Rebooting an Old Script by New Means: Teledildonics—The Technological Return to the ‘Coital Imperative’

Teledildonics, a form of digital-mediated sexual interaction, opens new possibilities for the understanding of sexual activity. At first glance, it disrupts conventional preconditions and assumptions about sexual interaction, by allowing the dimension of touch despite the physical distance between partners and, ultimately, promoting a sexual dimension definitely disconnected from the reproductive model of sexuality. However, by scrutinizing the design and functionality of the devices, as well as the discourses presented by three commercial companies—LovePalz, Lovense and Kiiroo—I suggest that this technology reinforces the ‘coital imperative’, by equating sexual interaction with penetration of the vagina by the penis. Although permitting other formulations, specifically for non-heterosexual couples, the penetrative act remains a presupposition. In spite of structurally disrupting the reproductive model of sex, teledildonics promotes its strongest corollary.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Digitized narratives of sexual violence: Making sexual violence felt and known through digital disclosures

In this article, we argue that social media platforms like Tumblr and Twitter have facilitated an emergence of “digitized narratives” of sexual violence. These narratives are rooted in historical ways in which feminists have discursively articulated sexual violence, yet are shaped by distinctive “platform vernacular” or the conventions, affordances, and restrictions of the platforms in which they appear. Drawing on a qualitative content and critical discourse analysis of 450 texts from the Tumblr site Who Needs Feminism? and the hashtag #BeenRapedNeverReported, we argue that digital platforms such as Tumblr and Twitter produce new vernacular practices which shape how “digitized narratives” of sexual violence are not only disclosed and known, but felt and experienced across digital networks

Understanding conflict-related sexual violence and the ‘everyday’ experience of conflict through witness testimonies.

The testimonies of witnesses who testify before criminal courts provide crucial insights into the situated experience of conflict-related sexual violence. Witness testimonies highlight the complex realities and everyday lives of individuals caught up in situations of armed conflict. The evidence presented by witnesses can provide vital insights into lived experiences of wartime violence, and reveal the seemingly mundane strategies and tactics adopted by victims to cope with, survive and resist the violent and coercive circumstances of war. This article foregrounds conflict-related sexual violence witness testimonies as highly significant sources of knowledge of the everyday experiences of conflict. It sets out a bottom-up, mixed-method approach for identifying and analysing the experiential accounts of those who lived through conflict-related sexual violence, while engaging with the opportunities and challenges of using witness testimony. Our approach unsettles existing notions of ‘the everyday’ in Peace & Conflict Studies as a synonym for narratives and practices of violence, justice and peacebuilding that are private, informal and largely hidden from view. Understanding witness testimonies requires conceptualising the everyday as an amalgam of formal and informal practices, as accessible through both elite and lay knowledges and as documented in both public and private (e.g. redacted) sources. It requires challenging taken-for-granted dichotomies that are frequently invoked to understand conflict and peace

Indonesian Christian Young People Resisting the Dominant Discourses of Men as Desiring/Dangerous and Women as Non-sexual/Vulnerable

Contemporary feminist studies have demonstrated how the binary constitution of men as desiring/dangerous and women as non-sexual/vulnerable has enabled, normalised, and sustained intimate partner sexual violence against women. Such binary positioning has given rise to gendered religious and sexual subjectivities that severely constrain women’s sexual agency. However, only a few studies have explored the ways this binary might be contested in one’s becoming of a sexual subject, particularly the identification of alternative discourses one’s may draw upon to challenge the dominant one. Seeking to fill this gap, this chapter presents four vignettes of resistance which might rework this gendered positioning among young Indonesian Christians vis-à-vis intimate partner sexual violence. The analysis revealed that these young participants drew on various alternative discourses to which they have access – from feminist, religious, to same-sex sexuality – to give new meanings to men and women as sexual subjects and resist the normalisation of intimate partner sexual violence