SPACE, PLACE AND LOCATION IN SEXUAL SOCIAL MEDIA

Contributing to the swiftly emerging field of the geographies of digital sexualities, this panel explores the geosocial and geopolitical dimensions of digital sexual cultures by zooming in on the connections between sexual practices, geographic imaginaries, and locally embedded social media platforms devoted to sexual expression. Building on case studies of an Estonian platform used primarily by those interested in group sex (LC, est. 2018), a Swedish platform preferred by BDSM practitioners (Darkside.se, est. 2003), and a Finnish platform for nude self-expression (Alastonsuomi.com, est. 2007) we show how these platforms contribute to and shape sexual geographies in digital and physical registers. On the one hand, these platforms operate as spatialized tools which put bodies in motion in the interest of hooking up. They function as digital compasses that allow for orientation of sexual desires in physical spaces. On the other hand, these platforms also assemble localized online places for flirtation, imagination, visibility, and appreciation, which interlink bodies with the visual pleasures and vulnerabilities of seeing and being seen. We approach questions of locatedness and place-making both through the regional and linguistic boundaries within which these platforms operate, as well as through our participants’ sense of comfort and investment in the local as a space of sexual play. As sexual content and communication are increasingly pushed out of large, U.S.-owned social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr, local and (to some extent) independent platforms where sexual expression is less regulated offer an interesting counterweight.

Play! A Special Issue

Sexuality, as it relates to video games in particular, has received increasing attention over the past decade in studies of games and play, even as the notion of play remains relatively underexplored within sexuality studies. This special issue asks what shift is effected when sexual representation, networked forms of connecting and relating, and the experimentation with sexual likes are approached through the notion of play. Bringing together the notions of sex and play, it both foregrounds the role of experimentation and improvisation in sexual pleasure practices and inquires after the rules and norms that these are embedded in. Contributors to this special issue combine the study of sexuality with diverse theoretical conceptions of play in order to explore the entanglements of affect, cognition, and the somatic in sexual lives, broadening current understandings of how these are lived through repetitive routines and improvisational sprees alike. In so doing, they focus on the specific sites and scenes where sexual play unfolds (from constantly morphing online pornographic archives to on- and offline party spaces, dungeons, and saunas), while also attending to the props and objects of play (from sex toys and orgasmic vocalizations to sensation-enhancing chemicals and pornographic imageries), as well as the social and technological settings where these activities occur. This introduction offers a brief overview of the rationale of thinking sex in and as play, before presenting the articles that make up this special issue.

Hanging, blowing, slamming and playing: Erotic control and overflow in a digital chemsex scene

Based on participant observation, this article details the use of methamphetamine (crystal meth) in a social scene mediated by a video conferencing service similar to Zoom. Taking an affective-materialist approach and applying concepts from play theory, it describes the visual erotic culture that emerges in the 100 simultaneous videos of drug-using people, mostly men. It details the scene’s modulation of temporality, how drug use is performed in relationship to numerous screens and the way ceremonialization counters the platformed deintensification. Finally, it discusses how digital chemsex encounters might overflow categories of gender and sexuality, and how the article may enrich the study of drugged sexual play.

Play, secrecy and consent: Theorizing privacy breaches and sensitive data in the world of networked sex toys

Based on a new materialist analysis of “vibrant matter” to understand the liveliness of sexual objects in toy-based sexual play, in this article I investigate the politics of thinking digital technologies as operating partly beyond human forms of agency and control. I use as my core examples privacy breaches and data leaks in the world of networked sex toys – such as a vibrator which allegedly audio recorded its clients’ play sessions without express permission – to engage with questions of intimacy and privacy in digital networks of humans and nonhumans. In particular, the discussion focuses on the consequences of new forms of publicness for how we can understand sexual intimacy and sexual play. What does it mean to have an intimate moment when connected to a device, a medium and a network that is by definition public, corporate and leaky? And how could we imagine other ways of being sexually intimate and exposed – yet safe – in public digital networks? Drawing on discussions of queer intimacy, sexual consent and queer BDSM, I suggest that current understandings of privacy and sensitive data (as per GDPR) may need unconventional sources to further ways of knowing what consent might mean, and how it feels.

