The Invention of (Homo)sexuality. Historical, Social and Cultural Aspects (in Russian)

Abstract

The present text is an attempt to introduce the practitioner psychologist to historical, cultural and social approaches to sexuality from the emergence of sexology as a distinct school of medicine in the end of the XIX century till the 80ies of the XX century. The message of this article is induced by the limited applicability in psychological practice of the dominant discourses of sexuality in virtue of their parochialism and poverty, and the necessity of a more broad understanding of the subject that will allow to step out reductionism and essentialism, which are inherent in those discourses. The article cites the main ideas of the key works, dedicated to critical studies of the sexuality phenomenon: History of Sexualityby the philosopher Michel Foucault, Body and Sexuality by the historian Jeffrey Weeks and Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality by the anthropologist Gayle Rubin are used for polemics; at the intersection of their views appears the understanding of sexuality as a historical, social and cultural construct. Aside is analyzed the shift in the framework of sexology of the focus of attention from sexual practices to personality of the practicing person, and the necessity of the appearance of the figures of “homosexual” and “heterosexual” due to this shift. In accordance with the review of the changes of the notion of sexuality in sociology, culturology and anthropology during the last one and a half centuries, the author comes to the conclusion that on each stage of its development the society builds a specific attitude towards sexuality, depending on current tasks of politics, established societal hierarchy and relations of authority. On the level of practice it implies the necessity for a counseling psychologist to be ready to critically distance him/ herself from social notions of sexuality and to analyze influence of these notions on the processes of formation and development of a particular personality, including his/ her own, in order not to replicate them in the process of his/ her work.