The grammar of sex : Verb or noun?

This chapter explores the notion of “sexuality” and considers sexuality in grammatical terms. It also considers Foucault’s critique of psychiatry’s normalising practices, that is, with respect to the classification of sexuality. The chapter argues for a notion of sexuality that is not a static aspect of personality but rather something more dynamic and active—an action, a practice, something one does. Sex can be thought of as a noun when we think of the sexuality of a person, that is, when their sex practices are categorised so that they fit into one of the known categories: fetishist, transvestite, etc.; when their sexual practices are pathologised in this categorical way—the way of psychiatry. These categories that psychiatry designates are static things that are both constant and defining. But sex can also be thought of as a verb—to sex—to have sex.