Hanging, blowing, slamming, and playing: Erotic control and overflow in a digital chemsex scene

Based on participant observation, this article details the use of methamphetamine (crystal meth) in a social scene mediated by a video conferencing service similar to Zoom. Taking an affective-materialist approach and applying concepts from play theory, it describes the visual erotic culture that emerges in the 100 simultaneous videos of drug-using people, mostly men. It details the scene’s modulation of temporality, how drug use is performed in relationship to numerous screens and the way ceremonializa- tion counters the platformed deintensification. Finally, it discusses how digital chemsex encounters might overflow categories of gender and sexuality, and how the article may enrich the study of drugged sexual play.

Soundtracks of human mimetic sexual play: The case of East Asian regional sexual vernacular

This article presents and discusses the sonic aspects of human sexual play, focusing on soundtracks and sonic scripts related to sexual “faking”. The author’s ethnographic archives are used to exemplify these complicated mimetic sounds, as they travel and bounce within the sonic nexus of pornography and everyday human sexuality beyond porn. Recognizably regional East Asian vocalizations are used to showcase subtle relations between sonic enactments and those sounds that are, presumably, directly rooted in pleasurable sensations. Pretending in sexual acts often gets perceived as hedonically empty, lacking, or negative, in stark opposition to both pleasure and sexual agency. The undertaken ethnography of South Korean female mimetic sexual plays complicates this opposition. According to these ethnographic voices, supported by more recent findings in human ethology, these two modes of sexual behavior, while remaining conceptually separate, happen in infinitesimally close vicinity and often overlap. Vocal and other sounds that vacillate between these modes contribute to layered and complex enactment and the materialization of pleasure.

A patient with a foreign body in the large intestine – a case report

Cases of patients with foreign bodies impacted in the terminal part of the gastrointestinal tract are rarely encountered in everyday surgical practice. Injuries and sexual practices are the most common aetiology of foreign body impaction in the lower gastrointestinal tract. Different types of surgical interventions are often needed in patients with anal or rectal foreign bodies. We describe a case of a 45-year-old patient who reported to hospital with the symptoms of low gastrointestinal obstruction. The man introduced a large foreign body into his anus during sexual play and was unable to remove it by himself. An attempt to remove the foreign body through the perineal access was made, but was unsuccessful due to the size of the impacted object. The patient was qualified for surgical treatment. Laparotomy was performed, and the foreign body was removed by a simultaneous use of abdominal pressure and extraction from the anal canal.

The stink of the sacred: A Bataillean reading of Gainsbourg’s film Je t’aime moi non plus

Although best known for his music, Serge Gainsbourg also starred in and directed several films. This article considers his directorial debut, Je t’aime moi non plus (1976) through the optic of Georges Bataille’s theorisation of the sacred and the heterogeneous. According to Bataille, bourgeois capitalism is characterised by material and moral values, respect for work and homogeneity. Against this he posits the outsider values of the sacred. Where capitalism is predicated on production and accumulation, the heterogeneous is defined by unproductive expenditure, such as sexual play, art and sacrifice. These values are applied to Gainsbourg’s image, his alter ego ‘Gainsbarre’, and his artistic output, before focusing on the 1976 film. Conclusions are made regarding the film, plus Gainsbourg’s status as an exemplar of Bataillean values, celebrated in his fans’ curation of his memory on YouTube.

Changes in Erotic Expression in Women with Fibromyalgia

The scientific literature indicates that chronic pain influences the sex life of women. The objective of this research was to describe the changes in the erotic expression of a group of women with fibromyalgia. For this, a qualitative study of interpretive phenomenological design was conducted in which 15 women were interviewed in depth. Some participants said that the appearance of the disease was an opportunity to strengthen their relationship. Others said that their partners’ indifference and skepticism about the disease, as well as the lack of understanding in the sexual sphere, acted as barriers in the relationship. Sexual intercourse was perceived as an obligation associated with gender or as an irrelevant dimension. Sensory stimulation and preliminary sexual play were strategies that allowed them to adjust and promote mutual enjoyment. The position taken by women in the face of disease influences the erotic expression.