Abstract
This chapter investigates a potential shift in representational regimes and the consumerist exploitation of the rectum, a male body part often considered taboo. The analysis is based on a set of advertising texts that promote sex toys that are said to improve the health of the male prostate, as well as produce sexual enjoyment. The chapter also seeks to re-purpose a queer theoretical approach to discourse analysis in light of a neo-Marxian commitment to unveiling the economic rationale underpinning neo-liberal regimes of consumer culture.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
References
Ahmed, S. (2006). Orientations: Towards a Queer Phenomenology. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 12(4), 543–574.
Baker, P. (2008). Sexed Texts: Language, Gender and Sexuality. London: Equinox.
Barnhurst, K. (2007). Media Queered: Visibility and Its Discontents. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
Benwell, B. (2002). Is There Anything ‘New’ About These Lads? The Construction of Masculinity in Men’s Magazines. In L. Litosseliti & J. Sunderland (Eds.), Discourse Analysis and Gender Identity (pp. 149–174). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Benwell, B. (2003). Ambiguous Masculinities: Heroism and Anti-heroism in the Men’s Lifestyle Magazine. In B. Benwell (Ed.), Masculinity and Men’s Lifestyle Magazines (pp. 151–168). Oxford: Blackwell.
Benwell, B. (2004). Ironic Discourse. Men and Masculinities, 7(1), 3–21.
Benwell, B. (2005). “Lucky This Is Anonymous!” Men’s Magazines and Ethnographies of Reading: A Textual Culture Approach. Discourse & Society, 16(2), 147–172.
Bersani, L. (1987). Is the Rectum a Grave? AIDS: Cultural Analysis/Cultural Activism, 43, 197–222.
Borba, R. (2016). Posfácio—O corpo distópico. In G. Bonfante (Ed.), A erótica dos signos em Aplicativos de Pegação (pp. 313–320). Rio de Janeiro: Multifoco.
Borba, R., Lewis, S. E., Falabella Fabricio, B., & de Souza Pinto, D. (2014). Introduction: A Queer Postcolonial Critique of (Queer) Knowledge Production and Activism. In S. E. Lewis, R. Borba, B. Falabella Fabricio, & D. de Souza Pinto (Eds.), Queering Paradigms IV: South-North Dialogues on Queer Epistemologies, Embodiments and Activisms (pp. 1–10). Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
Bucholtz, M., & Hall, K. (2016). Embodied Sociolinguistics. In N. Coupland (Ed.), Sociolinguistics: Theoretical Debates (pp. 173–200). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex. New York: Routledge.
Chirrey, D. A. (2015). Formulating Dispositions in Coming Out Advice. Discourse Studies, 13(3), 283–298.
Cornwall, A., Karionis, F. G., & Lindisfarne, N. (Eds.). (2016). Masculinities Under Neoliberalism. Chicago: Zed Books.
Dardot, P., & Laval, C. (2013). The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society. New York: Verso.
Davidson, J. D., & Rees-Mogg, W. (1999). The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age. New York: Touchstone.
Duggan, L. (2015). Queer Complacency Without Empire. Retrieved August 1, 2016, from https://bullybloggers.wordpress.com/2015/09/22/queer-complacency-without-empire/
Fairclough, N. (1995). Media Discourse. London: Arnold.
Foucault, M. (1990 [1978]). The Will to Knowledge: The History of Sexuality Vol. 1. London: Penguin.
Gill, R. (2014). Powerful Women, Vulnerable Men and Postfeminist Masculinity in Men’s Popular Fiction. Gender and Language, 8(2), 185–204.
Halberstam, J. (2013). Charming for the Revolution: A Gaga Manifesto. E-Flux, 44(4). Retrieved August 1, 2016, from http://www.e-flux.com/journal/charming-for-the-revolution-a-gaga-manifesto/
Halberstam, J. (2015). Straight Eye for the Queer Theorist. Retrieved August 1, 2016, from https://bullybloggers.wordpress.com/2015/09/12/straight-eye-for-the-queer-theorist-a-review-of-queer-theory-without-antinormativity-by-jack-halberstam/
Halperin, D. (1995). Saint Foucault: Towards a Gay Hagiography. New York: Oxford University Press.
Harrison, C. (2008). Real Men Do Wear Mascara: Advertising Discourse and Masculine Identity. Critical Discourse Studies, 5(1), 55–74.
Jagose, A. (2015). The Trouble with Antinormativity. Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, 26(1), 26–47.
