(no subject)

[sophiaserpentia]

Reply to response akaiyume gave to my last entry

Control of sexuality is a tactic driven by the primate side of human nature. In primate socities, sexual cues drive the games of dominance and submission. The alpha male controls the sexuality of every other male (who submit willingly or by force) and, by extension, the sexuality of every female. It is as though the alpha male has every other male in the tribe collared.

So humans respond to control over sexuality because it is a psychological "pressure point" the authorities can use to earn our submission without us even really knowing why.

This is also why authoritarian governments cannot resist passing laws regulating the use of sex.

These laws are embarassing for the powers-that-be, though, because they cannot be justified by the "Enlightenment" principles that guided the development of our Constitution.

Comments

[herbalgrrl.livejournal.com]

Most any taboo-- that is something that is commonly done but which cannot be talked openly about because of societal pressure-- is a pressure point that can be manipulated to control people because they have been trained not to look at it analyticaly & many get darned uncomfortable when someone tries to.
You should see the response I get to talking openly about poly as a potentially very healing & logical response to human emotional & sexual needs. The most common answer I get is a nice tautology that *It won't work because most people won't do that because most people don't do that*

[alobar.livejournal.com]

The exceptions to authoritarian sexual control are few, but well worth noting. Mike was telling me about a woman (whose name I forget) who was a high ranking party member under Stalin who made sure that sexual freedom was a guaranteed right in the USSR. I shall have to ask Mike for more concrete info.

[dhaaz.livejournal.com]

"The new [Bolshevik] government also introduced a number of social changes. Alexandra Kollontai (1872-1952), who had become a supporter of revolutionary socialism while in exile in Switzerland, took the lead in pushing a Bolshevik program for women's rights and social welfare reforms. As minister of social welfare, she tried to provide health care for women and children by establishing Palaces for the Protection of Maternity and Children. Between 1918 and 1920, the new regime enacted a series of reforms that made marriage a civil act, legalized divorce, decreed the equality of men and women, and permitted abortions. Kollontai was also instrumental in establishing a Women's Bureau within the Communist Party known as Zhenotdel. This organization sent men and women to all parts of the Russian Empire to explain the new social order. Members of Zhenotdel were especially eager to help women with matters of divorce and women's rights. In the eastern provinces, several Zhenotdel members were brutally murdered by angry males who objected to any kind of liberation for their wives and daughters. Much to Kollontai's disappointment, many of these Communist social reforms were later undone as the Communists came to face more pressing matters, including the survival of the new regime." (emphasis added) (770-71)

"Disturbed by a rapidly declining birthrate, Stalin also reversed much of the permissive social legislation of the early 1920s. Advocating complete equality of rights for women, the Communists had made divorce and abortion easy to obtain while also encouraging women to work outside the home and liberate themselves sexually. After Stalin came to power, the family was praised as a miniature collective in which parents were responsible for inculcating values of duty, discipline, and hard work. Abortion was outlawed, and divorced fathers who did not support their children were fined heavily. The enw divorce law of June 1936 imposed fines for repeated divorces, and homosexuality was declared a criminal activity. The regime now praised motherhood and urged women to have large families as a patriotic duty. But by this time many Soviet women worked in factories and spent many additional hours waiting in line to purchase increasingly scarce consumer goods. There was no dramatic increase in the birthrate." (804)

Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western Civilization: Comprehensive Volume. Wadsworth: Belmont, CA. 4th Ed. 2000.
(improvised semi-MLA bibliographical data)