Rhizomatic Cartographies of Sex, Gender and Sexuality
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Re-Visioning Bisexuality: Rhizomatic Cartographies of Sex, Gender and Sexuality by Janet Beatrice Watson BA (Hons) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Deakin University November, 2012 Table of Contents Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................ iii Abstract .......................................................................................................... v Glossary ........................................................................................................ vi Introduction: Re-Visioning Bisexuality ..................................................... 1 Beyond 'Identity' ................................................................................... 1 Reconsidering Difference ..................................................................... 6 Chapter Outline ................................................................................... 10 1 Bisexual Genealogies: From Deviance to Diversity............................. 18 The Perverse and its Hidden Promise ................................................. 19 Sex Surveys: Scales, Grids and Statistical Aggregates ...................... 25 Conclusion .......................................................................................... 32 2 Bisexuality: Mapping Sex/Gender ........................................................ 35 Either/Neither/Both: Bothersome Binaries ......................................... 37 Locating Gendered Realities .............................................................. 50 Conclusion .......................................................................................... 64 3 Towards a Deleuzian Sociology ............................................................ 67 Re-conceptualising Bisexuality: Multiplicities, Assemblages ........... 70 Bisexuality as Affect .......................................................................... 74 Rethinking Sexual Difference ............................................................ 76 Beyond Dualism ................................................................................. 80 Rhizomatic Cartographies .................................................................. 81 Becomings, Becoming-Woman .......................................................... 84 Micro-Political Becomings ................................................................. 87 Desiring Production: Body without Organs ....................................... 90 A Minor Writing Method ................................................................... 95 Conclusion .......................................................................................... 97 4 A Minor Method ................................................................................... 100 Making 'Strange' the Margins ........................................................... 102 'Conceptualising' the Research Population ....................................... 107 Creative Recruitment ........................................................................ 109 Mapping Ethical Spaces ................................................................... 112 Interviewing: Flexible, Fluid, Relational .......................................... 115 The 'Nomadic' Researcher: Inside, Outside, Beside ......................... 119 Rhizomatic Cartographies: Disassembling, Reassembling .............. 123 Conclusion ........................................................................................ 126 i Table of Contents 5 Emergent Subjectivities ....................................................................... 128 Battling the Binaries: A Tug-of-War ................................................ 130 Innovation and Experimentation ...................................................... 137 Asignifying Gay and Lesbian ........................................................... 149 Conclusion ........................................................................................ 155 6 Teratologies ........................................................................................... 157 Intersex and 'Borderless Love' .......................................................... 159 Strange Encounters: Monstrous (Trans)Formations ......................... 165 Indeterminate Femininities ............................................................... 168 Autopoiesis: Inventions of Self ........................................................ 172 Conclusion ........................................................................................ 182 7 Contagion .............................................................................................. 185 Rehabilitating 'Contagion' ................................................................ 187 Fear and Loathing ............................................................................. 193 Mutant Flows: Imperceptible Bodies ............................................... 200 Towards a Generative Ethics ............................................................ 214 Conclusion ....................................................................................... 217 8 Nuptials ................................................................................................. 219 'Unnatural' Alliances: Bountiful Possibilities ................................... 221 Beyond 'Human' Aggregates: BDSM, Furries, Becoming-Animal .. 231 Expanding Textures of Gender ......................................................... 242 Conclusion ........................................................................................ 255 Conclusion: Approaching New Horizons ............................................... 257 Appendix: Participant Profiles ............................................................... 270 References ................................................................................................. 276 ii Acknowledgements Acknowledgements This work is the culmination of an intellectual labour of passion. In the four years or so of its undertaking, I have been privileged to have the support, encouragement, sage advice, and contributions of many people. Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the participants who gave generously of their time to be interviewed for my study and made this thesis possible. To the numerous members of various bi, trans, queer and LGBTI communities and organisations who endorsed and encouraged my research, I am also truly indebted. In the epic task of writing this dissertation, I gratefully acknowledge my principal supervisor, Dr. Kim Toffoletti, and associate supervisors, A/Prof. Grazyna Zajdow and Dr. Karen Lane. To Kim I would like to offer an enormous thank-you for the tireless reading of many words, and academic expertise and analytical acuity her guidance has brought to my project. To Grazyna and Karen, for their intellectual generosity and enthusiasm, I am likewise greatly appreciative. It is with the benefit of such exemplary mentoring that I have grown immeasurably as a scholar. Thank-you also to the supportive and collegial environment provided by the Faculty of Arts and Education, Research Services Division, and Library staff at Deakin University. I am especially grateful for the administrative support provided by Robyn, Sarah, Kylie, Melissa and Robert, who have enabled the doctoral ride to be a smooth one. The postgraduate community fostered here has, without doubt, made the Ph.D. experience one that I will always remember fondly. On that note, the students and colleagues who have travelled this journey with me have been a source of enrichment, inspiration and motivation. In particular, my gratitude goes to Neena, Amy, Sally, Emma, Suzanne, Kathryn, Mercedeh, Piper, Julie, Edwin and David for making the journey a joyous one. I am especially indebted to Neena for undertaking the arduous task of proof- reading, and also listening to me (on an almost daily basis) wax lyrical about all manner of things Deleuzian! I give a special thank-you to Dr. Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli from the Health Faculty at Deakin for her iii Acknowledgements invaluable advice, inspiring comments, and keen interest in my research. I am grateful also to my family afar – Geraldine, David, Ken and Jill – whose vocal cheers have helped spur me on to the finish line. To my close friends, Michele, Annie, Karina, Jackie, Bec and Steffi, your love, laughter, kindness, wonderful company (accompanied by a chardy or two), and faith in my ability as a scholar, has quite simply, kept me going through the many ups and downs encountered along the way. To my son, Tristan, who (from a young child to now an adult) has endured the long sojourn of my academic endeavours, your smiles, hugs, kisses, and endearing charm and cheekiness, were always waiting for me at those moments when I needed them most. And to my adoring (and very tolerant) partner of 28 years, Bruce, this dissertation would not have come to fruition without your profound love, support, admiration, at times incredulity at my never-ending drive for perfection, and unwavering belief in my intellectual capacity and potential. iv Abstract Abstract This thesis argues that bisexuality offers an epistemological lens through which to consider how the master categories of sex, gender and sexuality are continually dismantled and revised through the lived realities that occupy 'in- between' spaces of corporeality – heterosexual/homosexual, man/woman, male/female,