What (else) can a sexy body do? Nick Fox Professor of Sociology University of Sheffield

To understand sexualisation, let us see how it works, what can it do ?

Introduction A Deleuzian approach to sexuality What is an assemblage? Desire Ecology of sexuality- assemblages Body assemblage

A Deleuzian Perspective Different ontology: connectivities and networks rather than bodies. Positive desire. Territorialisation. What else can a body do?

Life is lived through assemblages

Assemblages Assemblages are ‘a kind of chaotic network of habitual and non-habitual connections, always in flux, always reassembling in different ways’ (Potts 2004: 19). Desiring-machines Image: ‘The bride stripped bare by her bachelors, even’. Marcel Duchamp,1923.

Assemblages of Relations Physical (e.g. hormones, medicines). Psychological (e.g. Oedipal, fetishes). Social-cultural (e.g. institutions, imagery, norms and values). Philosophical and abstract (e.g. chastity, religion, sexual liberation). (Experiential/individual)

Examples of Assemblages mouth – hunger - milk – nipple – mother patient – disease – doctor – biomedicine – health technology sex organ – hormones – other body

Desire Deleuze and Guattari criticise traditional ideas of desire as a lack. Positive desire: the creative, experimenting, driven body. Capitalism exploits the gap between desire and lack.

Territorialisation Assemblages territorialise the BwO. It can be de-territorialised by novel relations. It can be re-territorialised. It can achieve a line of flight from a territory.

What can a body do? Assemblages of relations create the conditions of possibility for desire. The number and intensity of a body’s relations shape what it can do. This question provides a methodology. Mark Rothko at work

An Ecology of Assemblage Assemblages bring together entities that are organic and non-organic; material and abstract, technological and natural. The unit of analysis should be the ecology of relations, not individuals or bodies. Explore the connectivities within this ecology of assemblage.

The Rabbit Assemblage

Rabbit-Assemblage Don’t think of an entity called ‘rabbit’, but of an ecology of rabbit-ing. food – field – rabbit – other rabbits – warren - predators – my roses – angry human – shotgun I am part of the rabbit-assemblage and it is part of the Fox-assemblage.

‘ ‘Once the machines are assembled, they have an identity and a life of their own’ (Ballantyne 2007: 23)

Sexuality as assemblage The sexuality-assemblage comprises disparate relations. It shapes what the sexy body can do. It shapes our desire.

Exploring Sexuality ‘Given a certain effect, what machine [assemblage] is capable of producing it?’ ‘And given a certain machine, what can it be used for?’ (Deleuze and Guattari 1984: 3)

What can a sexy body do? Be aroused Get sexual pleasure/orgasm Get sexual partners Fall in love Be unfaithful Etc. etc. Waterhouse: Hylas and the Nymphs 1896

Sexuality-assemblages A pubescent assemblage : hormones – sex organs - imagery (e.g. kiss) – role models – sexual others + ??? An adolescent assemblage: hormones – sex organs - sexual imagery – ideal types (Jlo, Pitt) – partial objects (e.g. breasts, pecs, ass) - sexual others– peer group – romance – isolation - ???

Sexuality assemblages A generalised assemblage : hormones – sex organs - (sexual) past history – sexual imagery/marketing/porn – partial objects - fetishes (e.g. clothing) - sexual others – romance – love – marriage - ???

Sexualisation In any era, the sexuality-assemblage incorporates social, economic, ideological and political relations (e.g. capitalism, patriarchy, sexism). Sexualisation is a narrowing of sexuality, within a body – commodity assemblage.

Sex as commodity Capitalism exploits the gap between desire and lack (Deleuze and Guattari 1984). While there is scarcity, there is this gap. The sexuality-assemblage is drawn into a larger economic machine (assemblage) that turns bodies into commodities and desire into money.

Territorialising sexuality The commodified sexual body is territorialised: - Youthfulness - Looks and beauty - Body shape - Sexual behaviour and responses - Types of sexual activity and fantasies.

The Viagra assemblage ‘My best friend at the office introduced me to Viagra a week after he saw my attitude change at the office due to my noticeable depression. Thanks to Viagra, I felt I am gaining my manhood again, but now lazy of doing sex without the blue pill. I am now becoming a big fan of Viagra, and afraid of having sex without Viagra’ (George).

The Viagra assemblage sex – bedroom –penis – male sexuality – Viagra – identity - consumerism – sex partner - internet - pharmaceutical industry – profit – capitalism (Fox and Ward 2008) This may be very constraining and not welcomed by partners (Potts et al 2003).

The Viagra-assemblage Links the private world of the sexual conduct to the interests of global capitalism. Contributes to sexual and health identities. Shapes the experience and expectations of sexuality.

Too much sex... or not enough? Commodification narrows the expression of sexuality. Desire is territorialised within a fantasy- assemblage. The positive desire of the body engages with the materiality of bodies and sexuality.

Some conclusions Sexuality is an assemblage that shapes how the body’s desire is directed Look at the ecology of the network. Assemblages link flesh to the economic and political forces of global capitalism. De-territorialise a myriad of individual possible sexualities.

In the Fox-assemblage Deleuze and Guattari Ansell Pearson Latour Buchanan De Landa Potts

What (else) can a sexy body do? Nick Fox Professor of Sociology University of Sheffield