(GAS4b) Theories, representations, and the shaping of intimacy
Tuesday Jun 18 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm (Eastern Daylight Time)
Trottier Building - ENGTR 2100
Session Code: GAS4b
Session Format: Paper Presentations
Session Language: English and French
Research Cluster Affiliation: Gender and Sexuality
Session Categories: Bilingual, In-person Session
This session intends to spotlight sociological research on contemporary forms of intimate relationships, with regard to their multiple dimensions (love feelings, sexuality, conjugality, domesticity). Its general purpose is to promote the study of intimacy as a specific field of research independent from - and yet connected to - the fields of family sociology and sexualities studies. To document and analyze the plurality of intimacy forms and create a space for debates dealing with this sociological object: the presentations will address conceptions, representations, and practices of intimacy, both empirically and theoretically. Tags: Feminism, Gender, Sexuality
Organizers: Lamia Djemoui, Université du Québec à Montréal, Noé Klein, Université du Québec à Montréal, Mario Marotta, Université du Québec à Montréal, Félix Dusseau, Université du Québec à Montréal; Chairs: Mario Marotta, Université du Québec à Montréal, Félix Dusseau, Université du Québec à Montréal
Presentations
Meganne Rodriguez-Caouette, Université de Montréal
Since the numerous adaptations of 'Lolita' (Kubrick, 1962; Lyne, 1997), the figure of the teenager fascinates (Dupont and Paris, 2013). Teen movies and teen TV series over the past decade have heavily exploited the figure of the teen girl, whether in the film franchise 'Twilight' (2008-2012), the television series 'Never I Have Ever' (Kaling et al., 2020-2023) or through the transmedia universe of 'Hannah Montana' (Poryes et al., 2006-2011; Chelsom, 2009). At the same time, as Sébastien Dupont and Hugues Paris (2013) reveal, these media productions have focused on showing, in their narrative, the desire that these protagonists arouse and the desire they feel. On the other hand, although these media stories illustrate these unavoidable topics of adolescence, research on the adolescent rather aligned with the gendered and sexual differentiation she allowed with male characters (Boutang and Sauvage 2011; Smith 2018), the representation and sexualization of one’s body (Dupont and Paris, 2013) or its representative evolutions through the feminist waves (Boutang and Sauvage 2011; Marghitu 2021). Also, some have studied the fantasy that this figure projects in these stories (Dupont and Paris, 2013) but never questioned the way films and television series have exploited it. How is female fantasy exploited in film and television productions? My hypothesis is that the adolescent female fantasy is exploited in these productions by the gaze of the protagonist on her own fantasies. More specifically, the gaze of the teenage characters is directed towards the object of their desires, revealing their fantasy which is, in conclusion, constrained to a heteronormative fictional framework. First, we will develop the theoretical framework of fantasy through two dimensions: space and temporality according to a serial axis. This allows both to question the concepts of fantasy, romance and desire that are understood as spaces according to the respective works of Sara Ahmed ([2006] 2022), Juliet Drouar (2020) and Lauren Berlant (2012) and to question the possibilities of romance in this type of media production. In a second step, by a comparative analysis of the teenage female characters of the film franchise 'To All the Boys Ive Loved Before' (Johnson 2018; Fimognari 2020 and 2021) and the television series 'XO Kitty' (Han, 2023 —), we will apply this theoretical framework of desire and fantasy in conjunction with Iris Brey’s concept of female gaze. This assembly is essential, since although the concept of Iris Brey is a relevant analytical tool to understand the exploitation of the feminine interiority in contemporary media productions, it is necessary, in this context of analysis, to observe how this dialogue with more specific notions related to adolescent romance through a narrative scheme defined by heteronormativity. In conclusion, adolescent female fantasy is exploited, in American productions, by focusing on how the orientation of their body and their gaze accounts for their fantastical imagination through a «cistème» (Drouar, 2020) predominantly heterosexual. This cistème is shaped by a consolidation of paintings depicting heteronormative relationships, building a consensual sensual utopia, as we have observed in both cases: the cinematic franchise 'To All the Boys Ive Loved Before' (2018-2022) and the television series 'XO Kitty' (Han, 2023 —).
