"The Rhetoric of Sex, the Discourse of Desire" was initially delivered as a lecture at MIT in 1992.

The essay first appeared in print in Heterotopia: Postmodern Utopia and the Body Politic (1994), edited by Tobin Siebers, then in Shorter Views: Queer Thoughts & the Politics of the Paraliterary (1999) by Samuel Delaney.

One would almost think that they [straight white males] felt empowered to take anything the society produced, no matter how marginal, and utilize it for their own ends — dare we say "exploit it"? — certainly to take advantage of it as long as it's around. And could this possibly be an effect of discourse? Perhaps it might even be one we on the margins might reasonably appropriate to our profit... or perhaps some of us already have.

Samuel Delaney, "The Rhetoric of Sex, The Discourse of Desire"

About the Author

Samuel R. Delany is an award-winning science-fiction author and literary critic.

Delany, Samuel Ray. "The Rhetoric of Sex, the Discourse of Desire." Shorter views queer thoughts & the politics of the paraliterary. Hanover, NH, Wesleyan University Press, published by University Press of New England, 1999.