Course disputes idea that heterosexual sex is ‘natural’

Campus Reform – by Toni Airaksinen

Eugene Lang College, part of The New School in Lower Manhattan, will offer a course next semester for students who wish to fight “heterosexist” explanations of animals and nature.

Taught by Heather Davis, “Queer Ecologies” is a four-credit course offered by the school’s Culture and Media department for students who wish to “disrupt prevailing heterosexist discursive and institutional articulations of sexuality and nature.”   

“Drawing from traditions as diverse as evolutionary biology, LGBTQ+ movements, feminist science studies, and environmental justice, this course will…examine the ways in which sex and nature are understood.”    

According to the professor, these “heterosexist” explanations of sexuality and nature often involve referring to male/female animals.

According to the course description, students will be taught to “reimagine evolutionary processes, ecological interactions, and environmental politics in light of queer theory” by drawing from research in fields such as feminist science studies and environmental justice.

Students will also “draw important connections between the material and cultural dimensions of environmental issues, and examine the ways in which sex and nature are understood in light of multiple trajectories of power and matter,” the description adds.

During an interview with Campus Reform, Davis explained that queer ecologies is an “interdisciplinary field that examines the relationship between sexuality and nature, thinking beyond the boundaries of assuming that heterosexuality is the norm or standard.”

The field “inquires into the sexual lives of animals, plants, and bacteria—lives that are often much more strange, adaptable, and queer than anything humans do,” she elaborated. “It also seeks to critique how heterosexuality is presumed as natural.”

While it is not immediately apparent why the school’s Culture and Media department is offering the class, Davis explained that the course takes aim at how institutions like media outlets and schools often perpetuate myths about sex, gender, and the environment.

Such institutions, Davis said, often promote the idea that “mammals only use sex for reproduction, and that this is always heterosexual sex,” for example.

“We can see this in how queerness is often said to be ‘unnatural’…rather than thinking about how queer sex might actually be helpful to the survival of species,” Davis noted.

One example of this, Davis asserted, is how scientists often characterize plants using gender-specific language.

“We still tend to characterize plants that reproduce sexually in heterosexual terms where a male and female plant need to transfer gametes. Although this understanding of plant reproduction is not un-true, it misses the point that in order for these plants to fertilize they also rely on other species, such as bees and wasps,” she argued.

“In other words, reproduction here is about cross-species interaction, even pleasure, and reducing this description to purely an exchange of genes misses the opportunity to inquire into these relationships,” Davis elaborated. “Queer theory helps to broaden the picture, understanding the behaviours and companionships that exist in these ecologies.”

Other upcoming classes offered by the New School Media and Culture department include “Foucault and His Legacy,” “Feminist, Queer Theory and The Arts,” and “How to Overthrow the U.S Government, Legally.”

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @Toni_Airaksinen

https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11168

10 thoughts on “Course disputes idea that heterosexual sex is ‘natural’

  1. Someone posted this pic of “boys today” on twitter. Not sure what was meant by the “German” comment, but the pic made me sad. Obviously set up by controlling adult perv. Child abuse, again. I know it’s not all boys that this is happening to, but there is certainly a push to make it so. Keep boys boys and girls girls. Anyhow, a pathetic trickle-down to the young ones:

    https://twitter.com/Beagnoth/status/1023859194481369088

    .

  2. “… Davis explained that queer ecologies is an “interdisciplinary field that examines the relationship between sexuality and nature, thinking beyond the boundaries of assuming that heterosexuality is the norm or standard.”

    ASSUMING it’s the norm???

    ONLY A F%&KING TERMINALLY RETARDED MORON WOULD FAIL TO SEE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN SEX & REPRODUCTION.

    FAGGOTS CAN’T REPRODUCE… THEREFORE, FAGGOTRY IS OBVIOUSLY UN-NATURAL!!!

  3. Would you believe I almost attended this college for a doctorate degree in Psychology back in 1981? Thanks to President Reagan, I couldn’t afford to go (Reagan had just cancelled Pell Grants for graduate students…say what you want about Reagan, but boy did his act make my life a whole lot better! Instead of grad school I moved to Florida and met my future husband, who was visiting his folks when I met him–of course he was living in far west Texas at the time).

  4. Somewhat related, this is calling out Hollywood big names on pedo accusations. It seems a burgeoning cultural phenomenon. I’m only a third in, but since it’s National Whistle-blower Appreciation Day, thought I’d post it. He does validate Q and the Holocaust, so one has to get past that in the midst of some awful tellings. Anyhow…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Znh-WuM9zI

    .

    1. You should check out kappy kike’s instagram page. He’s got some new artwork called “magic real magic” and it is an occult tribute if I’ve ever seen one.

      1. I see what you mean.

        Wanting to be there to help the kids. So much to sort through. So hard to know what’s true. One wonders how all this will play out, will come to be exposed, will make life safe again. One wonders.

        🙁

        .

  5. Never attempt to argue with the insane.

    Just take comfort in knowing when the time comes, you’re finally putting them at peace.

  6. I recommend anyone even thinking about attending a school of higher education should instead turn to Internet, libraries, and successful persons in their proposed field of study as learning resources and make their education a “DIY” project. In other words, get the “know-how” and skills and forget about the credentials.

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