The Politics and Philosophy of Love and Sex

Catalog description

Where does our understanding of femininity, masculinity, heterosexuality and homosexuality come from? Do we move to fulfill our sexual and romantic desires because we have a healthy sense of what we need to be happy in life or are our hopes an expectations guided by forces (such as the commodification of sexuality, state restrictions, economic necessity or prevalent social norms) are not always clear and conscious? Why are some sexual relations judged to be deviant and others commonly accepted? And what exactly is love? Does it have multiple meanings? And, if so, how can an exploration of those multiple meanings help us to enjoy better relationships and treat one another more justly? In this learning community we will explore how those questions are treated in text (in philosophy, political theory and fiction), film and contemporary controversies over the “politics of sex.”