Description
Book SynopsisSexual Deceit is an extended ethical analysis of the phenomenon of sexual identity passing i.e. socially presenting as X, when one understands oneself as Y, where the variables represent any contemporary sexual identity alongside identity passing in the contexts of race, gender, and briefly, religion and class. The analysis of passing utilizes and challenges traditional moral understandings of identity falsification, complicating our understandings of moral obligations under systemic oppression. Tracing the intervention of social construction theory on contemporary political understandings of LGBT communities and activism, Sexual Deceit argues against social construction models of identity notably performativity, promulgated by the work of Judith Butler and consumed and repeated by many scholars and theory educated queer people. A new model of identity is constructed, based on a phenomenological concept of style that provides for a socially adjustable yet rooted notion of sexual ide
Trade ReviewA useful study of the ever more complicated matters of passing, closeting, outing, and the like. As sex/gender issues evolve, these questions and the importance of how to approach them justly only increase. Specialized work that will evoke necessary discussion. * Water Women's Alliance *
Sexual Deceit: The Ethics of Passing shows an excellent understanding and command of the scholarship on the issues. This is particularly notable because the approaches of what I will call traditional philosophy and of queer theory are very different, and it can seem to readers as if they are speaking different languages. The author not only handles the different approaches/traditions well, but also combines their insights, key concepts, and important arguments in developing an ethical theory the author calls “Gayness as Practical Identity,” or just “Gayness.” And this serves as an ethical theory that can be applied to many issues in addition to passing. I think that this theory, which I will call a theory of gay ethics is an important contribution to ethics and LGBT studies. -- Mark Chekola, Minnesota State University Moorhead
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Many Have Passed; Some Have Failed Chapter 1: Passing in Abstraction: The Theoretical Organization of Passing Chapter 2: The Good, The Bad, and The Oppressed: Ethical Considerations Chapter 3: Thoughtfully Produced Sexuality: Sexology and The Queer Academy Chapter 4: Those Shoes Look Pretty Gay, Or at Least Bi-Curious: Style and Sexual Identity Passing Chapter 5: Political Pervasity: Queer Sexuality and the Moral Majority Chapter 6: Practicing to Preach: Gayness as a Practical Identity Conclusion: Social and Legal Implications of Sexual Deceit Bibliography
