{"id":442,"date":"2015-02-18T21:42:14","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T02:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/?p=442"},"modified":"2015-02-18T21:42:14","modified_gmt":"2015-02-19T02:42:14","slug":"taking-back-agency-of-the-tampon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/2015\/02\/18\/taking-back-agency-of-the-tampon\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking back agency of the tampon."},"content":{"rendered":"

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While \u201csay you like sporty spice\u2026say it!\u201d is likely the most memorable line of one episode of a new, alternative porn outlet produced by Indie Porn Revolution, described as \u201csex positive with a trans female focus\u201d, the radical and in fact humorous nature of the series can be understood through a lens of queer theory. By beginning the pornographic narrative with a handful of female friends, who gather other seemingly random participants from streets in their neighborhood, the film immediately challenges the \u201corganizations of community\u2026and activity in space\u201d of heteronormative ideologies (Halberstam, p.). More specifically, the continuation of the scene and the imaginative sexual activities that transpire create a physical as well as cyber \u201cqueer space\u201d (Halberstam), that provides endless and unpredictable alternatives both in terms of narrative as well as sexual identity.<\/p>\n

Amongst the playful and often humorous group sex, one act consists of one of the women removing a tampon from another, with the goal of providing sexual pleasure. Strange as it may seem, this use of an otherwise stigmatized \u2018feminine hygiene\u2019 product as a means for women to be sexual with one another is a profound statement against firm heteronormative institutions. The reformulation of the tampon from a means to inhibit a natural female process, to a sex toy transcends traditional notions of privacy, of menstruation and reproduction, and thus of gender norms in their entirety. The tampon\u2019s interaction with the somatic self becomes redefined \u2013 thus defying its institutional meaning and re-appropriating it within a free, queer space. As Freeman argues, such \u201cinstitutional forces\u201d have in many ways become \u201csomatic facts\u201d (p.3), a process known as chrononormativity. By challenging the \u2018established\u2019 use of the tampon, this porn and its participants take ownership and agency over products designed for their gender, but also over their sexuality and personhood as a whole.
\nFreeman, however, argues that to exist outside the imposed time line is to barely exist at all; in other words, abiding by a \u201csequence of socioeconomically \u201cproductive\u201d moments\u201d has been unfortunately equated to living. The existence, or rather the avid and animate living of female characters, engaging in evidently queer sexual practices is, in the context of this society, a paradox. Said simply, the silencing of queer space is what ultimately \u2018kills\u2019 its participants, depriving them of any opportunity or right to \u2018live\u2019. To take this thought even further, I considered the theatrical nature of this porn \u2013 the costume-life outfits, the exaggerated expressions, and the comedic twist on sex. So in fact, the existence of this queer space and the queer women within it, remains limited to a theatrical, almost cartooned representation of anything non-heteronormative. To further understand this, we can assess how the narrator in Winterson\u2019s Written on the Body, is constantly struggling with perceptions of \u2018survival\u2019 and \u2018living\u2019. If living is in fact simply a product of obedience to a timeline of birth, marriage, reproduction, and death, then those that defy it (Winterson\u2019s narrator and our friendly feminist porn stars) are left floating in a space that can only be defined as the opposite of life \u2013 death. Queer space then, provides not a flexible option for weirdos, dykes, freaks, tampon-fiends, cross-dressers, or Spice Girl kinks, but rather, it provides life.<\/p>\n

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Link to Indie Porn Revolution:<\/p>\n

Welcome to nofauxxx.com home of the indie porn revolution!<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n