Course Proposal (December 2010) Arnim Alex Seelig, PhD Student in German Studies Course Title Pansexuality: From

Patriarchy to Relationships Beyond the Binary Course Description This interdisciplinary, multimedia-based course examines pansexuality from a cultural studies perspective and within a feminist deconstructionist and queer theoretical framework. The various facets of the course will range from the philosophical to the practical, in order to connect knowledge with action. Pansexuality, also called poly- or omnisexuality, can be defined as a non-normative sexual orientation that completely disregards gender or biological sex and that includes the aesthetic, romantic, or sexual attraction towards transgendered, transsexual, intersexual, or gender fluid people. Pansexuality can be seen in contrast to the cultural construct of binary societal norms of gender roles and sexual identity. This course will begin by situating pansexuality in the context of a Western history of sexuality and gender. The class will then discuss pansexuality by looking at empirical material, such as the personal experiences of the German blogger Airen, recently republished in two books, as well as at other (semi)autobiographical or fictional depictions of pansexuality in literature, film and popular culture. Our analyses will be informed by excerpts from key theoretical texts that are representative of the current state of research in the respective fields, including some of the biological and neuroscientific background of sex and gender. Of particular help will be a broad set of conceptual tools, which the class will develop together from the readings: e.g., Freuds polymorphous perverse, Lacans theories of desire and the feminine, Kristevas theory of abjection, Butlers gender performativity, and Sedgwicks queer theory. One course objective will be to inquire whether pansexuality constitutes a new trend in contemporary society, or specifically, whether in some countries there are social and/or political (sub)scenes related to pansexuality. What is the underlying philosophyexplicit or implicitof pansexuality, and to what extent does this philosophy differ from other philosophies or theories of sex and gender? We will address these questions, for example, by reading recent texts, like the very popular books by Airen, or also Charlotte Roches controversial novel Wetlands (2008), under the aspect of pansexuality and in connection with theoretical texts from third-wave feminism and queer theory; then we will compare the findings with canonical texts from second-wave feminism, such as Simone de Beauvoirs The Second Sex (1949) and Elfriede Jelineks Women as Lovers (1975), in order to point out the different standpoints towards gender and sexuality. Another aim of the course will be to look at how the study of pansexuality can be of use to researchers in womens, gender and sexuality studies today, namely as a category of analysis that is nondualistic (Sedgwick), i.e., a prism through which to critically question the gender binary and similar systems of polarity. Correspondingly, the students in this course will be encouraged to also challenge their own notions of gender and sexuality.

In regard to the format of this course, a strong emphasis will be placed on interactivity. This will take place in the form of frequent discussions between the students and the instructor, as well as weekly group assignments. The evaluation methods will consist of a midterm and a final exam, both comprising multiple choice and short essay questions; two papers (one 5 pages long, due during the semester, and one 10 pages long, due by the end of the term); in-class participation; as well as the weekly assignments. Further questions that the course will address are: How does pansexuality relate to pluralism, multiculturalism, and globalism? How does it relate to identity politics? Since sexual meaning (Sedgwick) translates into social structures, power relations, and political action, then what political charge can or does pansexuality carry? How does pansexuality relate to political correctness? How, if at all, does pansexuality relate to anarchism (transfeminism)? What are possible criticisms of pansexuality? Does pansexuality really operate outside the cultural binaries of sex and gender, i.e., is it completely independent of them, and does it transcend or perhaps even negate them? Or does pansexuality rather constitute an alternative space or preference within the system and thus a kind of third gender (Sedgwick)? Does gender exist at all? Are binary oppositions in general too simplistic, and especially in regard to sexuality? Are binary systems fundamentally heteronormative and patriarchal? Do binary systems foster social inequalities? Is pansexuality a strictly (post)modern phenomenon, or are there any cases of an historical precedence? What examples of pansexuality can we find outside of the course readings and viewings?

Readings will be made available as a reader and/or through WebCT. Films will be shown in class and also put on library reserve. Sources compiled so far are the following: Airen, I am Airen Man (2010). Airen, Strobo (2009). Beauvoir, Simone de, The Second Sex (1949). Bederman, Gail. Manliness & Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the United States, 1880-1917 (1995). Boris, Eileen, On the Importance of Naming: Gender, Race, and the Writing of Policy History, Journal of Policy History (2005) Butler, Judith, Undoing Gender (2004). Butler, Judith, Gender Trouble (1990). Boom, Peter, The Philosophy of Pansexuality, Sexologies: Journal of the European Federation of Sexology (2008). 2

Brown, Wendy, States of Injury: Power and Freedom in Late Modernity (1995). Campbell, Neil, Jane Reece, Lwarence Mitchell and Martha Taylor, Biology: Concepts & Connections (2003). Foucault, Michel, The History of Sexuality (1976-1984). Freud, Siegfried, On Narcissism (1914). Gilligan, Carol & David A. J. Richards, The Deepening Darkness: Patriarchy, Resistance, & Democracy's Future (2009). Haraway, Donna, Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (1991). Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001). Jelinek, Elfriede, Women as Lovers (1975). Katsiaficas, George, The Necessity of Autonomy, New Political Science (2001). Knickmeyer, Rebecca C., and Baron-Cohen, Fetal Testosterone and Sex Differences in Typical Social Development and in Autism, Journal of Child Neurology (2005). Kohl, James V., The Minds Eyes Journal of Psychology & Human Sexuality (2007). Koyama, Emi, The Transfeminist Manifesto (2000). Kristeva, Julia, Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection (1982). Lacan, Jacques, Seminar XX (19721973). Pateman, Carole, The Sexual Contract (1988). Ritter, Gretchen, The Constitution as Social Design: Gender and Civic Membership in the American Constitutional Order (2006). Roche, Charlotte, Wetlands (2008). Rosario, Vernon A., Quantum Sex: Intersex and the Molecular Deconstruction of sex, GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies (2009). Rubin, Gayle, Thinking Sex: Toward a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality, Pleasure and Danger: Exploring Female Sexuality, ed. Carole Vance (1984). Sade, Marquis de, Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795). Sedgwick, Eve, Kosofsky, Epistemology of the Closet (1990). Sedgwick, Eve, Touch feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity (2003). Spitzer, Robert L., Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders, Journal of Psychology & Human Sexuality (2006). Yuval-Davis, Nira, Gender and Nation (1997).