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The Politics of Lust
John Ince probes the nooks and crannies of the modern erotic mind and discovers that below our seeming enthusiasm for sex is a reservoir of fear. While we are drawn to sex, it also secretly disturbs us. Ours is a culture of sexual bravado, not sexual joy. Ince offers a sweeping re-evaluation of our sexual ethics. He finds powerful anxieties lurking in our attitudes to every type of erotic expression, from nudity to public sex, masturbation to homosexuality, monogamy to group sex, pornography to prostitution, teen sexuality to erotic art. This erotic malaise powerfully affects our lives. It stunts sexual passion, inhibits frank and honest talk about sex, and generates shame about sexual organs. It even influences our political orientation. Our sex-negativity is the product of a fascinating but toxic social system that this book is the first to identify. The challenging ideas set out in The Politics of Lust will give you a radical new perspective on both your sexuality and your society.
336 pages, Paperback
First published November 28, 2003
4 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
About the author
John Ince
10 booksJohn Ince (born May 30, 1952) is a lawyer, politician, an erotic arts enthusiast, and the controversial author of a book called The Politics of Lust. He founded The Erosha School of Erotic Massage and The Art of Loving, a sexuality center in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is also the leader of a political party, the Sex Party (British Columbia).
Ince's professional interest in sex began in the early 1980s when as a lawyer in Vancouver, Canada he began representing artists, performers and individual citizens fighting sexual censorship laws. One of his cases, Luscher v. Canada, was successful in striking down as unconstitutional a federal law that had prohibited sexual material from entering Canada for over one hundred years.
Ince's book, The Politics of Lust, argues that irrational sexual fear is pervasive in our culture, that it is largely unrecognized, and that it affects our political orientation.
In 2002, Ince opened The Art of Loving, a sex shop in Vancouver, Canada. It sells art, instructional books and videos and pleasure products. It also produces almost one hundred sexual seminars a year, many led by Ince. Ince produced an erotic event at The Art of Loving that garnered international media attention in 2003 after the Vancouver Police threatened to raid the show called "Public Sex, Art and Democracy" for performing live sexual acts. Ince, artist Martin Guderna, and the other performers refused to back down and, assisted by a legal team led by criminal defence lawyer Rishi Gill, no raid ever occurred and no charges were laid.
Ince's professional interest in sex began in the early 1980s when as a lawyer in Vancouver, Canada he began representing artists, performers and individual citizens fighting sexual censorship laws. One of his cases, Luscher v. Canada, was successful in striking down as unconstitutional a federal law that had prohibited sexual material from entering Canada for over one hundred years.
Ince's book, The Politics of Lust, argues that irrational sexual fear is pervasive in our culture, that it is largely unrecognized, and that it affects our political orientation.
In 2002, Ince opened The Art of Loving, a sex shop in Vancouver, Canada. It sells art, instructional books and videos and pleasure products. It also produces almost one hundred sexual seminars a year, many led by Ince. Ince produced an erotic event at The Art of Loving that garnered international media attention in 2003 after the Vancouver Police threatened to raid the show called "Public Sex, Art and Democracy" for performing live sexual acts. Ince, artist Martin Guderna, and the other performers refused to back down and, assisted by a legal team led by criminal defence lawyer Rishi Gill, no raid ever occurred and no charges were laid.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 25, 2012
The myth is that Western culture and media are oversexed, but Ince convincingly argues here that, despite appearances, a deep fear of sexuality, which he terms erotophobia, pervades society.
I agree with practically everything Ince says in this book. As he points out early on in the book, the fact that a majority of people will refuse to go nude while alone in their own home (even in warm weather) is symptomatic of a society where the human body and even the slightest suggestion of Eros are causes of fear and hiding. Ince relates a number of apposite stories of people victimized by the government (he argues that hierarchies opportunistically take advantage of erotophobic feelings for their own ends) for activities that seem harmless when examined reasonably; for example, a grandmother faces serious criminal charges for merely possessing nude but entirely innocent photos of her granddaughter. As I favor complete free choice in the sexual realm, I diverge from Ince when he says that only pornography (which we both agree is far more innocuous than the Puritanical media and Church want people to think) at its nastiest should be opposed. I would argue that even those repugnant films are a matter of choice, although Ince wisely rejects censorship as a viable method of combating it.