Salomon Woumia Ouedraogo, Université Joseph KI-ZERBO
L’enquête sociologique a été menée auprès d’une cinquantaine (50) de femmes vivant dans la ville de Bobo Dioulasso au Burkina Faso. Elle s’est intéressée à la construction du sentiment amoureux et des relations sociales en se fondant sur lhypothèse selon laquelle les comportements affectifs de ces femmes sont déterminés, dans une mesure assez significative, par une série d’expériences visuelles qui fixent les cadres esthétiques et éthiques qui à leurs tours concourent activement à la structuration des conceptions féminines des émotions, de la structure de leurs désirs et de leurs manières d’envisager les relations sociales et affectives. Ce travail scientifique sur lequel reposent nos arguments s’est porté sur lusage que font les femmes des objets visuels (cinéma, télévision, roman-photo et contes) et sur les fonctions par lesquelles ces objets sont susceptibles de commander, en chacune d’elles, à la fois la définition de lidentité féminine, les frontières de l’altérité du genre à partir desquelles se dessine un modèle actif d’un partenariat femme-homme ; de ce dispositif elles en induisent les modalités dune concrétisation de ces liens amoureux. La thèse qui sera développée ici affirme que les expériences visuelles façonnent les relations interpersonnelles, ici le choix du partenaire, les relations de couple et les caractéristiques de celles-ci en même temps quelles fabriquent une identité féminine toujours en devenir. Le contrôle communautaire du corps féminin s’effrite au fur et à mesure que les sociétés rurales et notamment les jeunes filles intègrent lespace moderne des échanges sociaux et économiques qui, ruinant dans une grande mesure la structure des alliances traditionnelles dans laquelle elles étaient encastrées, les présentent sur le marché matrimonial comme dépossédées de toute épaisseur communautaire. Un aperçu des résultats de terrain est que les conceptions féminines du sentiment amoureux nont pas de tout temps et de tout lieu la même connotation. En effet dans les sociétés anciennes, les représentations amoureuses sont foncièrement marquées par leffet des configurations sociales anciennes, notamment parentales et gérontocratiques, qui imposent leur coercition sur toutes les conduites amoureuses. Les jeunes filles rurales ne peuvent concevoir leurs relations et sentiments amoureux quen relation avec lunion conjugale et seulement quà lintérieur de celle-ci. Pour cause les transactions matrimoniales qui sopèrent dans ces communautés anciennes, sont sévèrement contrôlées par les aînés, et fonctionnent sous le principe du don de femme, principe qui scellait les alliances entre communautés. La femme, se voit alors attribuer une fonction dans ces communautés, la fonction de la reproduction domestique. Mais lintégration progressive et inexorable des sociétés anciennes dans lunivers de léchange marchand a eu pour conséquence de transformer les règles sociales qui structuraient léconomie ancienne des échanges matrimoniaux. Les jeunes filles rurales se voient ainsi par la force des choses, attribuer de nouvelles places et de nouvelles fonctions dans la société moderne. En effet, linfluence sociale grandissante de linstitution scolaire, de largent dans les sociétés anciennes dans les relations sociales contribuèrent à desserrer les contraintes parentales et gérontocratiques dans lesquelles étaient encastrées les jeunes filles. Liconographie, comme catégorie importée qui véhicule des formes de relations amoureuses, détachées de larbitraire du pouvoir coercitif des aînés, trouve rapidement une place dans lespace social et notamment dans les comportements amoureux des jeunes filles. Ainsi lidéologie de la liberté amoureuse que véhiculent le roman, le cinéma et la télé, aidée par lévolution du règne de largent et de linstitution scolaire, suniversalise et simpose et marque de son empreinte toutes les formes de relations de couples. Mais ce processus duniversalisation des modèles iconographiques a aussi pour conséquence de provoquer en retour une fragilisation des relations de couples et les sentiments qui les accompagnent et partant une dépréciation des corps notamment celui féminin. Ainsi désormais, celui-ci est intégré malgré lui dans le processus déchange marchand qui a cours dans les sociétés anciennes duquel il perd de plus en plus de sa valeur.
