sexualism

sexual +‎ -ism.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛkʃuəlɪzm/

sexualism (usually uncountable, plural sexualisms)

1. The quality of being sexual; a sex-oriented approach or focus.
   • 1918, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine

     Repudiating the excessive sexualism of Freud and insisting upon the importance of the food-seeking impulse, especially in childhood, he regards all the primary impulses as differentiations of one fundamental energy, the life force which sustains all our strivings, both conscious and unconscious […]

   • 2012, L. S. S. O'Malley, Popular Hinduism: The Religion of the Masses, →ISBN, page 89:

     As regards other indications of sexualism, there is no doubt a certain representation of divine things in a sexual way.

   • 2015, Ragnar Redbeard, Might is Right, →ISBN, page 248:

     Sexualism and slaughter go hand in hand.

2. A social theory first introduced by Aline Valette (1850—1899) that promoted socialism with preferential treatment of women because of their role in reproducing the species.
   • 1978, Marilyn J. Boxer & ‎Jean Helen Quataert, Socialist Women, →ISBN:

     When Valette, following Bonnier's philosophy, proposed to women that they adopt sexualism as their "true religion," she recast an old idea.

   • 1982, Charles Sowerwine, Femmes Et Le Socialisme, →ISBN, page 62:

     As man's role was to produce, and socialism was the ideology by which his production would be restored to harmony ; so woman's role was to reproduce, and 'sexualism' was the ideology by which her reproduction would be restored to harmony.

   • 1996, Bruce Clarke, Dora Marsden and Early Modernism, →ISBN:

     For the communist anarchists in league with the Freewoman, however, socialism slid easily into sexualism.

   • 2011, Feminist Writings from Ancient Times to the Modern World, →ISBN:

     Just as Valette herself had embodied socialist and feminist commitments to the advancement of women while remaining traditionally "feminine" in style, so "sexualism" promised societal radical change but deferred it to a socialist future.

3. The belief that one set of sexual behaviors is intrinsically superior to another set of sexual behaviors, or prejudice and discrimination based on that belief.
   • 1870, The Medical Times and Gazette:

     We find analogous phenomena in this Medical sexualism. Our readers cannot but have been struck with the sentiments of " One Cognisant of the Facts ” in defence of a daughter being taught to pass the catheter for her own father. ...Grant the principle that all the natural instincts of humanity in its higher social development may be set aside, provided the object be good in the eyes of the sexualist, and any immorality may be— indeed is —clothed with a mantle of purity.

   • 1991, From Invisibility to Inclusion: Opening the Doors for Lesbians and Gay Men at the University of Michigan:

     A suggestion I have for the University is to highlight more the close link between sexism and sexualism (my personal word for discrimination based on sexuality).

   • 2001 June 20, Douglas Reay, “BLIZZARD FUCK YOU”, in alt.games.diablo, Usenet:

     Oh my. Sexism ("bitch"), sexualism ("gay") and racism ("gooks") all in just two lines.

   • 2015 -, Marc Solomon, Winning Marriage, →ISBN:

     “Ours is a sexualist society,” Evan began. “In particular, we have come to believe in constraints on the love which can exist between women and women, and men and men. Unlike other cultures and other times, we have made the gender of our beloved, and not the quality of the love, the overriding issue. This sexualism is pervasive and insidious.”

• See Thesaurus:sexualism

• sexism