Social Construction and Acceptance of the Perverse in Literary

Works and Social Media

Criscentia Jessica Setiadi

English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia 11480

Keywords: Social Construction, Social Media, Literary Works.

Abstract: Gender and sexuality have been discussed vigorously where equality is applied to anyone at any aspects

possible. The issues have existed for good period of time as reflected in literary works across years, decades,

even centuries. This research looked at two literary objects that span almost a century difference – Hall’s

novel The Well of Loneliness (1928) and Dolan’s film Laurence Anyways (2012) – and YouTube as social

media platform. Qualitative approach is used in the goals of finding (1) the definition of the perverse and the

normal, (2) the social construction and acceptance within literary works, and (3) the reflection in social media

today. This research found the difference in social construction is due to shifts in timespan from the early 20

century and the early 21

century; but social approval is still sought by people then and now, through social

media platforms.

1 INTRODUCTION

The discussion on gender and sexuality can be

addressed as taboo by many, putting on weight on

their religious identities, seeing gender and

sexualities as values that are given and not growing

or experiencing changes within a person. Meanwhile,

in some cultures which are seen more open to these

issues, the discussion is welcome and appreciated in

many fictional works. The Picture of Dorian Gray by

Oscar Wilde in 1890 as one of the example of the

exploration of gender and sexual identity in the late

century; the self-love Gray promotes narcissism

and the possibility of having different depiction of

how a man should be according to the society. This

social construction will be the fundamental theory in

looking at the two literary works and social media

platform that will be used in this research that covers

both sexes (male and female) and their social

constructions.

The first literary work that is used is a novel

entitled The Well of Loneliness (1928) written by

Radclyffe Hall (1880-1943), an English author and

poet. This novel is about a female main character

named Stephen who grew up, or was brought up, in

the boyish manner; having other female characters as

love interests. This novel was banned for obscenity in

1928 yet was the only famous lesbian novel for

decades and became an international bestseller. This

points out that the history of lesbianism has been

scarce, unlike the history of male homosexuality that

spans across centuries. The second work is a French

film entitle Laurence Anyways (2012) directed by

Xavier Dolan (b.1989). The story revolves around

Laurence who introduced as having a happy,

heterosexual relationship and a steady occupation as

a teacher at a school in the beginning of the film, but

then decided to live his life as a woman as his internal

conflict. Laurence Anyways won many awards

including one in Cannes Film Festival 2012 and

Toronto Film Festival 2012.

Despite the different forms, the qualitative

research is conducted through library and textual

research. There are two research questions in looking

at the perverse in literary works and social media: (1)

the social construction and acceptance within literary

works, and (2) the reflection in social media today.

The theory of sexuality from Freud is used as the main

understanding of normality in order to find the

definition of perversion. The intrinsic elements of

character and characterization are the sole focus on

this research while looking at the time settings as the

fundamental element to the ultimate research

questions. The reason behind the choice to use two

different forms of research objects is because each

object serves different functions: the novel represents

homosexuality, the film represents transgenderism,

Setiadi, C.

Social Construction and Acceptance of the Perverse in Literary Works and Social Media.

DOI: 10.5220/0010004400002917

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Social Sciences, Laws, Arts and Humanities (BINUS-JIC 2018), pages 169-173

ISBN: 978-989-758-515-9

169

and YouTube as ‘coming out’ platform. The goal is

to find the social construction, struggles, and the

changes, if any, between these objects. The function

of this research are for the findings to show that the

comparative approach is applicable by using different

forms of objects in the field of literature serving as

analytical data in the gender studies and the

sustainability development of time-suited social

construction for a more deserving social acceptance.

2 RESEARCH METHODS

This research is conducted by using qualitative

approach where two literary works are analysed

closely using textual and library research on their

main characters’ perversion. Freud’s understanding

of the norms and perverse are used in order to find

social constructions that are built around them and the

social acceptance they are sought from the society

they live in. YouTube, as a social medium, is chosen

as the platform of coming out, with the hypothesis

that prolongs the social construction and social

acceptance that have been depicted in the literary

works; questioning whether the same construction

and the act of seeking approval are still done in

today’s society.

