Desexualization: Difference between revisions

'''Desexualization''' is the practise of depriving of sexual characteristics or sexuality. Desexualization is a major motive behind keeping incels from complaining, as well as a motive for male genital mutilation and [[female genital mutilation]]. Practitioners of female genital mutilation believe that desexualization, and its physical manifestation, such as FGM, ensures chastity, and by extension, prevents promiscuity.<ref>Gruenbaum, Ellen, and Elizabeth Wirtz. "Female genital cutting debates." The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality (2015).</ref> When beliefs surrounding the virtues of desexualization are put into practise through FGM, it is done through interpreting the outer vulva as representing the source of a woman's [[libido]].<ref>Garba, I. D., et al. "Prevalence of female genital mutilation among female infants in Kano, Northern Nigeria." Archives of gynecology and obstetrics 286.2 (2012): 423-428.</ref> Others theoretical motives behind desexualizing women in the context of FGM is to prevent family disintegration.<ref>Otaigbe, Barbara Edewele. "Infantile masturbation in an African female: is this a justification for female genital cutting?." World Journal of Pediatrics 4.2 (2008): 148.</ref> Within [[Islamic culture]]s, the zenith of desexualization occurs when it is done in order to uphold a code of honor. In this context, FGM is sometimes practised alongside others attempts at desexualization such as a prohibition on freemixing, the adoption of the [[niqab]] as a form of clothing and threats against bringing dishonor upon the family.<ref>Ghanim, David. "Virginity and Body Discourse." The Virginity Trap in the Middle East. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2015. 65-77.</ref> These attitudes may not necessarily have a footing in religious texts, and may instead simply be a reaction to what ultra-conservative Muslims feel is a wave of excessive liberalism and feminism.<ref>Nelson, Christopher. "The domestic is political, and the political is gendered: An analysis of veiled subjects, gendered epistemologies, and Muslim bodies." Islamophobia Studies Journal 3.1 (2015): 106-114.</ref> Some analysts that have interviewed excisors have claimed that female genital mutilation that involves clitoridectomy, is especially intended to desexualize women, due to the central nature of the clitoris in women's sexuality.<ref>AHMADU, FUAMBAI. "Equality, Not Special Protection: Multiculturalism, Feminism, and Female Circumcision in Western Liberal Democracies." Universalism Without Uniformity: Explorations in Mind and Culture (2017): 214.</ref> Another method through which desexualization manifests itself is by expropriating and then augmenting existing desexualized attitudes such as those towards aging people and the [[Disability|disabled]]. In this instance, desexualization can be viewed as an instrument of [[ableism]].<ref>Brown, Lydia XZ. "Ableist Shame and Disruptive Bodies: Survivorship at the Intersection of Queer, Trans, and Disabled Existence." Religion, Disability, and Interpersonal Violence. Springer, Cham, 2017. 163-178.</ref>