Eva Illouz - What is Sexual Capital?

1 Cover

2 Endorsement These are just snapshots of a postindustrial, global and mediatic regime that […] I will call pharmapornographic. The term refers to the processes of a biomolecular (pharmaco) and semiotic-technical (pornographic) government of sexual subjectivity. […] There is nothing to discover in sex or in sexual identity; there is no inside . The truth about sex is not a disclosure. It is sexdesign . Pharmacopornographic biocapitalism does not produce things . It produces mobile ideas, living organs, symbols, desires, chemical reactions and conditions of the soul. In biotechnology and in pornocommunication there is no object to be produced. The pharmacopornographic business is the invention of a subject and then its global reproduction. Paul B. Preciado, Testo Junkie , New York 2013, 33–6

3 Title Page What Is Sexual Capital? Dana Kaplan Eva Illouz polity

4 Copyright Copyright © Dana Kaplan and Eva Illouz 2022 Copyright © Suhrkamp Verlag Berlin 2021 All rights reserved by and controlled through Suhrkamp Verlag Berlin. The right of Dana Kaplan and Eva Illouz to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This English edition first published in 2022 by Polity Press Polity Press 65 Bridge Street Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK Polity Press 101 Station Landing Suite 300 Medford, MA 02155, USA All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-5233-7 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Control Number: 2021946299 The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate. Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition. For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com

5 Acknowledgments Acknowledgments Dana Kaplan’s research for this book was supported by the ISRAEL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (grant No. 1560/18) and by the Open University of Israel’s Research Authority. She wishes to thank Roy Zunder and Rona Mashiach for their invaluable assistance. Ella and Gal, this is for you.

6 1. Introduction: Sex and Sociological Metaphors Notes

7 2. Sexual Freedom and Sexual Capital Notes

8 3. What Is Sexual Capital? Sex Capital Sexual capital Notes

9 4. Forms of Sexual Capital: The Four Categories Locating modern gendered sex: “Good” reproduction and “bad” production? Sexual capital by default: Chastity and domesticity Sexual capital as surplus value of the body Embodied sexual capital: Desirability, sexiness, and sexual know-how Neoliberal sexual capital, self-appreciation, and employability Notes

10 5. Conclusion Notes

11 End User License Agreement

1 Cover

2 Table of Contents

3 Endorsement

4 Title Page

5 Copyright

6 Acknowledgments

7 Begin Reading

8 End User License Agreement

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These are just snapshots of a postindustrial, global and mediatic regime that […] I will call pharmapornographic. The term refers to the processes of a biomolecular (pharmaco) and semiotic-technical (pornographic) government of sexual subjectivity. […] There is nothing to discover in sex or in sexual identity; there is no inside . The truth about sex is not a disclosure. It is sexdesign . Pharmacopornographic biocapitalism does not produce things . It produces mobile ideas, living organs, symbols, desires, chemical reactions and conditions of the soul. In biotechnology and in pornocommunication there is no object to be produced. The pharmacopornographic business is the invention of a subject and then its global reproduction.

Paul B. Preciado, Testo Junkie , New York 2013, 33–6

Dana Kaplan

Eva Illouz

polity

Copyright © Dana Kaplan and Eva Illouz 2022

Copyright © Suhrkamp Verlag Berlin 2021 All rights reserved by and controlled through Suhrkamp Verlag Berlin.

The right of Dana Kaplan and Eva Illouz to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This English edition first published in 2022 by Polity Press

Polity Press

65 Bridge Street

Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

Polity Press

101 Station Landing

Suite 300

Medford, MA 02155, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-5233-7

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021946299

The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.

Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.

For further information on Polity, visit our website:

politybooks.com