Editing Eroticism (section)

==Non-heterosexual==
{{Globalize section|date=February 2021}}
[[File:Ciągliński Symbolic dance.jpg|thumb|''Symbolic dance'' by [[Jan Ciągliński]], late 19th-century [[lesbian erotica]]]]
[[Queer theory]] and [[LGBTQ studies]] consider the concept from a [[non-heterosexual]] perspective, viewing psychoanalytical and modernist views of eroticism as both archaic<ref>Morton, Donald, ed., The Material Queer: A LesBiGay Cultural Studies Reader, (Boulder CO: Westview, 1996)</ref> and [[Heterosexism|heterosexist]],<ref>Cohen, Ed, Talk on the Wilde Side: Towards a Genealogy of a Discourse on Male Sexualities, (New York: Routledge, 1999)</ref> written primarily by and for a "handful of elite, heterosexual, bourgeois men"<ref>Flannigan-Saint-Aubin, Arthur. {{"'}}Black Gay Male' Discourse: Reading Race and Sexuality Between the Lines". Journal of the History of Sexuality 3:3 (1993): 468-90.</ref> who "mistook their own repressed sexual proclivities"<ref>Aries, Philippe & Andre Bejin, eds., Western Sexuality: Practice and Precept in Past and Present, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1985; orig. pub. as Sexualities Occidentales, Paris: Editions du Seuil/Communications, 1982)</ref> as the norm.<ref>Bullough, Vern L., "Homosexuality and the Medical Model", Journal of Homosexuality 1:6 (1975), pp. 99-110 {{doi|10.1300/J082v01n01_08}}</ref>

Theorists like [[Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick]],<ref>from Abelove, Henry, Michele Aina Barale, and David Halperin, eds., [https://books.google.com/books?id=PaNdHqo-9wIC&pg=PA45 The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader], (New York: Routledge: 1993) Eve Kosofsky Sedgewick: Epistemology of the closet, 45</ref> [[Gayle S. Rubin]]<ref>from Abelove, Henry, Michele Aina Barale, and David Halperin, eds., [https://books.google.com/books?id=PaNdHqo-9wIC&pg=PA3 The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader], (New York: Routledge: 1993) Gayle S. Rubin: Notes for a radical theory of the politics of sexuality, 3</ref> and [[Marilyn Frye]]<ref>from Abelove, Henry, Michele Aina Barale, and David Halperin, eds., [https://books.google.com/books?id=PaNdHqo-9wIC&pg=PA91 The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader], (New York: Routledge: 1993) Marilyn Frye: Some reflections on separatism and power, 91</ref> all write extensively about eroticism from a heterosexual, [[lesbian]] and [[separatist]] point of view, respectively, seeing eroticism as both a political force<ref>Marshall, John, "Pansies, Perverts and Macho Men: Changing Conceptions of Male Homosexuality", in Kenneth Plummer, ed., The Making of the Modern Homosexual, (London: Hutchinson, 1981), 133-54</ref> and cultural critique<ref>Fone, Byrne R.S., "Some Notes Toward a History of Gay People", The Advocate no. 259 (Jan 25, 1979), pp. 17-19 & no. 260 (Feb 28, 1979), pp. 11-13</ref> for marginalized groups, or as [[Mario Vargas Llosa]] summarized: "Eroticism has its own moral justification because it says that pleasure is enough for me; it is a statement of the individual's sovereignty".<ref>Mangan, J. A. "Men, Masculinity, and Sexuality: Some Recent Literature". Journal of the History of Sexuality 3:2 (1992): 303-13</ref>

[[Audre Lorde]], a lesbian Caribbean-American writer and outspoken [[Feminism|feminist]], called [[The Erotic|the erotic]] a source of power specifically identified with the female, often corrupted or distorted by oppression, since it poses the challenge of change. "For women, this has meant a suppression of the erotic as a considered source of power and information within our lives".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lorde |first1=Audre |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OixDJLFjycsC&pg=PA53 |title=Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches |last2=Clarke |first2=Cheryl |publisher=Ten Speed Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-58091-186-3 |location=New York |pages=53 |orig-date=1984}}</ref> In "The Uses of the Erotic" within ''[[Sister Outsider]]'', she discusses how the erotic comes from the sharing of joy, "whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual" and provides the basis on which understanding provides a foundation for acknowledging difference.<ref name=":0" /> Lorde suggests that if we suppress the erotic rather than recognize its presence, it takes on a different form. Rather than enjoying and sharing with one another, it becomes objectifying, which she says translates into abuse as we attempt to hide and suppress our experiences.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Sister Outsider|last = Lorde|first = Audre|publisher = Ten Speed Press|year = 2007|location = NY|pages = 53–58|chapter = Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic As Power (1984)}}</ref>