Although sexual disparities in terms of levels of desire and arousal, as well as in capacities for reaching orgasms are rather common among heterosexual couples, they are seldom tackled in socio-medical discourses and in the media. Indeed, considered a highly personal subject that should only be addressed within the intimacy of the couples, or even a taboo, these sexual differences are often overlooked and therefore rather unexplored. This leads many women who experience pain, discomfort or a lack of pleasure during intercourse to “perform” the norms of heterosexual sex by working hard to achieve the most socially and medically validated form of sexuality (frequent sexual desire, high level of arousal, penetrative sex and orgasms) by resorting to diverse sorts of aids (medication, psychological therapies, self-help books, etc.) that require effort, time and money. This is what Cacchioni terms the “labour of love”.

Cacchioni’s text thus suggests that heterosexual norms reflect men’s sexuality rather than women’s. Indeed, the pharmaceutical industry, which echoes these norms, focuses on helping women to achieve penetration and orgasms, and, implicitly, to meet their partner’s level of desire and arousal to satisfy them. As a matter of fact, in most societies women are expected to engage themselves in an active sexual life, and by doing so, to provide sexual pleasure to their partners. But Cacchioni’s study highlights that in reality many women do not find the expected pleasure during sexual intercourse and some of them feel disinclined or even averse due to genital pain or lack of sexual arousal or libido. But these issues are often taboo because women feel pressured to comply with the heteronormative representation of sex, as they fear rejection, social exclusion or even economic repercussions.

In keeping with this, I find it striking to observe the extent to which women and men’s sexual problems are differently tackled by the medical industry. On the one hand, the cause of men’s lack of sexual pleasure or men’s sexual issues during intercourse, such as erectile dysfunction, is often attributed to physical reasons, independent of their behavior. The array of reasons for this dysfunction varies from endocrine disease (for example diabetes), to the consumption of medicine, drugs and alcohol, through neurological disease, or even cardiac conditions. Therefore, the pharmaceutical industry provides effective responses to men’s sexual troubles by offering a wide range of remedies, such as Viagra or Cialis. On the other hand, women’s lack of sexual arousal is usually attributed to a lack of well-being or to psychological disorders, like depression, stress or anxiety. Contrarily to men, the pharmaceutical industry does not provide women with a vast choice of medication (there is no “pink Viagra” as Cacchioni puts it) and will likely advise them to change their lifestyle, to adopt healthier habits, to eat less, exercise more or to modify their mindset. However, it does not suggest that these women could try not complying with the sexual performances they feel are expected of them and explore other sexual or non-sexual practices. The prevalent norm remains that women should strive to achieve so-called “normal” intercourse.

Even though women’s sexual discomfort is often taboo and its causes are usually thought to be psychological rather than biological, there actually exist diseases that concern many women and whose symptoms involve sexual pain. For instance, the most common sexual disorder (which affects one woman in ten), endometriosis, is a disease in which tissue that normally grows inside the uterus grows outside of it. The main symptoms of this malady are pelvic pain, painful periods and an excruciating pain during sex (especially during penetration) that often makes intercourse torturous for women. Many women who suffer from endometriosis are even misdiagnosed since their symptoms are usually considered to be common or psychological. The lack of awareness regarding this disease shows the extent to which women’s sexual troubles are neglected and not taken seriously by the medical industry, whose research rather privileges men’s sexual issues. We can thus conclude that there is not the same regard on women’s sexuality and pleasure than on men’ssexual contentement. Hence, the pramaceutical and medical industry, which mirrorre the trend in our socity, favor men’s sexual satisfaction and underminds women’s sexual fufillement that is is deemed less important.