Kaufman, G., & Raphael, L. (1996). Coming Out of Shame: Transforming Gay and Lesbian Lives. New York: Main Street Books.
Kirsch, M. H. (2000). Queer Theory and Social Change. New York: Routledge.
Kulick, D. (2005). Four Hundred Thousand Swedish Perverts. GLQ: A Journal of Gay and Lesbian Studies, 11(2), 205–235.
Kulick, D. (2012). En unken och beklaglig människosyn: män, sex och fuktionshinder. In L. Gottzén & R. Jonsson (Eds.), Andra män—maskulinitet, normskapande och jämställdhet (pp. 25–44). Lund: Gleerups.
MacKinnon, C. (1982). Feminism, Marxism, Method and State: An Agenda for Theory. Signs, 7(3), 515–544.
Manning, E. (1997). Kissing and Cuddling: The Reciprocity of Romantic and Sexual Activity. In K. Harvey & C. Shalom (Eds.), Language and Desire: Encoding Sex, Romance and Intimacy (pp. 43–59). London: Routledge.
Mieli, M. (1980). Homosexuality and Liberation: Elements of a Gay Critique. London: Gay Men’s Press.
Milani, T. M. (2014). Queering Masculinities. In S. Ehrlich, M. Meyerhoff, & J. Holmes (Eds.), The Handbook of Language, Gender and Sexuality (2nd ed., pp. 260–277). Malden: Wiley Blackwell.
Milani, T. M., & Shaikjee, M. (2013). A New South African Man? Beer, Masculinity and Social Change. In L. L. Atanga, S. E. Ellece, L. Litosseliti, & J. Sunderland (Eds.), Gender and Language in sub-Saharan Africa: Tradition, Struggle and Change (pp. 131–148). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Millward, J. (2013). Down the Rabbit-Hole: What One Million Sex Toy Sales Reveal About Our Erotic Tastes, Kinks and Desires. Retrieved August 1, 2016, from http://jonmillward.com/blog/studies/down-the-rabbit-hole-analysis-1-million-sex-toy-sales/
Miskolci, R. (2014). Queer Epistemologies. In S. E. Lewis, R. Borba, B. Falabella Fabricio, & D. de Souza Pinto (Eds.), Queering Paradigms IV: South-North Dialogues on Queer Epistemologies, Embodiments and Activisms (pp. 13–30). Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
Peck, A., & Stroud, C. (2015). Skinscapes. Linguistic Landscape, 1(1–2), 133–151.
Pelúcio, L. (2014). Possible Appropriations and Necessary Provocations for a Teoria Cu. In S. E. Lewis, R. Borba, B. Falabella Fabricio, & D. de Souza Pinto (Eds.), Queering Paradigms IV: South-North Dialogues on Queer Epistemologies, Embodiments and Activisms (pp. 53–66). Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
Penney, J. (2014). After Queer Theory: The Limits of Sexual Politics. New York: Pluto Press.
Preciado, B. (2009). Terror Anal: apuntes sobre los primeros dias de la revolución sexual. In G. Hocquenghem (2009 [1972]) El Deseo Homosexual (pp. 133–174). Barcelona: Melusina.
Preciado, B. (2013 [2008]). Testo Junkie: Sex, Drugs, and Biopolitics in the Pharmacopornographic Era. New York: The Feminist Press.
Rose, N. (1999). Powers of Freedom: Reframing Political Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sedgwick, E. K. (1993). Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire. New York: Columbia University Press.
Sicurella, F. G. (2016). The Approach That Dares Speak Its Name: Queer and the Problem of ‘Big Nouns’ in Academia. Gender and Language, 10(1), 73–84.
Smith, A. (1977 [1772]). An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Stiglitz, J. (2008). The End of Neo-liberalism. Project Syndicate. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-end-of-neo-liberalism?barrier=true
Sunderland, J. (2004). Gendered Discourses. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Warner, M. (1993). Introduction. In M. Warner (Ed.), Fear of a Queer Planet (pp. vii–xxxi). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Wiegman, R. (2012). Object Lessons. Raleigh: Duke University Press.
Wiegman, R., & Wilson, E. A. (2015). Introduction: Anti-normativity’s Queer Conventions. Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, 26(1), 1–25.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Milani, T.M. (2018). Is the Rectum a Gold Mine? Queer Theory, Consumer Masculinities, and Capital Pleasures. In: Baker, P., Balirano, G. (eds) Queering Masculinities in Language and Culture. Palgrave Studies in Language, Gender and Sexuality. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95327-1_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95327-1_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95326-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95327-1
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)