Sexuality in Slovenian Drama at the Beginning of the 21st Century

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss sexuality in the plays The Exhibitionist (2001) by Dušan Jovanović and For Our Young Ladies (2006) by Draga Potočnjak through literary interpretation, essentialist, sociological and literary analysis. In doing so, we draw on the so-called Critical Sexualities Studies and take into account the identifying elements of restrictive and permissive sexual culture, which we place in the context of the social changes in the organisation of sexuality characteristic of societies in late modernity. We note that in the two plays, prominent and influential in the Slovenian literary and theatrical space in the first years of the new millennium, both authors thematise sexuality, more specifically paraphilias and paraphilic disorders (exhibitionism and incest), as well as sexual liberation and sexual pleasure, to formulate ideas, themes and motifs that explore the antagonism between sexual cosmopolitanism (secularisation, detraditionalisation and individualisation) and sexual fundamentalism (Christian morality, tradition, patriarchy).The analysis shows that in articulating sexuality and its images, Dušan Jovanović and Draga Potočnjak have created engaged and socially conscious plays, where sexuality becomes a powerful tool, a tool that in late modernity can drive an individual to the edge, keep him on the edge, or even push him over the edge.

Keywords

• contemporary Slovenian drama
• sexuality
• paraphilias
• restrictive and permissive sexual culture
• Dušan Jovanović
• Draga Potočnjak