The book is not well written. Ince's writing is numbingly repetitious, which makes the book less and less interesting as it continues. In the section on anal sex, he'll say something along the lines of: "Anal sex is a normal sexual activity. Condemnation of anal sex is intolerant." In the section on masturbation he'll say: "Masturbation is a normal sexual activity. Condemnation of masturbation is intolerant." And so on. He's careless enough to begin two almost consecutive chapters with the cliche: "From time immemorial..." The chapters are all structured similarly, as Ince points out how certain events trigger fear or other negative emotions at the same time sexual stimulation is felt. These feelings often lead to one form or another of erotophobia. The problem is for each type of erotophobia he catalogs, Ince explains the process each time as if he is introducing it to the reader for the first time. This kind of highly mediocre writing make reading the book a chore at times, despite its relatively brief size.
Despite its pedestrian writing, I recommend this book. The myth that the West is a sexually liberated society needs to be exploded. From rampant anti-sex legislation and institutional homophobia to the lack of true sex education (especially for young girls) and the continuing genital mutilation of young boys, we are still in a bad way indeed. Ince ends on the thought that these erotophobic forces will gradually weaken until they eventually pass away in the far future. It will be at that time that a true democracy can be achieved. If this is the case, and I think it is, than I hope we as a global society can begin to outgrow St. Augustine's attitude toward sex, and that a fuller, healthier view of the many forms of erotic behavior will be the norm.
I agree with practically everything Ince says in this book. As he points out early on in the book, the fact that a majority of people will refuse to go nude while alone in their own home (even in warm weather) is symptomatic of a society where the human body and even the slightest suggestion of Eros are causes of fear and hiding. Ince relates a number of apposite stories of people victimized by the government (he argues that hierarchies opportunistically take advantage of erotophobic feelings for their own ends) for activities that seem harmless when examined reasonably; for example, a grandmother faces serious criminal charges for merely possessing nude but entirely innocent photos of her granddaughter. As I favor complete free choice in the sexual realm, I diverge from Ince when he says that only pornography (which we both agree is far more innocuous than the Puritanical media and Church want people to think) at its nastiest should be opposed. I would argue that even those repugnant films are a matter of choice, although Ince wisely rejects censorship as a viable method of combating it.
The book is not well written. Ince's writing is numbingly repetitious, which makes the book less and less interesting as it continues. In the section on anal sex, he'll say something along the lines of: "Anal sex is a normal sexual activity. Condemnation of anal sex is intolerant." In the section on masturbation he'll say: "Masturbation is a normal sexual activity. Condemnation of masturbation is intolerant." And so on. He's careless enough to begin two almost consecutive chapters with the cliche: "From time immemorial..." The chapters are all structured similarly, as Ince points out how certain events trigger fear or other negative emotions at the same time sexual stimulation is felt. These feelings often lead to one form or another of erotophobia. The problem is for each type of erotophobia he catalogs, Ince explains the process each time as if he is introducing it to the reader for the first time. This kind of highly mediocre writing make reading the book a chore at times, despite its relatively brief size.
Despite its pedestrian writing, I recommend this book. The myth that the West is a sexually liberated society needs to be exploded. From rampant anti-sex legislation and institutional homophobia to the lack of true sex education (especially for young girls) and the continuing genital mutilation of young boys, we are still in a bad way indeed. Ince ends on the thought that these erotophobic forces will gradually weaken until they eventually pass away in the far future. It will be at that time that a true democracy can be achieved. If this is the case, and I think it is, than I hope we as a global society can begin to outgrow St. Augustine's attitude toward sex, and that a fuller, healthier view of the many forms of erotic behavior will be the norm.
August 11, 2022
There are definitely some interesting claims made in here, but they seem largely unsubstantiated. Ince will call the common conception of a sexual issue absurd without offering any evidence for his alternative view. It's very frustrating to read, especially because I often wanted to agree with the things Ince was saying, but couldn't bring myself to buy into his complete lack of evidence (unless mocking the other point of view with an unconvincing metaphor, or citing outdated or disproved anthropological studies about the Sambia or Trobrianders, or making sweeping claims that are definitely not in agreement with the anthropological reading I've done or if they are are in dire need of an explanation because they seem to be suggesting something wrong counts as having "evidence"). I get that this kind of over-emphasis of alternative ways of looking at sex and sexuality might be necessary for our sex-phobic culture, and I definitely agree that there's a weirdly uptight way that we deal with sex which doesn't mesh with the way we think we deal with sex...but I feel like this book is more like propaganda for the sex-phobic masses than a genuine look at the "politics of lust." That's fine, I guess, but not what I wanted from this book. I much prefer the stance that The Guide (to getting it on) takes on human sexuality; it's healthier than its pop-culture-book-sold-at-urban-outfitters status would suggest and--probably because it's not out to prove something about "the politics of lust"--much friendlier and less prone to making unsubstantiated claims.
