Editing Sectarianism (section)

==== Alternative: Sextarianism ====
In her book Sextarianism, Mikdashi emphasizes the relationship between sect, sex and sexuality.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mikdashi |first=Maya |title=Sextarianism |date=2022 |publisher=University Press Stanford |year=2022}}</ref> She argues that sectarianism cannot be studied in isolation, because the practice of sectarianism always goes hand in hand with the practice of [[sexism]]. Moreover, she states that the category 'sect' is already a [[Patriarchy|patriarchal]] inheritance. For this reason she proposes the term "sextarianism".  Sex, [[Human sexuality|sexuality]] and sect together define citizenship, and, since the concept of citizenship is the basis of the modern nation-state, sextarianism therefore forms the basis for the legal bureaucratic systems of the state and thus for state power.<ref name=":21">{{Cite book |last=Mikdashi |first=Maya |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781503631564/html |title=Sextarianism: Sovereignty, Secularism, and the State in Lebanon |date=2022-05-03 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-1-5036-3156-4 |pages=23-50 |language=English |doi=10.1515/9781503631564}}</ref> It emphasizes how state power articulates, disarticulates, and manages sexual difference bureaucratically, ideologically, and legally.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mikdashi |first=Maya |title=Sextarianism |date=2022 |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2022 |pages=3}}</ref> To further illustrate the dimensions by which the dynamics of sextarianism in Lebanese society can be explained, Mikdashi refers to two central concepts: Evangelical Secularism, and the Epidermal State <ref>Mikdashi, M. (2022). The Epidermal State: Violence and the Materiality of Power. In Sextarianism (pp. 153–182). Stanford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503631564-007</ref><ref>Mikdashi, M. (2022). Are You Going to Pride? Evangelical Secularism and the Politics of Law. In Sextarianism (pp. 117–152). Stanford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503631564-006</ref>

Based on [[Carole Pateman]], sexual difference is political difference, while sexual difference is not merely a biological or cultural distinction but a fundamental mechanism of power relations. She argues that sexual difference functions as a process through which sectarian, [[Gender|gendered]], and sexual positions are structurally produced, represented, imagined, desired, and managed. In this view, the construction of sexual difference is inseparable from political structures, shaping not only individual identities but also the broader organization of social and political life.<ref name=":23" />

'''Dimension of Sextarianism: Evangelical Secularism and the Epidermal State'''

''Sextarianism'' builds on [[Joan Wallach Scott|Joan Scott]]’s theorization of the constitutive nature of sexual difference to the history of secularism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mikdashi |first=Maya |title=Sextarianism |date=2022 |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2022 |pages=3}}</ref> According to Mikdashi, sectarianism provided her with the chance to examine the Lebanese state without separating or favoring sectarian differences from sexual differences. This approach is rooted in the ways the state regulates and creates both sexual and sectarian distinctions. The Lebanese legal system shapes sexual difference across various areas of law, with sexual difference playing a far more significant role as a legal category than sectarian difference. The Lebanese state handles both sexual and sectarian differences through its judicial and governmental/bureaucratic structures.<ref name=":21" /> Mikdashi furthermore ties this development to the concepts of the evangelical and state based secularism which by emphasising the sectarian sphere through its sovereignty, securitisation, and citizenship laws, manages to enshrine its view into society <ref name=":23">Mikdashi, M. (2022). Afterlives of a Census: Rethinking State Power and Political Difference. Sextarianism: Sovereignty, Secularism, and the State in Lebanon. (pp 24-47). Stanford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503631564-002</ref> The second important component - the epidermal state - is used by Mikdashi to show the locus and mode with which states manifest their power to enforce sextarianism. <ref>Mikdashi, M. (2022). The Epidermal State: Violence and the Materiality of Power. In Sextarianism (pp. 153–182). Stanford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503631564-007</ref>

Mikdashi also refers to the idea that sextarianism unpacks how [[heterosexuality]], the [[Gender binary|sex binary]], and civil and [[criminal law]] are key to secularism’s management of sexual and religious difference, with secularism’s investment in sex manifesting as the regulation of straight and [[queer]] sexualities and a sex-gender binary system.<ref name=":21" />