3 DISCUSSION

For the mutual benefit and protection of Authors and

Publishers, it is necessary that Authors provide

formal written Consent to Publish and Transfer of

Consent ensures that the publisher has the Author’s

authorization to publish the Contribution.

The copyright form is located on the authors’

reserved area.

Freud started off his Three Essays on the Theory

of Sexuality (1905) by defining libido as the state of

hunger in terms of sexual instinct and needs that

human beings have. He proceeded to discuss its

development that he stated that it is generally where

the attraction to one sex upon the other that leads to

sexual union (Freud, 1905). In regards to this, he

introduced two technical terms: sexual object and

sexual aim (Freud, 1905). The normal sexual aim

involves the act of union of both genitals (a penis and

a vagina) known as copulation (penetration of the

penis into the vagina) that leads to a release of sexual

tension (ejaculation/orgasm) and a temporary loss of

libido afterwards (Freud, 1905). In short, this act is

defined by Kaye as coitus where a woman and a man

have penetrative vaginal-penile intercourse and

continue to do so until orgasm is achieved (Kaye,

2006). Freud leveled this to ‘a satisfaction analogous

of the sating hunger’ in reference to the biological

terms he stated earlier. Freud’s further explanation of

normal is reflected from Plato’s Symposium where

original human beings were cut up into halves: a man

and a woman and how both unite again in search of

love. He implied that being born male or female and

in search of the opposite sex to unite in love is what

being normal is. Thus, as Seidman summarized

Freud’s view, normal is ‘genital-centered,

intercourse-oriented heterosexuality based on love

and monogamy’ (Seidman, 2006). These terms mean

that the roles to sexual normality between two people

must involve a penis that is being inserted into a

vagina out of love, consensuality, and loyalty.

The deviations of this norm in regards to sexual

object are called inversions and those in regards to

sexual aim are called perversions. People of

inversions are described as having ‘contrary sexual

feelings’; the examples of inversions include

homosexuality, bisexuality, and any other that do not

cover heterosexual and monogamous traits.

Meanwhile, the perversions are variety of sexual acts

other than what Freud defined as normal. Some

examples of perversions include homosexuality, anal

coitus, and transgenderism. Yet, according to Freud,

the most normal sexual process, once the principles

are developed, may lead to deviations that described

as perversion (Freud, 1910). Another kind of

perversion is what commonly addressed as “trapped

in one’s body”. K.H. Ulrich stated that there are

people born in such position and taking an example

of men who might be described as of ‘feminine soul

enclosed in a male body’ (anima muliebris in corpora

virile inclusa) (Carpenter, 1896). This deals with

sexual identity where one was confused and often

‘not happy’ being in the body of the opposite sex.

Other than this expression, there is also indeed the

expression of ‘masculine soul enclosed in a female

body’. The idea of ‘trapped’ seems frantic yet the

expression suits many approach or experiences in the

study of transgenderism.

3.1 The Social Construction & Social

Acceptance in Literary Works

Seidman quoted Freud on how fluidity of sexual

instinct leads to the belief of the ability of the society

to shape its form and meaning; in particular, the

family as formative social (Seidman, 2006). This

means sexual instinct is adjustable in terms of how

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the surroundings (family, society) are like. This

highlights the upbringing environment of the

individual; how they are raised, where they are raised,

when they are raised, whom raised them. This

suggests that the social construction starts from the

internal environment, or on the other words, has

already been applied to the individual from the early

childhood of where they grow up. In The Well of

Loneliness (1928), the unborn main character,

Stephen, was always heavily expected to be a boy by

the father and leaving the mother worried for there

was a chance that their first child in her womb might

be a girl. The importance of having male first child

shows the strong patriarch model. Moreover, they

expressed their male-traditional expectations on the

unborn baby such as the wish to send ‘him’ abroad to

study (Hall, 1928). Despite of having male posture,

the traits are clear in childhood phase. She described

as enjoying dressing up as a boy and stating “Yes, of

course I’m a boy” followed by “I must be a boy,

‘cause I feel exactly like one.” Although Stephen

could not tell what it was that she was feeling, the

words ‘queer’ and ‘different’ are thrown behind her

back. This gives the idea of what the society of the

norm thinks about a child like Stephen.