P.S. I would like to quote Abramson and Pinkerton (With Pleasure Thoughts on the Nature of Human Sexuality), because I think it's relevant to the obnoxious comparisons between racism and erotophobia:
"Although analogies to the enslavement of black Americans may have symbolic value, they ultimately diminish the true meaning of slavery and emancipation. Not all forms of discrimination are alike." (page 192)
Recommended For prudes
P.S. I would like to quote Abramson and Pinkerton (With Pleasure Thoughts on the Nature of Human Sexuality), because I think it's relevant to the obnoxious comparisons between racism and erotophobia:
"Although analogies to the enslavement of black Americans may have symbolic value, they ultimately diminish the true meaning of slavery and emancipation. Not all forms of discrimination are alike." (page 192)
Recommended For prudes
July 22, 2024
Part of me really resisted critiquing this book, but I thought I would anyway, mostly because I wasn't as happy with it as I hoped I would be. As noted by a few other people who gave this book only a two-star review, there is some interesting information in it that I really wanted to agree with. What I found interesting is that Ince convincingly argues that rigidity is a significant factor effecting erotophobic attitudes, alongside racism and homophobia, he does it with the rigid language of a lawyer. I find some of his arguments plausible, but lacking nuance. Ultimately, that rigid language leaves the reader unconvinced and unsatisfied by conclusions that could be revolutionary if presented differently.
October 5, 2007
Now don't get me wrong, I'm interested in sociology. And I'm also interested in gender issues, mainly those revolving around 20something heterosexual males lacking any sort of affiliation with sexual subcultures, because hey, that's what I am. I'd also say I'm very tolerant of others' sexual behaviors, aside from the few and far between immoral extremes which recruit unwilling or unconscious participants.
That out of the way, I picked this book up because of its promise to analyze what I see as an all too common theme in mindset with m generation: That of the stigma of promiscuity. There's the old saying that women are branded sluts for promiscuous behavior while men are heralded as the paragon of masculinity, but I disagree. It's increasingly common for males wielding any form sexuality as "male sluts", and frankly, the sex life of one is nobody's business but his own. But I digress...John Ince describes this phenomenon (among other disturbing trends towards puritanisms) with such catchphrases as "social figleafing", but fails to go beyond any sort of rudimentary phenotyping. His explanation for most of this puritanism goes back to "the church", and every once in a while, "the media." Such nebulous organizations are the great scapegoats employed by sociologists for most social malaise, and it's a shame that Ince does not tackle the subject in any more sort of depth.
This makes a good pop culture book, but not much else if you really want to study the politics of gender/sexuality.
That out of the way, I picked this book up because of its promise to analyze what I see as an all too common theme in mindset with m generation: That of the stigma of promiscuity. There's the old saying that women are branded sluts for promiscuous behavior while men are heralded as the paragon of masculinity, but I disagree. It's increasingly common for males wielding any form sexuality as "male sluts", and frankly, the sex life of one is nobody's business but his own. But I digress...John Ince describes this phenomenon (among other disturbing trends towards puritanisms) with such catchphrases as "social figleafing", but fails to go beyond any sort of rudimentary phenotyping. His explanation for most of this puritanism goes back to "the church", and every once in a while, "the media." Such nebulous organizations are the great scapegoats employed by sociologists for most social malaise, and it's a shame that Ince does not tackle the subject in any more sort of depth.
This makes a good pop culture book, but not much else if you really want to study the politics of gender/sexuality.
July 28, 2010
i found this book to be very educational. usually we don’t tend to note our reactions to situations or ideas unless we are paying attention to it, and i have never really looked at the erotiphobia in our society. its kind of funny because we live a more liberal lifestyle here than people do in other places in the world, but we seem almost afraid of our sexuality. of course i’m a novice in the subject, but this seemed to be a pretty good study on the sexuality in our society and more importantly, on our (almost) rejection of it. its worth checking out in any case.
August 5, 2011
This is an amazing book. Extremely well researched. It should definitely have become a classic since it is totally definitive on the subject and will be recognized as a groundbreaking work eventually.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews