Taboos
from the Editor
Human sexuality and relationships have always been heavily mediated by social taboos. Individuals have risked being shunned (or worse) for exhibiting behaviors deemed to be outside accepted social norms. At Queer Majority, we believe all people have the right to sexual and romantic freedom, so in this issue we challenge the stigmatization of healthy practices by revealing them as normal. Each essay in this issue engages the line of respectability, and thoughtfully interrogates the root cause of social attitudes.
Justin Lehmiller opens this conversation in “Forbidden Fruit: Why We Want What We Are Told We Can’t Have” by digging into the psychology of human attraction toward the taboo. To animate his argument, he focuses on the trends he uncovered in sexual fantasies among adult Americans and explains them through their relationship to certain political views. Lehmiller reveals that individuals tend to fantasize about the sexual and romantic practices deemed most off-limits to them by their political beliefs, proving that we do indeed tend to want whatever we are told we should not.
In “Furries and the Politics of Sex Research,” Kevin Hsu also explores the relationship between politics and taboos. Using his own experiences as a sex researcher, Hsu describes republican fears that his research will normalize “deviant” sexual behavior, while democrats fear it will be used by republicans to undermine their causes. In both cases, Hsu shows how these beliefs have made his work on the sexuality of furries more difficult, acknowledging concerns while ultimately arguing that the best way to push for acceptance of sexual diversity is by promoting broader social understanding of scientific truth.
Kaylee Walker voices a similar concern in “Questioning the Gender Binary,” where she too advocates for the embrace of science. She argues the queer community’s taboo against questioning an individual’s identity has led to confusion and laziness surrounding the notion of gender. Throughout her discussion, Walker asks difficult questions about gender and the concept of nonbinary, and maintains that the best way to improve the rights and social acceptance of trans people is by encouraging greater specificity and the embrace of science among queer community members.
In Reese Piper’s essay, “Sex in the Champagne Room,” the focus is on another community-specific taboo, which, as the title suggests, is the social attitude toward “extras” among strippers. Piper explains the aversion to extras as an attempt to protect income amongst dancers in the club, both by managing patrons’ expectations and by avoiding police interference that could shut down the club. Although Piper recognizes the frustration in these sentiments, she maintains that these attitudes do little to resolve the larger issue of stigma surrounding all adult industry professionals.
In addition to these four pieces, this issue features new entries in The In-Between and Zach and the City columns, as well as a new column penned by Talia Squires called “My Body and Other Adventures,” where, in its inaugural essay “Have Toys, Will Travel,” she opens with a thoughtful conversation surrounding the taboos of leaving home with sex toys. Gigi Engle and Oli Lipski also contribute thought-provoking pieces to this conversation, the former in “A Queer Girl’s Guide to the G-spot,” and the latter in “The Future of Sex is Sensual (Tech).” Readers will find a new collection of Painted Stories centered on the theme of taboos, and eight new faces highlighted in the Business of Sex Profiles. As you peruse this issue, we hope you are challenged to rethink your understanding and acceptance of taboos, and perhaps find it a little easier to embrace sexual and romantic diversity as normal.
Published Mar 1, 2020
Published in Issue V: Taboos