Norm Diversity: Some Differences in Signification of Female Sexuality

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to underline the relationship among certain normative discourses concerning sexuality and gender, and the impact these have on the establishment of subjects of sexuality, specifically some Mexican women from three different cities in Mexico (Oaxaca, San Miguel de Allende, and the Federal District), who belong to different generations (grandmother, mother and daughter).

At present, sexuality is no longer seen, understood and practiced as a universal and ahistorical series of responses. Multiple and diverse forms that deny traditional codifications and norms regarding reproductive heterosexuality have evolved and been acknowledged. However, such condition is still controlling the sex lives of many women; thus, the demands and desires that some women have alredeady identified are still unknown. Bearing in mind these notions, this paper intends toshow the differences within tha same set of sexual norms and to identify some social aspects that may serve as catalyst transformation processes.

The article includes some of the accounts made by these women belonging to three generations, and the different social discourses underlying these accounts of reproductive sexuality, as well as the changes and continuity mentioned by these women and the conditions in terms of which they define their position vis-à-vis the different social spaces and their parther.