ABSTRACT
Familiar phrases bring us face-to-face with sexuality’s inseparability from the state and the nation. We live with such sentiments and policies every day without thinking twice about them. Precisely because the impact of nation and state on sexuality is so routine, it all seems unremarkable. Perhaps the spark of sexual desire set off deep within one’s core reinforces the belief that sexuality is personal, private. Nothing could be further from reality; social institutions matter tremendously to issues of sexuality. When pushed to consider which institutions matter, we easily concede the usual suspects – family, media, peer groups, school, and religion. But the above phrases starkly remind us that nations and states are equally important to sexuality, if not more. Think about it: it is easier to ignore parental injunctions about your sexual behavior than what the state sees as sexually legal. This chapter presents a case for how nations and states bear on matters of sexuality and why this is too crucial to ignore.
