We spent some time in Queer Theory talking about the place of talk shows in modern discourse, trying to decide when the Confessional becomes the Sideshow. I brought this up again Wednesday night when we were discussing The Repressive Hypothesis, and we tossed it around for a while. We discussed the scripted fakery of shows like Jerry Springer, and Jeff compared it to Roland Barthes’ essay on wrestling, which presents the wrestling match as a morality play of sorts, a re-enactment of justice. I don’t think that talk shows are really any more fake than some of the old sideshows, though – I mean, the Alligator Girl went home and washed off her dyed cornflake scales just as often as the Bearded Lady went home and trimmed her real beard.

What I did start to think about, as a way to relate all this with the essay at hand, is that confessionals, talk shows and freak shows are all about codification. Maybe this is what the repressive hypothesis is all about – we want to know what category to put you in so as to then know what your place is within greater society, and how you will be handled. The normative, generative couple occupies a different space and function than does the normal-but-not-legitimate queer couple, who in turn are assigned a different space than the solitary leather queen. People don’t know what to do with, say, a lesbian who enters a committed, long-term relationship with a man. (Although perhaps “hasbian” is becoming a more legit codification these days.) In much the same way, someone who clearly fits a racial profile occupies a different space than a mulatto. (Except the Old New Orleans quadroons and octaroons, who occupied a space all their own.)

The notion of repressive codification seems to fit in with Foucault’s fascination with genealogies and archaeologies of knowledge, with assigning things to their place within an interlocking grid. The constant incitement to discourse regarding sexual matters helps with that placement.

Added bonus: Foucault and Porn!