An Other Sex 2008 abstracts
Douglas Crimp, Fanny Knapp Allen Professor of Art History, University of Rochester
Action around the Edges
“Action around the Edges” is drawn from a memoir-in-progress of my first ten years in
New York City, 1967-1977. 1977 is the year of the Pictures exhibition that I organized
for Artists Space, which is the work for which I first became known, so I’m calling my
memoir Before Pictures. I’m weaving together the two worlds that were most important
in my life-the post-Stonewall world of gay liberation and developments in the art world
that came to be associated with postmodernism. I want to show these worlds as I
experienced them-as sometimes overlapping, sometimes mutually exclusive. It was a
time of enormous ferment and transformation-of the city, of art, of gay sexual culture. I
combine personal stories and research, anecdotes and criticism, the past and the present.
These things are meant to be mutually informing and in some sense also mutually deforming, to unsettle the ways in which their usually separate discourses understand them.
This portion, “Action around the Edges,” is about the proximity and simultaneity of
artistic and sexual experimentation in the declining industrial spaces of Manhattan in the
early-to-mid-1970s. It recounts my move from Greenwich Village to TriBeCa-from the
gay scene to the art scene-along with descriptions of the beginnings of performance art,
disco, art installations on the decaying Hudson River piers, and photographs of gay
cruising spaces by Peter Hujar and Alvin Baltrop. The central images of the concurrence
of artistic and sexual experiments are Baltrop’s pictures of gay cruising in Day’s End,
Gordon Matta-Clark’s famous transformation of Pier 52 into what he called “an indoor
water park.”
Debbie Cohen, Department of English and American Studies, Tel Aviv University
Turning the Literary Love Triangle on Its Side
In the chapter "Gender Asymmetry and Erotic Triangles" in Between Men: English
Literature and Male Homosocial Desire. Sedgwick proposes that in the erotic triangle the
erotic rivalry is the bond that links the two rivals is as intense and potent as the bond that
links either of the rivals to the love object. "The bond between the rivals is even a
stronger a determinant of their actions than anything in the bond between anything in the
bond between either of the lovers and the beloved." (Between Men 21) In my paper I
explore love triangles in which a man and a woman are competing for the affections of a
woman, specifically The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. According to Sedgwick's
theory of love triangles, Gerty's competition with Lily for the love of Selden is in fact a
way of expressing her love for Lily herself, turning the triangle on its side and making the
true apex of the triangle Lily herself. Reading the scene book through the lense of
Sedgewick's love triangle we can understand that Gerty's true object of affection is Lily
Bart.
Gilad Padva, Department of Film and Television, Tel Aviv University and the Program of
Gender and Women Studies and the School of Education, Beit Berl College
The Colors of Lipstick: Towards a Critical Classification of Cinematic
Representations of Transgender People
The contemporary scale of cinematic representations of the transgender subjectivity
demonstrates diverse political and social attitudes, both heterocentric and queer, in regard
to gender identities and identifications and the politics of reification and authenticity. It
also indicates the dynamic and intensive processes of exclusion and inclusion of sexual
minorities in contemporary popular culture. Queer resistance to reactionary,
heteronormative conceptualizations, e.g. "camouflage" and "gender masquerade"
encourages the development of a new platform for research of transgender
representations, both in mainstream and in the New Queer Cinema, in order to constitute
an original classification of diverse and changing cinematic attitudes. The new
classification, which will be initially presented in the conference, aimed to undermine the
binaric and populist gender perceptions – quasi-Freudian, Lacanian and anti-Butlerian
attitudes – and to propose an alternative categorization that resists all sorts of implicit and
explicit transphobia, inside and outside the academia, and to celebrate gender,
transgender and inter-gender transgressions as queer expressions of self definition and
personal and communal empowerments.
Zohar Mor, Department of tuberculosis and AIDS, Ministry of Health, Israel
Sex behavior of gay men in steady relationships in Israel
Joint work with Udi Davidovich, Niva Bassudo-Manor and Daniel Chemtob
Background: The number of men who have sex with men (MSM) in Israel has increased
by five folds since 1999. Our study hypothesis was that MSM who have a steady partner
reduce their exposure to HIV.
Methods: An internet-based, anonymous and adaptive questionnaire assessing
knowledge, motivation and practices was constructed to explore behavioral risks factors
was launched from March and May 2005. Participants who perform anal sex without a
condom with a partner of unknown HIV status were defined as risky.
Results: More than 11,000 entries were registered, and 2,873 questionnaires were entirely
completed. Of those, 1,386 (48%) reported of having a steady partner, and 50% of them
did not perform HIV test prior to performing anal sex; half also included rectal
ejaculation. Of those who are in steady relationships, 775 (57%) negotiated the possibility
of having a casual sex encounter in addition to their boyfriend. Those who performed
negotiation were satisfied from their mutual decision than those who did not. Sex in
addition to the steady partner was reported by 476 (35%), and 144 did not use a condom
during anal sex. The longer the duration of the relationships, the more chances of having
sex outside of the steady contact, and the higher number of casual encounters.
