Professor Greta LaFleur’s lecture on the history of sexuality in relation to the environment was really thought-provoking and tied back into many of the previous lectures and discussions we have had throughout this course while also making me think about topics in ways I truly hadn’t ever done before. This particular lecture was really interesting to consider in relation to our current social and political climate because people are still very close-minded about gender and sexuality. Considering in Systema Naturae, Linnaeus taxonomized natural plant species based on their sexual organs visibility, and this theme still remains present in our contemporary age as people often unfairly label people as a certain gender based entirely on their sexual reproductive organs and not based on how they choose to identify. We must keep in mind that Linnaeus was attempting to explain the creation of species as created by god but regardless he was fairly accurate even when viewing his words in our modern age.
Dr. LaFleur went into depth explaining the humoral theory’s popularity and how many people thought that our human lives and behaviors were dependent on the environment we were born or lived our lives in. This is something clearly I had noticed people do in our modern age, but it seemed slightly racist to generalize entire groups of people into behavior types when in reality each person has their own behaviors and tendencies. Regardless the popularity of this mindset to this day is undeniable and people still clearly think like this at least to some extent just because of how people are represented in the media and online. For example there were four categories for humans, which were Americanus, Europaeus, Asiaticus, and Afer which were described each in their own specific way. Americanus people were said to behave in obstinate and free ways, while Asiaticus supposedly behaved in severe ways and Afer behaved as women without shame. Although this all seemed to further reinforce this racist line of thinking, it is undeniable how relevant this is to our contemporary age when so many people still view other races and people in similar ways of thinking. It is very interesting to think about this in terms of our natural environment as well and our attempts to sexualize various plants such as the Venus Fly Trap. Although this makes it seem easy to blame Linnaeus for this line of thinking, he was only one of several people labeling things similarly or accordingly to humoral theory.
Another relevant and interesting idea to consider in relation to all of this was the idea that people often reproduce and get into relationships during the colder months of the year and then tend to end relationships during the warmer times of the year. This by itself clearly implies that our environment around us greatly impacts our sexuality and behaviors to the point that it impacts our relationships. This led to a discussion how different locations such as Las Vegas, can alter people’s opinions on sexuality for a time being because of the atmosphere. This is really interesting to consider in relation to the humoral theory because although it seems to generalize entire groups of people it is also somewhat grounded in fact that locations impact how we act sexually and how we behave.