Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 16:33:48 +1000 (EST)
From: Gary MacLennan <g.maclennan-AT-qut.edu.au>
Subject: Re: M-I: Gays & lesbians


At 01:23 PM 1/2/98 +0000, you wrote:
>Hi Bob, Hugh and others:
>
>Below is the piece already sent to you on gays and lesbians in revised form.
>I have revised it in light of the interesting discussion on the subject with
>Bob, Hugh and others on the list. I would like you to tell me what you think
>of it now:
>
>Lesbians and gay men
>Under capitalism general sexual oppression still exists, especially for
>women and youth.  Capitalism has also given rise to the systematic
>oppression of lesbians and gay men. Capitalist society, whatever liberal
>gestures it has proved capable of in periods of prosperity, is inherently
>anti-homosexual.
>The ideological and economic centrality of the prevailing form of the family
>for capitalism means that any groups who undermine the monogamous,
>heterosexual "norm" of the bourgeois family are regarded as a dire threat to
>society and stigmatised accordingly. The fact that lesbian and gay sex is
>openly non-reproductive is a threat to the legitimacy of the bourgeois
>family.
>Under capitalism lesbians and gay men have been systematically denounced,
>abused and criminalised.  This has led to sexual misery for millions of
>individuals and fomented harmful divisions within the working class.  The
>bourgeoisie through the manipulation of education, the media, religion and
>the legal system, and with the connivance of the trade union bureaucracy,
>promotes the idea that homosexuality is "unnatural'.


Rebecca,

I am sorry I was not able to give you some feedback on your earlier post.
But things have been busy this end.  Now I will try and give this more
serious thought but my first  response is that one has to take serious
account of John D'Emilio's thesis about capitalism and the creation of gay
culture.  He makes a distinction between the pro-family ideologies of
capitalism and the anti-family material reality of capitalism.  He claims
that "lesbian and gay identity and communities are historically created,
the result of a process of capitalist development that has spanned many
generations." (:473)

He goes on to argue that "capitalism has created the material conditions
for homosexual desire to express itself as a central component of some
individuals' lives..." (:474)

this is a com0plex question and I think it is tied up with the promises of
modernity - equality, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - and the
reality of a class divided society.  Nevertheless I think it is wrong to
simply equate capitalism with Gay oppression.  That does not speak to the
experience of so many gay people around the world who have experienced
greater freedom with the spread of capitalist values.  I am thinking here
especially of a society like China where the possibility of a gay lifestyle
is just becoming a possibility with the growth of capitalism.

I hasten to add here that this is not a point in favor of capitalism but
rather an argument for a fairly nuanced analysis.

regards

Gary

Quotes from John D'emilio, Capitalism & Gay identity in H. Abelove et al
(eds) the Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader, Routledge London, 1993



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