Participants who perform anal sex without a condom with their causal partner (besides
the steady contact) had limited knowledge regarding HIV transmission in comparison to
those who were faithful. In addition, they had lesser negotiation skills, tend to take part in
other risky behaviors and use substances. No differences were found between risky and
non-risky in regards to age, income, education, use of sex trade, internet use and venues
they go out.
Conclusions: MSM who are in a steady relationship and perform unprotected anal
intercourse with men in addition to their boyfriend may expose both themselves and their
partners to HIV. They tend to have additional risk behavior characteristics, which are
related to a distorted risk perception. Negotiating the possibility of casual sex besides the
steady relationships may reduce unprotected anal intercourse with the casual partner and
increase trust between the couple. Therefore, further interventions should focus
encouragement of negotiation skills between steady partners.
Leon Jacobowitz Efron, Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Sciences and
Ideas, Tel Aviv University
Cruising Dante’s Inferno: Queer Praxis, Jargon and Space in the Divine
Comedy’s Description of the Sodomites
Since the late middle ages, Florence was associated with the sin “that’s dare not speak its
name,” so much so, that at the time Florenzer was a term for sodomite in German, and
sex among men was referred to as “the game from behind, that Florentine men love.” The
phenomenon became so widespread that in 1432 the Florentine government created the
Ufficiali di Notte. A first of its kind office meant to exterminate the phenomenon using
arrests, punishments, fines and registration of the “offenders”.
The topic of my lecture will not be the fascinating matter of the History of
Homosexuality1 in the Late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance. Rather it will deal
with the unique writings of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), the famous Florentine poet. My
reading of Dante will link a modern phenomenon of the western gay subculture,
“Cruising”, with a 700 year old description of Hell, in one of the most important pieces of
western literature, Dante’s Divine Comedy.
According to Dante’s infernal topography, those who were violent against nature occupy
the seventh circle of hell. One type of sin falling under this category is Sodomy. 2 The
interesting aspect of the canti or chapters describing the sodomites is Dante’s apparent
use of what seems to be his contemporary queer subculture’s jargon, along with
homoerotic imagery and similes, and references to the space and praxis of cruising in
Florence of his time. Thus, for example, the circle is described as the Lungarno, a
cruising site of Dante’s Florence, and the poet describes the homoerotic gazes of the
tormented as an infernal cruising of sorts, shamelessly staring at the protagonist and
turning their heads after passing him by.
Dante’s, although sometimes ironic, description of the sodomites’ infernal reality is
amazingly respectful given the nature of their “unmentionable” sin. All of Dante’s
sodomites are described as impressive men of letters, military leaders and prominent
political figures. This positive description raised many eyebrows over centuries of
readers, especially when coupled in the second part of the Comedy, Purgatorio, with the
protagonist’s meeting with a group of sodomites on their way to Heaven.
The lecture will give a broad picture as possible, based on canti 15 and 16 of the Inferno
and canto 26 of the Purgatorio.
This term as well as the term “Gay” are problematic and may lead to anachronism. Here I do not use it
with the pathological connotations associated with it from the 19 th century (identifying the doer’s essence
with the sexual deed), but rather I use it to donate people who had sexual and sometimes emotional
relations with members of their own sex, even if they did not conceive these acts as inherent qualities of
their nature.
2
There are many debates among Dante scholars whether Sodomy is indeed homosexuality. The consensus
is to the affirmative.
1
Gil Gan-Mor, The Association for Civil Rights in Israel
Gender Crossing as Women's Experience: Should Organizations for
Women's Rights Aspire to Represent Transgender People in Their Struggle
for Equality and Recognition?
Three stories, three heroes, from three countries. A biological woman, a transsexual
woman, and a transsexual man, waging a legal battle to be who they are. Three stories,
three people, who have crossed the borders of their gender, yet are not equally treated by
the feminist movement. Why does the feminist community treat transgenders' struggle to
achieve equality and recognition differently from the struggle of other women? Why does
it ignore it and even display hostility toward it on occasion? These questions are at the
heart of this presentation.
Three stories, three experiences, which demonstrate the unique relations between the
transgender and the feminist struggles. Experiences which show how by ignoring the
transgender struggle and experiences therein - experiences that are of great importance to
the lives of women - the feminist movement damages both the transgender struggle and
the feminist one. Three experiences which demonstrate how feminist discourse is falling
into traps that it has been trying to avoid for years. Three experiences which put the
spotlight on various sides of issues currently on the feminist agenda.
Three stories, three experiences, one message: feminists should support the transgender
struggle, and place it on their agenda.
Eilon Atar, Gender Studies Program, Bar Ilan University
Beyond Ambiguity and Toward the Hyper-Capitalism of Gender
In this lecture I would like to introduce an activist and research oriented model that
supplements the performance of ambiguity suggested by Judith Butler. This model
facilitates the tracing of the real and dynamic intra-connections between constructions
and their products and between activism and its ramifications. This modification
necessitates a shift from ambiguous and expanding criteria of gender categories to precise
but changing criteria.
