Isham Cook

Sexual Fascism Isham Cook

At present the USA is the global innovator in sexual repression, with almost one million Americans under electronic surveillance, many rendered unemployable and indigent for offenses as minor as frat-party mooning or streaking, consensual relations between teenagers, teen sexting, erotic massage, and public urination. We seem to be a step closer to Big Brother telescreens installed in every home and Thought Police crashing through bedroom windows. But if George Orwell's 1984 comes to mind, it's not the right starting point. Sexual fascism takes root, rather, in the telescreens that we install inside our heads. And because sexual self-discipline is never enough, we grant powers to the state to give us a helping hand and extend its control over the population with an expanding array of judicial and carceral measures, all obscured by illusory freedoms of sexual choice and expression. The essays in this collection investigate the paradox of a culture where sexual freedom is retreating under the illusion of advancing.