Work cited

Cacchioni, Thea. 2015. “Introduction: The Labour of Love in the Sexual Pharmaceutical Era,” in Big Pharma, Women, and the Labour of Love, pp. 3-22. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

In The British Journal of Sociology, Judith Butler sheds light on a tension between sexual politics on the one hand, and cultural and religious politics or, more specifically, immigration politics on the other. Her main argument or, rather, her main concern lies in the instrumentalization of progressive sexual politics to push a racist, culturally exclusive agenda (in other words, she reflects on the possible contradiction between progressive sexual politics and progressive migratory politics, as progressive sexual politics seem to be increasingly used to legitimate conservative migratory policies).  The author emphasizes how sexual politics and correlated notions, such as modernity and freedom, fluctuate according to various factors such as time, culture, and religion. Because sexual politics are so closely tied to the specific time and space where it applies (with its cultural norms and presumptions), it might cause tensions when people from another culture are faced with that of the country they migrate to. Butler ponders whether these tensions are the sign of an indissoluble contradiction between cultures or the symptom of the instrumentalization of ideas of progress, modernity and freedom?

While I found Butler’s interrogations extremely stimulating, I also felt that she might have sharpened the cultural opposition between Western people and Islamic migrants in order to bring to the fore the surprising tension between progressive sexual politics and progressive migratory ones, that is the use of progressive sexual politics to justify conservative and often racist migratory policies. My sentiment is that the author didn’t really question the opposition between so-called modern, developed, secular and sexually progressive countries, and “backward”, conservative, Islamic migrants. Indeed, to me it sounded like she took for granted that European countries were by and large sexually progressive while Islamic migrants were not (regardless of the country and culture they were originating). However, this tendency I found in her text overlooks the fact that Muslims are not uniformly conservative in respect to sexual practices and choices and, likewise, that Europe is not uniformly sexually progressive. As a matter of fact, and contrarily to prevalent narratives, European sexual politics are not tantamount to a quiet and continual increase of freedom.

Indeed, Europe’s recent history bears witness to some very conservative sexual politics. This can be exemplified through the case of abortion legislation. For instance, abortion is still banned in Ireland, Malta and The Vatican and is only “granted” under specific reasons in the UK, Finland and Italy (which means that in these countries abortion is not just granted on request). Outside of these firm, structural restrictions of freedom, Europe has recently been the arena for surges of conservative or even regressive sexual politics. This was illustrated by the highly mediatized “Manif’ pour tous” in France, a huge wave of protests led by Catholics against the gay marriage bill in 2012, but also, and more insidiously, by the same group’s lobbying for the rejection of gender studies in French primary and secondary schools. More worryingly even, in Spain, in 2013, the council of ministers approved Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón’s proposal to suppress the Abortion Act, which had been passed by the previous socialist government. His bill aimed at restricting the possibilities for women to be granted such a procedure on demand. Also, just a few weeks ago a bill to ban abortion in Poland almost passed. Polish women had to fight hard all over again to prevent this bill from being approved by going on strike and organizing a massive and spectacular street protest, the “Black Monday Protest”

In particular, the recent events in France and in Poland were eye opening to me, as they made me realize that in fact they do not create the basis for shared cultural norms within the European population insofar as it is such a major and increasingly divisive bone of contention amongst people of the same nationality. Above all, and as already suggested, these examples show that European sexual politics do not necessarily follow the progressive narrative of a constantly increasing freedom for people. They highlight that nothing should be taken for granted, that some liberties that were previously thought of as “normal” or definitely acquired can be called into question or even revoked. These conservative resurgences made me aware of how volatile sexual politics are. It showed me that acquired freedoms are not acquired once and for all, and that women have had to fight over and over again to have control over their own bodies and life choices, and many are still fighting for this. From a French perspective, I used to consider abortion as a fundamental right, as something that was now well established and that could not be taken away anymore. In other words, for me abortion was a woman’s legitimate ability to be the master of her own body and I believed that it was more-or-less irrevocable, set in stone, right. Hence, the events in France, Spain and Poland really took me aback and my certainties tottered. They made me realize how sensitive topics such as abortion and gay unions still are, and that some European conservative parties could well re-establish bans on these rights if elected. As what I considered a fundamental right is jeopardized, I’m now aware that the narrative through which I used to read Europe’s sexual politics, the constant broadening of freedom, was not attuned to the ebbs and flows of history, the drive some people feel to hold on to traditions and long-held practices, the fear of otherness, as well as demagogical and specious discourses about “identity” (which tend to reify national identities and overlook the ever-evolving nature of any kind of “identity”), etc.

