culutre

With the issue of what people do with their genitals looming larger with every passing day, I've been thinking about the way people talk about the function of sex. "It's for procreation", they say. Asked why, they may point to Genesis, saying "God said so." Or they may point to Darwin, claiming "natural selection says so." Underlying even sex-postivist, ethical slut, reclaiming cunt attitudes is a sense that reproduction is the primary function of intercourse -- they just believe we're lucky enough to be smart enough to figure out ways to forestall reproduction and still have the sex.

As part of my class preparation, I often write essays about the topics I plan to lecture on. I don't read them directly in class, but it helps me get my thoughts together to write out what I want to talk about. This is the essay I wrote for my upcoming lecture on "social construction".

Eyeteeth has a great interview with Siva Vaidhyanathan, author of The Anarchist in the Library (which is now at the top of my "to-read" list). Vaidhyanathan discusses the ways that sharing networks--be they local communities like church groups or jam sessions or transnational structures like the Internet of global corporations--work as the medium for cultural growth and development.