‘Blood, it’s in you to be Governed'

Authors

  • Alex Christison Mount Royal University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/bsuj56

Keywords:

heteronormativity, blood, critical analysis, governance, Canadian Blood Services, humoral medicine, gender, sexuality, one-sex model, two-sex model

Abstract

The author of this paper investigates how blood has been constructed as a gendered and heteronormative cultural product, explored through the use of critical analysis of historical and contemporary uses of blood. Heteronormativity and the fallacy of discrete sexes are then defined and explored to give context to the argument. It is found that through gendering under the two-sex model of opposing male and female sexes, blood is heteronormative. A case study of Canadian Blood Services was used to show how governance is enacted based upon the limitation of a heteronormative construction. This argument is bolstered in a theoretical discussion of the nation-state and the creation of the archetypical citizen, part of which is a compulsory heterosexuality.

Author Biography

Alex Christison, Mount Royal University

Student, Department of Sociology

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Published

2013-12-01

How to Cite

Christison, A. (2013). ‘Blood, it’s in you to be Governed’. Behavioural Sciences Undergraduate Journal, 1(1), 15–24. https://doi.org/10.29173/bsuj56