In conclusion, I would argue that the question of modernity in sexual politics has to be raised in more complex terms than the mere division between rich, educated, white, people and relatively disadvantaged, Islamic migrants.

Work cited

Butler, Judith. 2008. Sexual Politics, Torture, and Secular Time. The British Journal of Sociology 59(1):1-23.

The Birth of Occupy underscores how paramount social media has become to social and political activism and how it has dramatically changed the way in which activists work, protest, and address their claims, but also how their demands are being heard. In particular, White recalls how his utilization of Twitter and YouTube exponentially amplified the “Occupy Wall Street” movement he contributed to launching as people endorsed, circulated, and advertized the emerging movement. The example of “Occupy Wall Street” illustrates the extent to which social media is nowadays crucial to the spread of any form of protest, to the attention activists receive and, hence, to their efficiency in actually achieving their goals.

Firstly, social media enables the people whose voices are dismissed by traditional media (mainstream TV channels, newspapers and magazines) to express their opinion, put forward their convictions and spread their own political agenda to whomever they choose. Indeed, social media is an indisputably powerful instrument for broadcasting opinions and ideas to a wide audience, which encompasses people from a variety of backgrounds and of various social classes, races, sexes and ages.

As a result of the decline in the popularity of newspapers, TV news and the radio, we are now both spectators and actors in the striking rise of social media (in the US, 90% of people between 18 and 29 use social media on a daily basis). From political figures to ordinary citizens through celebrities and influential people, the majority of the population is not only aware of what happens on social media, but also participates in setting the terms of debates and in shaping what is deemed important. Consequently, social media have become a major way of communicating and expounding ideas, thereby offering a key platform for activists to set out their convictions. In other words, social media sheds light on messages, ideas and beliefs that might be taboo, despised, overlooked or underrepresented in society, and which can reach a larger audience through this kind of showcasing.

Furthermore, social media has utterly changed the notion of time and space regarding the circulation of news and information, as well as the formation of protest movements. Social media accelerates time and actions: within a few minutes, one is able to organize a protest through the publication of an event on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, which will quickly reach thousands of people’s attention through statuses, videos, hashtags, notifications, pictures, or captions. Social media is not restricted by geographical boundaries, thereby allowing anyone to “connect”, discuss and interact with potentially everyone else all over the world. These virtually free, instantaneous online connections enable groups of people who share similar ideas to be formed and to decide how to act accordingly. Through a “like” on Facebook, a picture on Instagram or a tweet on Twitter, people feel that they are part of an international community, linked by shared ideas and ideals and, hence, they feel empowered to act and express their claims. Anyone can collaborate in the online organization and popularization of an event, which might then concretize itself in real life in the form of a gathering of hundreds or thousands of people coming together in one place for the same purpose, usually to bring to the fore demands they have to change society and politics.

For instance, the French social movement “Nuit debout” is one of the most impactful protests in which social media played a leading role. “Nuit debout” (which has been translated as “Up All Night” or “Rise up at Night”) started on the 31^st of March 2016. For months thousands of French people were occupying specific public spaces at night in order to bring about the withdrawal of the “Loi Travail”, that is the labor reform proposed by the French government, which includes cuts in social benefits and job security (though the movement went beyond this specific demand and consisted in a manifold protest against capitalism, austerity measures, the obsolescence of some political methods, etc.). The organization of this event occurred through social media and led to mass protests that bypassed the state of emergency, which was established by the French president François Hollande after the terrorist attacks in November 2016 and which radically restricted the organization of protests in France. Moreover, social media was more than just a tool for organizing this occupation and reappropriation of public spaces. The nightly assemblies, group discussions, debates and artistic events were filmed and broadcast live via Periscope (on average, 75 000 people were following the live stream on the event’s Web channel). This allowed many more people to feel like they were taking part in the protest and to discuss its proposals, even though they were not physically in the locations of the protest.