Céline Hequet, McGill University
So-called “lifestyle sports” are ideal sites to study changing gender relations because they are, in theory, mixed-sex. Moreover, they value individuality, freedom, and hedonism, over the competitiveness, aggressiveness, and authority promoted in mainstream sports. Lifestyle sports are termed as such because they come to organize not only participants’ values, but also their leisure time, their career choices, where they live, and their social circle. However, despite their alternative ethos and the absence of rules preventing female participation, these sports have historically constituted themselves as male-dominated. Women were not previously absent from lifestyle sports subcultures, but they were most often (potential) girlfriends occupying the passive role of fan/spectator or “camp follower,” in the climbing subculture. The few active female participants were treated as “one of the guys,” so the cultural contradiction between femininity and sporting prowess would not have to be resolved. Romantic and sporting lives could sometimes prove difficult to reconcile, so in the 1970s, when a male friend would give up climbing, other climbers would say that it was because his wife would not let him climb anymore. More recently, the gender ratio of lifestyle sport participants has started shifting significantly. It is estimated that women now account for about a third of rock climbers. Sociologist Victoria Robinson (2008) has tried to understand how male climbers in the U.K. have reacted to this increasing number of female climbers, especially women climbing at high standards. In my ethnography of the North American rock climbing subculture, I observed that, far from being treated as “one of the boys,” active female participants were highly desired by heterosexual male climbers. So much so that, as argued by a research participant: “either you find them or you make them.” That is, heterosexual male rock climbers were so eager to share their lifestyle with a girlfriend that they were willing to teach them from scratch if they had to. Most women I interviewed were in fact introduced to the sport in such a way, and heterosexual climbing couples were an extremely common sight at the cliff. It seems, therefore, that heterosexual men are not merely reacting to a changing gender ratio but in fact, causing it because rock climbing as a lifestyle has come to engulf romantic life. I argue that this new desire for the “active couple lifestyle” has turned a historically male-dominated subculture into a heteronormative one. As defined by Stevi Jackson (2006), institutionalized, normative heterosexuality is a double-sided social regulation. Not only does it marginalize those outside its boundaries, but it also regulates those within them. In my fieldwork, homosexual or queer couples were a rare sight at the crag, as were unambiguous friendships between single heterosexual men and women of similar age. Moreover, even heterosexual climbing couples living the most unconventional lives would behave in a way that reflected the conventions of broader society and that, ultimately, impeded the further development of gender equality in the rock climbing subculture. Most couples were exclusive romantic, sexual, and climbing partners. Therefore, the climbing dynamics specific to their relationship would characterize most of their climbing life. This is crucial because most couples were also asymmetrical; men were most often more experienced/comfortable than their girlfriends with rope systems. This gave them more authority over the unfolding of days out climbing. Moreover, women often relied on their boyfriends to protect them when they felt too scared and, in some couples, men’s climbing objectives were prioritized. Those dynamics inhibited women from developing the competencies necessary to become autonomous climbers, and they were thus over-represented at the bottom of the status hierarchy. Ultimately, it meant that few women would mentor others and that men remained the primary gatekeepers of the subculture.
Marilou Nantel, Université du Québec à Montréal
La violence conjugale dont sont victimes les femmes constitue un problème social persistant et fréquent (Lessard et al., 2015; OMS, 2021; Cotter, 2021). La sociologie féministe a conceptualisé cette forme de violence comme s’inscrivant plus largement dans le continuum des violences faites contre les femmes (Kelly, 2019) et comme un levier qui structure et qui maintient les rapports inégalitaires entre les sexes (Hanmer, 1977). Parallèlement à cette sociologie féministe, la sociologie de l’intimité s’est penchée au cours des dernières décennies sur les thématiques de l’amour, du couple et de la sexualité, en théorisant notamment les transformations significatives ayant pris place au sein des relations intimes. Alors que la violence conjugale a la caractéristique de se produire à même l’intimité amoureuse, la littérature sociologique a pourtant encore peu traité des liens qui unissent les thématiques des violences contre les femmes et celle de l’intimité (Hearn, 2013). Or, des appels sont lancés depuis peu afin d’ouvrir un nouvel espace de réflexion s’intéressant à la violence conjugale sous l’angle des représentations du couple, de l’intimité et de l’amour (Lelaurain et Fonte, 2022; Donovan et Hester, 2014; Groggel, 2021). Dans un premier temps, ma présentation abordera la pertinence de s’intéresser sociologiquement au croisement de l’expérience amoureuse (Jackson, 1993; Swidler, 2001; Jamieson, 1998) et de la violence conjugale (Hanmer, 1977; Kelly, 2019; Debauche et Hamel, 2013; Hearn, 2013) en s’appuyant sur une brève recension des écrits. Dans un second temps, je présenterai les résultats préliminaires de mon projet de recherche portant sur les imaginaires amoureux (conceptions et représentations de l’amour, idéaux amoureux et attentes envers le couple et le/la partenaire) chez des femmes ayant fait l’expérience de violence conjugale, afin de brosser un portrait nuancé de l’expérience amoureuse lorsqu’elle cohabite avec l’expérience de violence.
