Introduction: Stepping onto sacred ground…
There are socially-designated sites – both physical and metaphoric – that, because of their particular history, particularizing definition and current status, are considered imbued with a sense of cultural inviolability. This sanctified prestige enables the site to be consider, and consider itself, sacrosanct, existing beyond the easy reach of pedestrian criticism and by extension unimpeded academic examination. Membership for such sites are usually accorded only to only those who either have ascribed or achieve parity with pre-existing standards, therefore making such status elite by definition. Conversely, by default, this select standing dichotomously constitutes an overly-determined outsider, …show more content…
For example, gendered spaces may be considered especially sanctified in societies where sex and gender are defined through a dichotomous binary. Through this understanding, women’s bathrooms may be perceived then as both places of intimate (read, vulnerable-making) bodily functions and refuge from a dominant patriarchal society, and as such would be accord a high sense of sacrosanctity. Likewise, a men’s locker room, one of the few socially sanctioned locales in a heteronormative culture where male nudity may be easily …show more content…
Their empowerment allows them to confer certain statuses to those members and affiliates whose ideas, ideals and actions align with the locales. Those who can achieve the pre-existing standards of the given site – whether it be gender-based, class-based, religious or politically based – are free to access the privileges and protections found within. Unfettered entry is duly accorded. Conversely, the very act of creating such exclusive ranks simultaneously constitute overly-determined outsider identities: the interloper, the intruder, the stranger, the potential enemy - the trespasser. Since this constitutive construction is a dichotomous configuration by default, this identity is considered to embody many if not all opposing values of the site’;s ideology (and by extension, its membership). If the field in question is the women’s restroom, pre-existing norms denote men to always already the intruder and must never enter . If the site is a fundamental house of worship, reformists or non-believers may automatically be considered interlopers. If the site is a closed primary, the politics of the voting bloc would determine the entry of non-party members as disruptive and suspect. This pre-suspicion means that the political opponents, religious reformists, or men need not be physically present. The site’s ideology, pre-approved by society, has pre-determined the level of breach. It is critical to