It could thus be concluded that social media exacerbates the spread and the efficiency of protests by connecting huge crowds and also by bypassing traditional media, which are often owned by big business groups or powerful people who tend to be more conservative, as the status quo works very well for them…

Work cited

White, Micah. 2016. “The Birth of Occupy,” in The End of Protest: A New Playbook for Revolution, pp. 9-23. Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf.

Through my reading of A.J. Angulo’s introduction to Miseducation: A History of Ignorance-Making in America and Abroad, in which he reflects on ignorance and gives a synopsis of the history of the origins, the persistence and the exploitation of ignorance, I was struck by the extent to which ignorance has shaped history, by the weight of ignorance in (mis)guiding of our life paths and in our (mis)understanding of the world, as well as by the variety forms of ignorance we suffer from. Indeed, the text highlights that we are all born ignorant (native ignorance); that we will continue to be affected by ignorance due to our physical, intellectual and temporal limitations, which force us to circumscribe the domains in which we can become knowledgeable and entails that we’ll remain ignorant about many things (passive ignorance); and that we will also be trapped in ignorance by businesses, governments or people every time they have an interest in creating or maintaining our deficit of education and awareness (active ignorance). Throughout the text ignorance is thus presented as something deplorable and detrimental, that everyone should strive to reduce by all means. However legitimate this conception of ignorance is in most regards, it could also be argued that ignorance has some virtues and that this text, which only underscores the shortcomings of ignorance, lacks nuances. Perhaps, certain kinds of ignorance are actually beneficial or even vital to people and could thereby be considered from a more favorable perspective.

. I personally believe that native ignorance can bring about a certain type of open-mindedness. In fact, by definition, the native ignorant subject has everything to learn, to discover and thus, he is the perfect candidate to find marvel not only in the experiences that s/he will encounter, but also in the amount of knowledge that s/he is about to acquire. This naTive ignorance seems to echo Locke’s empiricist conception of the blank mind. Locke argues that the mind is first “void of all characters, without any ideas” and that the mind evolves and becomes more knowledgeable thanks to the harvest of experiences. Therefore, this naTive ignorance can also be seen in a positive light as the very condition of curiosity, surprise, wonder, and improvement. Ignorance, and the awareness of it, can indeed be a springboard to philosophical processes (the desire for and love of knowledge): they are an incentive to learn and discover what we don’t know yet, since the lack of something and the consciousness of this deficiency constitute the impetus for desiring it and striving for getting it. Native ignorance can also be seen as a symptom of freedom, since we’re (partly) responsible for the formation of our own ideas and knowledge.

In order to illustrate Locke’s statement, as well as the idea that native ignorance is not devoid of positive effects, we can take the example of Candide, the eponymous character of Voltaire’s philosophical tale. At the beginning of his initiatory journey, Candide, as his name suggests, epitomizes native ignorance. Candide’s main feature is indeed his lack of knowledge: he thinks that the castle of Thunder-ten-tronckh is the most beautiful on earth and agrees with Panglos’ absurd ideas, for instance that noses have been created for the purpose of wearing glasses. However, throughout his journey, Candide faces war, barbarism, experiences slavery, and is present at an auto-da-fé. The hardship enables him to grow, to mature, to shape his own personality, and reach his own conclusion about life (“it’s better to cultivate one’s own garden”). Therefore, through Candide’s character, it is possible to see that native ignorance offers a great range of possibilities for the creation of one’s personality and convictions. Indeed, as native ignorance leaves room for discoveries, it is, in a sense, the starting point for one’s own personal accomplishments.

Moreover, as is often the case with “simple-minded” or ignorant characters, it is noteworthy that Candide, is not portrayed as despicable; far from it, he is indeed likeable and his naiveté is moving: it betrays his innocence, and we feel for him because he yet has to discover life’s most repulsive realities. The “native ignorance” of the protagonist prompts the reader’s sympathy and compassion because we know that leaving this state of ignorance often entails a painful process of realizing everything that’s wrong and unfair; it means quitting a state of happy unconsciousness.

Work cited

A.J. Angulo. Miseducation: A History of Ignorance-Making in America and Abroad

Jhon, Locke. Essay concerning Humane Understanding