Sexuality is a principle upon which all aspects of society are organized
Is it really possible to say this? The more I look into it, the more I believe it’s true. Looking to Plato, Aristotle, Bacon, Linnaeus, and LC/Dewey, I have to say that yes, sex and power (which are inextricable) are deeply embedded in our classification systems. I’m reading LCSH to find explicit and implicit representations of sex and empire to show how LCSH reflects and contributes to the discourses about those subjects, reinforcing the mainstream and silencing or speaking for groups on the margins. I’m particularly interested in the idea of literary warrant, what was in print in the mainstream medical literature and in popular literature in the early 20th century, and how ideas of sexuality have shifted from the dawn of history.
What I’m reading: Londa Schiebinger and Anne Stoler and Thomas Laqueur
Tags: classification, history, sexuality
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