Shitsex: recontaminating queer sex and theory

ABSTRACT

This essay responds and extends the discourse found in Corey and Nakayama’s “Sextext” and Gunn’s “ShitText.” Examining the process of anal douching, which washes away fecal matter from the anus before penetration, commonly found in queer sex practices, I argue that queers do not want shit in their sex; douching serves to “clean up,” sterilize, and legitimate queer sex in cis-heteronormative culture. Through the method of critical erotic/a, I argue that douching is a process of decontamination reflected in larger disciplinary conversations about queer theory; we “clean up,” sterilize, and legitimate queer theory to the cis-heteronormative academy.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical erotic/a
• douche
• queer theory
• sex
• shit

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers, Jake Simmons, Brooks Oglesby, Jessica Sage Rauchberg, and Ana Isabel Terminel Iberri for their support of and helpful feedback on this shitty essay. I would also like to acknowledge the queer mentorship I have received from Loretta LeMaster and Dan Brouwer, without whom my work would not be possible; sparkles to you both forever.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Bottoms and tops are common terms used to describe two different roles in anal sex. A bottom is someone who is being penetrated and a top is someone who is doing the penetrating.

2 See Benson (2–16) and Owen (297–317) for more on the panic that Sextext aroused through the discipline.

3 For more on the history and cultural rendering of douching see Friedenwald and Morrison (“Part I”), Friedenwald and Morrison (“Part II”), and Dixon.