Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants
Public Talk about Private Acts: Sex Talk and Sexual Agency
Department
School of Communications
College
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Date Range
2010-2011
Abstract
This essay addresses the way people talk about sex in public, and the significance of this talk. It explains the role of metaphors and narratives in building understandings of "how things are" and suggests some weaknesses of current dominant metaphors and narratives: weaknesses which disadvantage both sexes but are especially problematic for women. As a response, it offers three extended examples of alternatives/responses: two alternative metaphors ("the gatekeeper" and "the duck-pond game") and one rejection of a sex-related narrative ("I don't date"). These new metaphors and this alternate way of casting interpersonal interaction foreground women's sexual agency and equity, rather than victimization or domination.
Conference Name
Gender Matters: An Interdisciplinary Conference
Conference Location
University Park, Illinois
ScholarWorks Citation
Peterson, Valerie, "Public Talk about Private Acts: Sex Talk and Sexual Agency" (2010). Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants. 118.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/fsdg/118
