Shitsex: recontaminating queer sex and theory

Abstract

This essay responds and extends the discourse found in Corey and Nakayama’s “Sextext” and Gunn’s “ShitText.” Examining the process of anal douching, which washes away fecal matter from the anus before penetration, commonly found in queer sex practices, I argue that queers do not want shit in their sex; douching serves to “clean up,” sterilize, and legitimate queer sex in cis-heteronormative culture. Through the method of critical erotic/a, I argue that douching is a process of decontamination reflected in larger disciplinary conversations about queer theory; we “clean up,” sterilize, and legitimate queer theory to the cis-heteronormative academy.