Mario Marotta, Université du Québec à Montréal
On the improbability of intimate communication
Giddens (1992) has famously argued that modern intimate relationships are moving towards the model of a “pure relationship”, in which the partners involved can negotiate the norms that regulate their interaction through dialogue and negotiation. Intimacy is thus interpreted as moving towards a form of “democratization” that overcomes gender inequality, a position that has often been criticized from feminist authors (see Jamieson 1999, Smart 2007 and Mulinari and Sandell 2009), but has found at least some empirical support (see Poder 2023 for an overview). My critique will instead focus on some of the premises of Giddens’ theory, and specifically his concept of communication. I will show that his conception of intimate communication is grounded in the phenomenologically inspired bottom-up model of sense building first proposed by Berger and Kellner (1964) and then elaborated by Berger and Luckmann (1966) and I will argue that this model is not capable of describing the complexity of intimate communication. To find a better framework I will thus suggest we should turn to the cybernetic study of human communication initiated by Bateson (1936) and further developed by the Palo Alto School and by Niklas Luhmann and his students. I will identify three main phases of development of the cybernetic approach to human communication. The first phase is the one initiated by Bateson’s anthropological studies (mainly Bateson 1936 and 1972), where the main problem of human communication and of intimate communication is identified as the problem of “schismogenesis”. In this framework, the process of communication between two partners or two sets of partners is seen as having two possible trajectories: in the first one (complementary schismogenesis), one partner becomes more and more assertive while the other is forced to be increasingly submissive; in the second one (symmetrical schismogenesis), both partners become increasingly antagonistic towards one another in the effort to impose on the other. In both cases, communication is only sustainable if it creates mechanisms that stop and reset these trends, otherwise the system of interaction collapses and the social group grounded in this form of communication is disbanded. In this first phase, Bateson studies certain symbolically and ritually grounded mechanisms as the basis for the correction of schismogenesis and he specifically insists on the function of gender roles and parental structures in regulating communication. The second phase mainly consists of the numerous contributions of the members of the _Palo Alto Mental Research Institute_, who were all inspired and often worked side by side with Bateson, but who provided differing interpretations of the intersubjective dynamics of intimate communication (see Bateson, Jackson, Haley and Weakland 1956, Jackson 1965, Watzlawick, Beavine and Jackson 1967 and Laing 1971). The shared assumption of these theories is that the dynamics of intimate communication is internally regulated and its mechanisms are only developed in the context of communication, thus all these authors tend to disregard most cultural influences on communication. In these texts the centrality of schismogenesis is progressively abandoned in favor of the study of established patterns of communication. The third phase is initiated by Luhmann’s (1982) choice to abandon the problem of schismogenesis and to concentrate entirely on the crystallization of communicative patterns. The main innovation of Luhmann’s approach is that he once again highlights the importance of cultural influence on the formation of communicative patterns in the form of the establishment of a shared love semantics. This theoretical step is also linked to a restriction of Luhmann’s perspective to the study of intimate communication in modern (functionally differentiated) societies, so that his theory is not intended as a universal theory of intimate communication. According to Luhmann, intimate communication in modern societies could not initiate, let alone sustain itself, without a preliminary shared semantics that regulates the way different social actors enter the communicative interaction: he thus describes intimate communication as highly improbable to indicate its lack of spontaneity. As I will show, the return of the focus on culture also reignites the problem of gender roles in the context of intimate communication, a topic that has been often discussed by Luhmann’s students (see Leupold 1983 and Mahlmann 1991) but that still leaves plenty of questions open concerning the content of the contemporary semantics of love.