Abstract:
In this paper, I aim to analyse the homosexual sex acts depicted in the film,
Inxeba (Trengove 2017). The analysis is informed by Lisa Downing’s ‘sex-critical’
approach that deems that ‘all forms of sexuality should be equally susceptible
to critical thinking about the normative or otherwise ideologies they uphold’
(Downing 2013:95). The findings of the analysis underscore that the film displays
a phallocentric scripting of the sex act: the practices and sequence of sexual
acts that privilege the erect, penetrating penis. In cognisance of this point, the
sex scenes under discussion can be critiqued for perpetuating a narrow
phallocentric ideal of sex that runs parallel to hetero-patriarchal norms. To offer
an alternative expression of homosexual sex acts, Alphonso Lingis’s writings
on sexuality and sexual desire provide a springboard to explore erotic caresses
and couplings that encompass the entire male body. To this end, Lingis’s work
is presented as a means to queer homosexual sex from hetero-patriarchal and
phallocentric scriptings. The paper concludes by using Lingis’s theories to
imagine an alternative sex scene in Inxeba that illuminates queer eroticism and
pleasure outside of penile penetrative sex.
