Last month was the 3rd year anniversary of the release of Sexed Up: How Society Sexualizes Us, and How We Can Fight Back. And since this is Pride month, I figured I'd share this video of me reading from the “queer chapter” of Sexed Up! The video is called Why Do Straight People Sexualize Queer People? LGBTQ+ Stereotypes, Sexualization & (imagined) “Contagiousness” – please watch & like & subscribe & share widely!
The YouTube show notes contain the following "chapters" of the video – you can use the time stamps there to skip ahead to particular sections if you wish:
- 0:00 Introduction (defining sexualization & the Predator/Prey mindset)
- 3:07 Queer people are “marked by sex” and stereotyped as “fakes”
- 6:30 Sexualized stereotypes of gay men
- 7:00 Sexualized stereotypes of lesbians
- 8:45 Sexualized stereotypes of asexuals
- 10:10 Sexualized stereotypes of bisexuals
- 13:30 Trans people and the “worst of both worlds” & “sexual deceiver” tropes
- 16:40 Anti-queer stigma is viewed “contagious”
- 19:15 Recurring claims that LGBTQIA+ & people of color “prey on women & children”
- 23:50 Critiques of “respectability politics” and “contagiousness politics”
- 29:00 Sexualization-centric approaches to queer activism
As if that wasn't enough, I wrote a companion essay entitled The Worst of Both Worlds: How Straight People Sexualize Queer and Trans People that places my Stigma-Contamination model of sexualization (discussed in the book and video) in the context of other feminist perspectives on sexualization. It also shares a different excerpt from the chapter (on how trans & intersex people face "The Worst of Both Worlds") that is not covered in the video. You can read it on Substack (no paywall) at the above link, or via this friend link to Medium.
As always, please share widely and give it lots of claps and likes and such!
