No

Abstract

This article examines how the enunciation (or not) of the word 'no' in particular social situations works performatively to produce those situations as sexual, materializing particular subjects as sexual subjects. Three instances are examined in detail: (1) cases of rape, where the meaning of a woman's 'no' may be disputed; (2) the 'Homosexual Panic Defense', which claims that unwanted homosexual advances may legitimately be resisted with physical violence rather than words; and (3) sadomasochistic scenes, where 'no' is a token of formulaic resistance used to heighten pleasure. It is argued that in analyzing such instances, performativity must be distinguished from performance, and identity from identification . © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.