as well as highlighting the age old oppression of female sexuality and desire. Which in turn relates to women's bodies and the regulation of them. Regulating female sexual and reproductive behavior is as old a debate as any and still in relevant today with the controversies of abortion and a woman's right to choose, slut shaming, and victim blaming because women's bodies are seen as moral and righteous areas consigned to showcase society's own purity. It also plays in to the theory of the Madonna/Whore complex, and of course points out the double standard that all women come to know. Be sexually available, but don't be a whore, be the goddess of the household, don't go out at night. If you step outside these boundaries, there is something wrong with you.

Leonara Sansay

“Yet Clara never deceived him. There is in her character a proud frankness which renders her averse to, and unfit for intrigue. When at the Cape, she was not dazzles by the splendour, though it courted her acceptance; nor could the ill-treatment of her husband force her to seek refuge from it in the arms of a lover who had the means of protecting her. At St. Jago his conduct became more unsupportable, and when at length she fled from his house, alone and friendless, she was unseduced by love, but impelled by a repugnance for her husband which had reached its height, and could no longer be resisted.” -Leonara Sansay Secret History; or, The Horrors of St. Domingo

This passage infers several things about women's sexuality and women's desire. The author, in the voice of the character Mary, explores how the Mary's sister, Clara, can be excused for her abandoning her husband. The whole matter seems to rely on Clara not falling in love and not falling to seduction.

The fact that her husband raped and beat her still does not fully excuse her behavior for running away, and it is only understandable and allowed because she did it independently from any man. Therefore, women's sexuality is demonized, and if one gives in to one's desires, one is at fault for their own victimization, and furthermore, their morals and purity are cast in to doubt. All of the temptations laid before Clara are clearly defined as her own obstacles that she must deal with, the men who lay those obstacles in her way are not even mentioned, as it is given that there would be men to try and impede Clara's moral character.

This relates back to feminist theory and sex-positivism. Feminism asserts that sexual freedom and choice is an essential part of women's equality, precisely because patriarchy sifts in to our every day lives and creates a heteronormative atmosphere that leaves little room for questioning or exploration. The reality is that sexuality and desire are very fluid things, and don't in general fall in to the rigid categories that society imposes upon people. Being feminine and being masculine are very much ingrained in to how society teaches us to be men and women. But being human, there is a lot more flexibility in what one does and how one acts in society.

Eliza Haywood

“Her Tears, however, and the Destraction she appeared in, after the ruinous Extasy was past, as it heighten'd his Wonder, so it abated his Satisfaction:---He could not imagine for what Reason a Woman, who, if she intended not to be a Mistress, had counterfeited the Part of one, and taken so much Pains to engage him, should lament a Consequence which she could not but expect, and till the last Test, seem'd inclinable to grant; and was both surpris'd and troubled at the Mystery.” -Eliza Haywood Fantomina, or Love in a Maze

This passage is another piece that infers things about women's sexuality and desire, and also infers the ways that women's sexuality is restricted. Beauplasir is astonished that Fantomina would pretend to be a woman of loose morals and engage with men. It is more than just his astonishment we read here though, it is also his inability to understand why she would do such a thing, as well as his confusion over why she should expected him to act any differently under the circumstances. As a genteel woman, Fantomina did not get to exercise her individual feelings of freedom, and by playing the part of a prostitute, she can enjoy a kind of liberty. Even the farce of a sexual liberty and the explorations of such is far beyond what she had been able to experience before.

This relates back to feminist theory in that Fantomina's exploration of her own sexual desires and power relates back to the sex positive notions I mentioned earlier, as well as illustrates the way in which society restricts the sexual exploration and desires of women. Because Fantomina is of the upper class, she cannot explore her yearnings of emotional as well as physcial connections to men. She is expected to safeguard her honor and her virtue. She does try to do this in the beginning, under the guise of curiosity and flirtation. It is only after Beauplasir forces her that she pursues him so much more ardently than before and creates multiple personas in order to do so. In today's society, women are still expected to be heterosexual, and to not have sex, or at least not have too many sexual partners. The more a woman expresses her desire to have sex, the more she is aligned with deviance. The double standard of the man being a player and the woman being a slut is still a perpetuated image and reflects the problems that come with exploring sexuality.

Susanna Rowson

“I do wish some dear, sweet, Christian man, would fall in love with me, break open the garden gates, and carry me off.” -Susanna Rowson “Slaves in Algiers; or, A Struggle for Freedom”

This quote, said by the character Fetnah, can be interpreted several different ways. First, the inference that she can only be free through the love of a man, and furthermore, a Christian man. Second, that she is unable to attain freedom for herself. Lastly, Fetnah as a charcter can be interpreted as a Moriscan woman, though she herself denies such claims, or as a Jewish woman, as the daughter of Ben Hassan, however it is with the American ideal of revolution and freedom she aligns herself with. Fetnah is also not averse to using her physical beauty to capture the attention of a Christian man to free her. She does not seem to care so much about the man himself, but more she cares what that man represents to her, and what he can do for her. Christianity is also posited as freedom from oppression in this way.

This relates back to feminist theory in the ways in which female desire is aligned to follow men's desire. That the woman be submissive to him and all that he represents. In this case, that Fetnah is longing for freedom, only makes it that much more complicit in that she needs a man to attain it. Through many of these excerpts and quotes that I've written about, I've noticed a way in which women have appealed to men and men's egos, sensibilities, and desires in order to further their own causes. Fetnah has no problem with using the love and desire of a man, and performing her own desire to get his attention. In some ways, her sexual desire is less important than that of her desire for freedom. Freedom and liberty, on a personal level is another rhetoric of our society, and deeply buried in to discourses and hierarchical structures that perpetuate oppressions. 

Crosslisted Entries with Sexuality and Desire

 -Anonymous "Petiton of Women of the Third Estate to the King"(1789)