In this article, I introduce and discuss some practices through which individuals modify the culturally and socially established understanding of 'love' by interpreting and negotiating it again and again in daily interactions. I will articulate my argumentation into two sections, according to the following main assumptions: a) 'love' is to be conceived of as a social institution, as a set of rules governing the interactions between individuals. Being a social institution, love emerges from a process through which its 'normal' definition is established and presented as preferable for all group members, though there are no 'essential' features providing evidence enough for that 'normalcy'. In its turn, the 'normal' kind of love presupposes a 'normal' individual, whose body, gender and sexuality must fit the standards required to be entitled 'to love'; b) as a result, love, just like any other institution, is imposed on individuals who are requested to conform in order to be considered as 'normal'. Anyway, since no social institution is able to completely erase individuak differences, the persistence cannot be avoided of 'not-normal' interpretations of 'love', and the practices to which they give birth are at the same time an expression of resistance and the main reason why the prevailing understanding of the social institution, in this case 'love', cannot refrain from changing over time.
Queer Loves: Restating Bodies, Genders, and Sexualities
MONCERI, Flavia
2009-01-01
Abstract
In this article, I introduce and discuss some practices through which individuals modify the culturally and socially established understanding of 'love' by interpreting and negotiating it again and again in daily interactions. I will articulate my argumentation into two sections, according to the following main assumptions: a) 'love' is to be conceived of as a social institution, as a set of rules governing the interactions between individuals. Being a social institution, love emerges from a process through which its 'normal' definition is established and presented as preferable for all group members, though there are no 'essential' features providing evidence enough for that 'normalcy'. In its turn, the 'normal' kind of love presupposes a 'normal' individual, whose body, gender and sexuality must fit the standards required to be entitled 'to love'; b) as a result, love, just like any other institution, is imposed on individuals who are requested to conform in order to be considered as 'normal'. Anyway, since no social institution is able to completely erase individuak differences, the persistence cannot be avoided of 'not-normal' interpretations of 'love', and the practices to which they give birth are at the same time an expression of resistance and the main reason why the prevailing understanding of the social institution, in this case 'love', cannot refrain from changing over time.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.