Pomosexual

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sexual orientation
Part of sexology
Distinctions

Asexuality · Autosexuality · Bisexuality · Heterosexuality · Homosexuality · Pansexuality · Paraphilia · Pomosexual · Zoosexuality

Labels

Gay · Lesbian · Queer · Questioning

Methods

Kinsey scale · Klein Grid

Study

Biology · Demographics · Medicine

Animal

Homosexuality in animals

See also

Intersex · Transgender · Transsexual

This box: view  talk  edit

Pomosexual, anthrosexual, or undefined sexuality, are neologisms used to describe sexual orientation, or more accurately, an attempt to reassess the boundaries of sexual orientation. A word formed by adding the prefix pomo- (shorthand for postmodern) to the adjective -sexual (suggesting a sexual preference or orientation), the term itself is oxymoronic since it is descriptive of persons who do not identify with any essentially-defined sexual label, and is used in reference to oneself as a protest against such labels.[1]

Sex-positive activist writers and editors Carol Queen and Lawrence Schimel popularized the term by using it as the title of an anthology of essays published in 1997. In it, they describe pomosexuality as the "erotic reality beyond the boundaries of gender, separatism, and essentialist notions of sexual orientation." In the introduction, they state,

We don't propose that 'pomosexual' replace LGBT&F. We're not interested in adding another new name to the slew we already have, though we acknowledge the usefulness of having one name by which all LGBT&Fs might be called. 'Pomosexual' references homosexuality even as it describes the community's outsiders, the queer queers who can't seem to stay put within a nice, simple identity. We coin the term to situate this book and its essays within and in relation to the LGBT&F community. It is in every way an artifact of, and in many ways a backlash toward, this community--or rather, to certain assumptions widely held within and/or about it, essentialist assumptions about what it means to be queer. We react against these assumptions in the same way that in the art world Postmodernism was a reaction against Modernism."[2]

Contents

[edit] Criticisms

The concept of pomosexuality has become the source of some criticism from those who see it as a new fad, similar to bisexuality or pansexuality. According to andrologist Sudhakar Krishnamurthy, pomosexuality "is nothing but another lifestyle label. People are creating different categories every single day but this doesn’t mean that these are new phenomena. It is now fashionable to belong to a new category. As far as pomosexuality goes, the fad is about not believing in any of the compartmentalisations."[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Mallik, Chetan (2004-01-24). Now, say hello to the pomosexual!. The Times of India. Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
  2. ^ Queen & Schimel, page 20

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Languages