If The Well of Loneliness portrayed ‘a man

trapped in a woman’s body’, the Laurence Anyways

portrayed the other way around. Throughout the film,

not only the audience can view a transformation of

the main character’s identity from male to female but

also the changes he brought to himself and his

surroundings. At the beginning of the film, Laurence

started off as a ‘normal’ who, as a man, has a

heterosexual relationship with a woman and does well

in his job as a teacher. This social construction might

be the cause of the emergent of the terms ‘closet’.

This idea of being inside a closet means to hide and

not reveal their true gender/sexual identity. On the

other hand, a person who comes out of this closet

means they have let other people know that they are

not what listed on the social construction. A person

may be considered either closeted or coming out (of

the closet) based on whatever the person declares or

not (Rasmussen, 2004). Thus, this act of ‘coming out

of the closet’ is the voice and independence of the

individual. In her research done in the US, Rasmussen

discovered that there are pressures experienced by

closeted people to come out, including their racial and

ethnic background, their family’s religious

affiliations, and financial matters (Rasmussen, 2004).

This suggests the hardships to having to come out

declaring one’s true gender identity to the society.

Both Stephen and Laurence are on the same

journey in seeking people’s acceptance toward them.

Stephen’s past heartbreaking relationships with

women leave her careful and she takes everything

slowly during her relationship with Mary. From this

relationship, many social construction and acceptance

are implied. There was one where Stephen and Mary

were declined from a socialite party. Due to this kind

of event, Stephen pushed Mary away to have

heterosexual relationship with a man. At the end of

the novel, Stephen’s last plea showed her with to be

acknowledged and accepted in the society. With

Laurence, he dealt with three specific environment:

his personal relationship, family matters, and work-

related issue. His identity is confirmed when he told

Frederique the truth how he is disgusted by his manly

posture and male genital for he wanted to live the life

of the woman he was born to be. At the end of the

conversation, Laurence asked for her acceptance by

asking her: ‘Do you hate me?” (Dolan, 2012). Similar

conversation he had with his mother, ending it with

the question: ‘Do you still love me?” (Dolan, 2012).

The other forms of asking for acceptance came from

the interviewer and the boy next door. Laurence

noticed that the interviewer never made eye contacts

and she asked for one. When asked if it is important,

he analogised it with the importance of air to the

lungs; while the boy next door to his new place blew

a kiss and Laurence giggled happily (Dolan, 2012)

suggesting his gender confirmations as a female is

found attractive.

Literature has been showing the reflection of

events in time. The difference between these two

literary works spanning almost a century is that in the

early 20th century, the social construction of the norm

was too strong that perversion was seen as a desease

and not welcomed; whereas in the early 21st century

perversion is taken as newness that social acceptance

of perverts is in mixed reviews. This difference leads

to the conclusion that there are indeed shifts

happening within those timespan in terms of the

reaction, either rejection or acceptance, from the

society toward perversion and the perverts.

3.2 Reflection in Social Media Today

YouTube is one of the biggest social media platforms

where people can share videos with the duration upto

2 hours for the netizen (citizen of the internet) to

watch. YouTube has four important features: share,

like, comment, and subscribe. These feature let the

information or in this case, videos, to travel fast. In

regards to gender conformity and social acceptance,

YouTube has been used as a tool for people to come

out of the closet. According to the Huffington Post

that summed a brief history of the “YouTube Coming

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Out Videos” (Wong, 2017), the number of coming

out videos uploaded to YouTube from 2006 to 2017

has increased drastically.

Figure 1: Number of coming out videos uploaded in 2006 –

2017 (Wong, 2017).

Nevertheless, within the top 10 videos the article

listed of the famous come-out YouTubers, there are

still expressions of looking for confirmation and

acceptance from the people who are close to them

first before letting the whole world know through the

Internet. Some mentioned that they worked on their

family and inner circle first before they break it to the

people of the internet. This idea of sharing leads to

the building of sense of belongings. In 2013, Troye

Sivan explained why it is important to tell this on his

video: “I feel like a lot of you guys are like real

genuine friends of mine and I share everything with

the Internet; I share every aspect of my life of the

internet.” This implies the sense of belongings

between a YouTuber to his/her subscribers and that

the conformity should come from their close cirlces

as well. Videos on YouTube are not one-way

communication. YouTube also provides comment

section for people to interact on each particular video.

