Diana, I didn't claim
> sexuality could change as a result of amnesia -
Actually, sexual identity and sexuality are different things. Sexuality
belongs to the sphere you like so much - "neurology, and other brain
sciences, or endocrinology, brain chemistry, human kinetics, and other
biological
sciences". It can't be lost - we are what we are.
Personal identification (sexual as well) belongs to the domains of
psychology and I assume it may be lost as a result of amnesia. Speaking
hypotheticaly as a plot for a fiction novel lost sexual identity may lead a
character through many different situations starting probably with the
relations which traditionally dominate in the society your character lives
in. And she (is it she?) will need some time to realize, to become aware
what her real desires are. She will have to go the same way an adolescent
has to go before he/she comes to understanding of his/her sexuality.
Tatiana
> От: Diane Hodges <dhodges@ceo.cudenver.edu>
> Кому: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> Тема: Re(2): amnesia and sexuality
> Дата: 21 августа 2000 г. 18:27
>
> hi all,
> anyone following this line might have noticed that Tatiana and i agreed
> that
> amnesia might result in a loss of sexual identity - that is, sexuality
> could change as a result of amnesia -
> well, last night it hit me like a starburst, - how improbably that is.
> really. i mean,
> that kind of thinking admits to sexuality as a learned behaviour,
> and all the gay folk i know understand themselves as gay because they
ARE,
> not because they learned it, but because that is their disposition, and
> really, if you think about it,
> who in their right mind would CHOOSE to be queer? in a world of
homophobia
> and hate crimes and the other atrocities committed against queers,
> including our absence from
> social conscience and history and so on.
>
> i have to think that amnesia would NOT affect sexuality, that a person
who
> is queer,
> and is stricken with major amnesia, might find herself socially presumed
> to be a het,
> but would, at some level, experience this as wrong, -
> i mean, i don't see how amnesia would alter sexuality at all, now that i
> think about it -
> which makes the story even more interesting,
> because of course, depending upon who the person was socializing with
> after having lost her memories of who she was, who she desires would
> become quite interesting.
> as i say, the het assumption would be that she is straight,
> and the queer assumption would be that she is queer - whoever finds this
> woman
> and tries to help her with either accommodate her sexual preferences and
> desires,
> or attempt to rewrite them against her desire.
> hmmmmmmmm.
>
> diane
>
> **********************************************************************
> :point where everything listens.
> and i slow down, learning how to
> enter - implicate and unspoken (still) heart-of-the-world.
>
> (Daphne Marlatt, "Coming to you")
> ***********************************************************************
>
> diane celia hodges
>
> university of british columbia, centre for the study of curriculum and
> instruction
> ==================== ==================== =======================
> university of colorado, denver, school of education
>
> Diane_Hodges@ceo.cudenver.edu
>
>
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