Towards an Etiology of the Closet: Sexuality Studies “After Sedgwick”

Towards an Etiology of The Closet:Sexuality Studies "After Sedgwick" Kazuki Yamada (bio) Book Minor Perverts: Sexology, Etiology, and the Emergences Sexuality by Benjamin Kahan . Chicago: University Chicago Press , 2019. 242 pp. $99.00 cloth, $32.00 paper. If after appearance History (1976) many works in sexuality studies could be reasonably described as Foucault," then Kahan's ambitious work is best addition (115). 1 Self-professed a "susained exploration [Eve Kosofsky Sedg wick's] thought order to understand its impact," Perverts explicitly positions itself study that aims more fully describe, if not cut, "Gordian Knots" still remain unresolved undertheorized field wake Sedgwick's critical insights her 1990 Epistemology Closet (118). Fittingly, central preoccupation this book thoroughly investigate what Sedgwick herself was hesitant excavate: story "invention homo/hetero binary," which she almost mockingly called Great Paradigm Shift (116). For Kahan, narrative sexual etiology posits diachronic emergence modality where desire has no cause beyond gender-based object attractions we are born with. In turn, earnestly hope deeply history modern congenital homo/heterosexuality unravel full consequences, there [End Page 435] room for hesitation being attentive alternative etiologies "thousand aberrant sexualities" binary historically "effaced" (8)—including those suggesting acquired rather than "born way" explanation. instead emphatically urges readers seek way forward he describes "historical etiology" amidst contemporary political landscape beginning come undone (25), process doing so constructs compelling foundation how might proceed long Foucault. composed seven chapters. Other introduction outlining book's concerns methodology concluding afterword, each chapter focuses on one specific etiology, balancing discussions etiology's technical mechanics with close readings their manifestations modifications diverse range literary (a dynamic calls "vernacular sexology" Stephanie Foote). sense, very much follows recognizing value offer historical analyses sexuality, simultaneously joins growing body recent scholarship fin de siècle sexology's character even while precise relationship between literature sexology remains somewhat undertheorized. Readers familiar will most comfortable chapters 1, 2, 5, arguments approaches challenge dominant disciplinary, archival, demarcations. Chapter traces "uneasy" crystallization situational homosexuality 1930s earlier cyclical tune seasons (27). By reading sexological theory alongside Thomas Dickinson's Winter Bound (1929) Lillian Hellman's Children's Hour (1934), explores early twentieth century sexologists longed failed return heterosexuality's pathological "constant desire" "nostalgic past" healthy periodicity synchronized rhythms nature. how, so, etiological framework inadvertently created constancy became norm against periodic temporary characteristic homosexuality's cause, heterosexuality established congenital, psychologically rooted "always" discourses insisting nature aspire (29–30). 436] 2 continues thinking around environmental origin theories sexuality. Collecting such situatedness under term anthropologia sexualis German sexologist Iwan Bloch (47), through mann...