This is why on Ingrid Nielson’s coming out video

(2015), she mentioned the importance of “having the

conversation” in order to “seeking love and

approval”.

There is indeed still some boundaries such as

cultural and geographical backgrounds that some

people have to deal with; either it is a priviledge or

under-priviledge to find conformity from the world.

What developed today is the understanding of

equality that unravels borders among human beings.

In 2014 Connor Franta’s coming out video, he stated

this issue: “Race, gender, religion, sexuality, we are

all people; and that’s it. We’re all people, we’re all

equal.” The increasing of number of coming out

videos for the last 10 years might be reaching its peak

soon and ended to where people does not have to

create a coming-out video or even to come out, thanks

to the fluidity of society in the reflection of time and

events.

4 CONCLUSIONS

In the light of Freud’s view on the normal and the

perverse, this essay tried to discuss two works and

reflection in social media. Works like these make a

crucial contribution to the literature and films

specifically about the lives of trans and gender-

nonconformity people (Collier, K. L., Bos, H. M. W.,

& Sandfort, 2012). My argument is to find whether

how the normal and the perverse are contrasted in the

works based on when it started, the relationships

between characters, and the acceptance of the public.

The wish to be treated as normal and not to be

misjudged and misunderstood is depicted in

Stephen’s last plea in this novel. Whereas Laurence,

which the setting is assumed to be far more modern

in comparison to that of The Well of Loneliness, is

more straightforward by breaking the news and

dressing up as a woman upright. The social

construction are still strong within the two works,

even so, both of the works still show the need of

acceptance and conformity. The difference of social

acceptance can be concluded as the result of shifts

happen within the time span. These literary works

spanning almost a century. The social construction of

the norm was still strong that perversion was seen as

a desease and not welcomed in the early 20th centruy;

whereas in the early 21st century perversion is taken

as newness that social acceptance of perverts is

unpredictable as some people might be accepting,

especially if they are closely related. The reflection in

social media today, taking YouTube as coming-out

platform, shows that the conformity and approval

from the society are still wanted even though some

claimed to have already worked on their inner circles

before they broke it to the Internet. Furthermore, this

act of has been showing great increment for the past

10 years; this means that the act of seeking approval

has been the reward of the gender-nonconformists.

This interrelation of time and cultural shifts is the core

of the development of social construction and

acceptance; whilst advancement of technology

assures a more sustainable improvement.

REFERENCES

Carpenter, E. (1896) The Intermediate Sex. London: George

Allen & Unwin, Ltd.

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Collier, K. L., Bos, H. M. W., & Sandfort, T. G. M. (2012)

‘Intergroup Contact, Attitudes toward Homosexuality,

and the Role of Acceptance of Gender Non-Conformity

in Young Adolescents’, Jrnl of Adlsnce, 35, p. 899.

Dolan, X. (2012) Laurence Anyways.

Freud, S. (1905) Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality.

London: Penguin Books.

Freud, S. (1910) Three Contributions to the Sexual Theory,

Online. Available at:

http://www.bartleby.com/278/1.html.

Hall, R. (1928) The Well of Loneliness. Great Britain:

Wordsworth Classics.

Kaye, K. (2006) Sexual Intercourse Introducing The New

Sexuality Studies: Original Essays and Interviews.

Edited by S. et al. Seidman. London: Routledge.

Rasmussen, M. L. (2004) ‘The Problem of Coming Out’,

Thry Into Prctc, 43, p. 144.

Seidman, S. (2006) Theoretical Perspectives Introducing

The New Sexuality Studies: Original Essays and

Interviews. Edited by S. et al. Seidman. London:

Routledge.

Wong, C. M. (2017) Huffington Post, Online. Available at:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/10-youtube-

coming-out-videos_us_59dd1c60e4b04fc4e1e94082.

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