‘Queering’ Heteronormative and Gendered Sexual Scripts: A Qualitative Study About the Sexual Experiences of Plurisexual Individuals and the Potentiality of ‘Queering’ Heteronormative Ways of ‘Doing Gender’ During Sex

Abstract

This research project aims at investigating how plurisexual individuals navigate heteronormative and gendered sexual scripts in diverse gender relations. More specifically, this research explores how sexual scripts (e.g. acquired ‘guidelines’ for sexual behavior) are embedded within heteronormative and gendered frameworks, how these scripts influence and/or guide the sexual experiences of plurisexual individuals, and how a ‘queer’ perspective fits in envisioning sexual futures. As part of the theoretical framework, I use an interdisciplinary approach by drawing upon various theories from social psychology, sex research, feminist theory, and queer theory. For example, I discuss Simon and Gagnon’s Sexual Script Theory, Butler’s theory of Gender Performativity, Halberstam’s work on the Queer Art of Failure, Preciado’s Countersexual Manifesto, and Muñoz’s work Cruising Utopia. Additionally, to explore how plurisexual individuals navigate heteronormative and gendered sexual scripts in various gender relations, I conducted 13 semi-structured in-depth interviews with plurisexual young adults (aged 21-29) from the Netherlands. The findings of this research suggest that plurisexual individuals navigate heteronormative and gendered sexual scripts in varied ways, in which heteronormative and gendered sexual scripts are sometimes reproduced and other times deconstructed. Moreover, the findings propose a potential for ‘queering’ heteronormative ways of ‘doing gender’ during sex that possibly paves the way for more sexual freedom. With the findings of this research, I hope to open up the conversation about the complexities of navigating sex. By staying with these complexities, I envision a world where sex becomes more pleasurable and free.