(asexuality2: a boy/that becomes a boy/that does/ not touch/that we/ do not/ touch//will not touch//that can//not touch/this boy with/out hands/this boy/is with/out/a body/bought) 
 
 
 
 
"The importance—an importance— 
I am suggesting, comes 
 
to a nascent or 
already-constituted minority of homosexual people 
as desires, 
from potential for giving 
over the whole " 
 
 
 
male-spectrum in-dependence 
mobilizing 
family 
senses 
of relations across class. 
—They order, said I, this. 
 
 
said my gentleman, turning quick upon me 
 
 
The paranoid Gothic was the novelistic tradition 
in which the routing through women of male homosocial desire had the most per- 
functory presence; paradoxically, as a result, it was also the tradition that demon- 
strated the absolute signifying power, at least from the late eighteenth century on, 
of that “heterosexual” minim. As we discussed in chapter 5 , it was (and is) the very 
minimalness, the arbitrariness, of the differentiation between male heterosexuality 
and its “opposite” that has lent this distinction its power to organize complicated, 
historical transactions of power, including power of or over women. 
the Gothic preoccu- 
pation with the minim and the absolute, with compulsion and prohibition 
Our site uses cookies. For more information, see our cookie policy. Accept cookies and close
Reject cookies Manage settings