Sexuality and American Culture

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the sophistication of the exhibits at the museum. I had expected more of a "Ripley's believe it or not" type of experience, however, the exhibits engaged in some really crucial issues. One thing I found particularly interesting was in the exhibition on the sex lives of animals, the discussion of "Panda Porn" and the sexuality of animals observed in the wild vs. that of animals observed in captivity. Apparently pandas that are bred in captivity and don't have the experience of watching other pandas mate often don't develop a concept of mating. This became problematic for zookeepers wishing to breed more pandas and panda porn as well as "live shows" were introduced in order to sexualize the captive pandas. That these pandas could not develop a concept of mating without an example to follow does much in the way of calling sex into question, affirming sex as a construct, and rebuking essentialist notions like those of Norton in last week's reading. Of course, I don't mean to draw any strict conclusions from this--humans and pandas are not one in the same after all! But it does trigger that sick and twisted scenario of how human sexuality would play out in some form of captivity.......