This blog is part of a series I'm writing while I'm updating the fifteen year old "My Gender Workbook" for Routledge Press. I'm asking for your voice to be included in the spiffy new version, because you are so much more than the first version of the book could have predicted. Every couple of days, I'll be posting a new question for you to ponder. If the question tickles your fancy, by all means please speak to it. For more about this update, check out the original blog. Thanks for your help.
I'm trying to break down sexuality into its component parts. If you're reading this blog, you know that sexuality is more than the gender of your partner(s). And if you've been reading my twibe's tweets about asexuality, you know that sexuality doesn't always include sex. So, what are the components?
Here's what I've come up with so far. I'm asking for your input: besides the following factors (in varying degrees in different people), what else is a component of a person's sexuality?
INTEREST IN SEX
BODY PARTS, CONFIGURATIONS, & IMAGE
GENDER ASSIGNMENT, IDENTITY & EXPRESSION
SENSATION
EROTIC/EROGENOUS ENHANCEMENTS & TOYS
LOCATION & TIMING
PERCEPTION & COMMUNICATION
DEBGREES OF CONSENT
TRUST, VULNERABILITY, PRIVACY & INTIMACY
CONFIDENCE & POWER DYNAMICS
SAFETY
LOVE & ROMANCE
PARTNERING
COMMUNITY, SOCIAL SKILLS, & INTERACTION
COMFORT & RISK
WHIMSY, FANTASY, FLIRTATION & PLAYFULNESS
MORALITY
INTELLIGENCE, SPRITUALITY & WISDOM
HUMOR & COMEDY
EMPATHY & RESPECT
COMPATIBILITY *
* I'm tying compatibility to placing varying degrees of importance upon perceived gender, race, age, class, religion, sexuality, looks, ability, mental health, family/ reproductive status, language, habitat, citizenship, political ideology, and humanity.
So… what else goes into defining a person's sexuality? The first draft of My New Gender Workbook is coming into the home stretch. Looking forward to your comments and tweets!
kiss kiss
Auntie Kate
Reminder: You can answer in the comments section of this blog, but Twitter is the very best way to respond. Response length, wherever you do it, is maximum 280 characters, two tweels. Your tweets do NOT have to be addressed to me, but DO remember to put the hashtag #MNGW on ALL your tweets about this or any other gender-y thing that might pop into your adorable li'l head.