I will open this lecture with a discussion of the ways in which Butler introduces
Ambiguity as a tool for research, writing and activism, a tool aimed at uncovering the
instability of hegemony and defending those with fluid identities. I will present briefly
my own attempt to act in accordance with Butler’s theory: I produce and perform my
gender flexibility and complexity; sometimes I/he/she confuse others and myself; but I
am easily rejected, and their imagined and stubborn stability remains deceiving, to my
eyes as well. Rendering Ambiguous does not work. Butler indeed warns that Ambiguity
depends upon the context in which it is performed, but an investigation of this context
and the product of our actions remains undeveloped throughout her theory. Most
prominently missing is an assessment of an economic context and its connection with the
highly subtle assessment of the body-mind-society relations that Butler does develop. I
suggest making these connections by situating Butler’s theory in the economic-socialpsychic genealogies presented by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari (1972, 1980).
In contrast with Butler’s model, which is limited to Ambiguity, I will introduce, at the
heart of this lecture, a research-activism model that supplements Ambiguity with a
temporary clarification, so as to facilitate change. This clarification is made possible
through the hyper-capitalist analysis (Deleuze and Guattari) of gender performativity
(Butler), i.e. a scientific-semiotic investigation of the measure of economic connections,
in all aspects of life, between gender construction, its product and our ability to resist.
Significantly, this model requires a shift from Ambiguous gender criteria to precise but
changing criteria. This shift will allow us to uncover the manner in which gender
functions as an economic commodity, a commodity that could become fluid if we were to
act against its binary solidification as a monopoly. To this end we must ask “How much
of a man/woman/other am I?” in a manner aware of the power of oppressive criteria and
aware of the misalignment between everyone and these criteria. In my lecture I will
elaborate this last and complex point and conclude with an unfolding of the ramifications
of this model: A call for forms of research that not only uncover and portray marginalized
standpoints but also trace hegemony’s reaction to resistance; research that facilitates a
direct and calculated assault on hegemony’s fraudulent stability.
Galit Wainapel, School of Philosophy, Tel Aviv University
From a Politics of Recognition to a Politics of the Good: Following Charles
Taylor's concept of Identity
The Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor raises the question of identity as a central
aspect of ethics and social justice. He portrays the human identity as dialogically
constituted, and as containing a deep moral aspect. According to Taylor, questions such
as “Who am I?”, can only be answered from within a space of moral meaning, a space in
which questions about what constitutes a good life, and what is worth doing arise.
In accordance with his concept of identity as dialogically constituted, Taylor claims that
people whose identity is not recognised or is misrecognised suffer real harm, and that
misrecognition can be a form of oppression. He therefore advocates a transition to a
politics of recognition, which enables different groups to give voice to their unique views
and life-experiences, take an active part in the creation of social images about them, and
thereby create an alternative to a demeaning or contemptible picture of themselves.
In the course of this lecture, I will examine a number of critiques raised against the
politics of recognition. I will focus on the queer critique, which points to the dangers of
viewing the “authentic” aspects of different groups as inhere in an essence or a true
nature of that group, which is prior to social practice. The claim is that political
recognition of the collective aspects of identity may strengthen the tendency to favour
and cherish practices and modes of being considered more “authentic”, strengthen the
tendency to reify identities, and exclude other ways of being.
In light of the critiques I will offer, following Melissa Orlie, a transition to a Politics of
the Good. I will try to show how Taylor’s concept of identity, as primarily an orientation
within a moral space, enables this transition. Within a Politics of the Good, the focus is
diverted from questions such as “who we really are?”, to questions such as “What do we
believe is good and right to do or become?”. The aim of such politics is therefore to
politically recognise plural conceptions of the “Good Life”, which are not necessarily
prescribed by one’s social identity. I will examine in what ways a Politics of the Good is
queer, and claim that this paradigm, which focuses on our moral positions, encourages us
to critically examine our identity in light of our endorsed moral values, and to try and
reshape or re-signify it in accordance with them.
Chen Misgav, Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion
White City/ Pink City – The Urban Space in Tel Aviv- Jaffa as Viewed by Gay
People and The Way it Constructed on Mental Maps
This paper is an outcome of a research which examined the way that gay people use the
urban space in Tel Aviv-Jaffa in their daily practices and perceive it. During my research
I conducted individual in-depth interviews with fifty men and women, gays and lesbians
living in the city that is well known as the gay capital of Israel. I observed and examined
the activities and the use of elements and public services by the gay population in the
city. I also analyzed cognitive maps of each one of the interviewees. By using this
method I found that it is possible to reveal and understand the urban “local knowledge”
of these people, and I found some insights regarding the spatial and planning implications
of this knowledge. The research brings up the question that gay people here and
anywhere should be asking, a question that was asked by the feminists in the seventies
and which is: how does a city that is suitable for their needs look like? Through this
question we might develop new formats and ways of thinking for planning and
developing the city, which includes also the gay population. This research intended in
many ways, through revealing the “local knowledge”, to reveal the possibility of new
ways of thinking in order to change our concept regarding the urban space; a way of
renewed thinking about the place, the values and the needs of gays and lesbian in the city.