>
> On Tue, 27 Sep 1994, Brian A. Luke wrote:
>
> > one's body. In my view, sadomasochism is THE form of sexuality that
> > is normative under patriarchy. So that's why I took body piercing to
> > be inherently patriarchal.
>
> If that is true, why has sadomasochism come into plainer view with the
> weakening of patriarchy?
>
As one form of keeping women subordinate (e.g., legal barriers to
women in politics, business, education, etc.) disappears, other means
of subordinating women, such as sadomasochistic sexuality (usually
called "heterosexuality" or just "sex") are more highly emphasized and
developed. In other words, patriarchy is not necessarily weakening,
but it is changing tactics.
Concrete examples always help. Here's one. I've noticed that at the
same time that sexual harassment in the workplace (a very significant
tool of sexist economic discrimination) is becoming recognized and
legislated against, we also see the emergence of what are called
"gentleman's clubs." These are strip joints for middle and upper
middle class men. Men go there to conduct business, in this way
excluding women without directly harassing them themselves.
Brian
