Publication of the Month: October 2021

The Deconstruction of Sex

Irving Goh and Jean-Luc Nancy
Duke University Press

In The Deconstruction of Sex, Jean-Luc Nancy and Irving Goh discuss how a deconstructive approach to sex helps us negotiate discourses about sex and foster a better understanding of how sex complicates our everyday existence in the age of #MeToo. Throughout their conversation, Nancy and Goh engage with topics ranging from relation, penetration, and subjection to touch, erotics, and jouissance. They show how despite being entrenched in social norms and central to our being-in-the-world, sex lacks a clearly defined essence. At the same time, they point to the potentiality of literature to inscribe the senses of sex. In so doing, Nancy and Goh prompt us to reconsider our relations to ourselves and others through sex in more sensitive, respectful, and humble ways without bracketing the troubling aspects of sex.

the deconstruction of sex

Goh, I. and Nancy, J. The Deconstruction of Sex. Duke University Press. 2021.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email