Homosexuality is unique to many cultures, which has been hard to accept over time. Many protests like Gay Liberation , the Homophile Movement, and the Lesbian Feminism were established in the hope of promoting equal rights for gay people. As much as these protests have good intent, it has at times proven to not be all-inclusive. Just because someone identifies as homosexual, it does not necessarily mean they are the same as another person who has the same identity. For example, in Queer Theory by Annamarie Jagose she states that in the Gay Liberation movement "Ironically, given its origins in a race-based politics, the ethnic model's gay and lesbian subject was white" (Jagose 62). This means that even if gay men were to receive equality, it would only be granted to white population demographics. By standing up for gay white men in this case, people of color are left out. Equality is not truly achieved then if it cannot apply to more than one population group.
There is also a problem with gender inequality. The outlook on gay men and women are entirely different. "Lesbian feminist models of organisation were correctives to the masculinist bias of a gay liberation which itself had grown out of dissatisfactions with earlier homophile organisations" (Jagose 75). In other words, what the issue of accepting homosexuality is tied to the problem of gender inequality. Patriarchy becomes prevalent, because men are granted more power and given a better chance for equal rights. Thus, a homosexual man given a certain ethnicity, is at a an advantage than a gay woman who is automatically looked down upon in gender.
The real issue is how to stick up for all identities. Throughout time, it is proven that attempts to promote equality can actually result in the opposite. Leaving out groups of people, does not unify for change for the better. "As Diana Fuss (1989:103) argues, 'theories of 'multiple identities' fail to challenge effectively the traditional metaphysical understanding of identity as unity" (Jagose 83). It must be understood that people although similar, do not always identify the same. Finding a similarity among gay men and women of ethnicity, economic standing, or anything that speaks on behalf of oppression, must be identified. Showing that more than one group struggles will be the true start of having equality for all people.
Since there isn’t a prompt, I am just going to add to Koe’s blog post here. In chapter six Jagose is discussing and evaluating the limits of identity. She is discussing how labeling and creating identities can be problematic as not all fit into the structures especially in within the gender and sexuality departments. Her statement at the end of the chapter emphasizes that labels will continue to be problematic, “The suspicions that normative identities will never suffice for the representational work demanded of them is strengthened by influential postmodern understandings of identity, gender, sexuality, power and resistance (71).” I agree with the statement and with Koe’s final statement that there are many that are within the identities that also need to be recognized as part of the oppression, and that there is a need and emphasis for future work to go beyond past labels.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter seven she looks at the word queer and identity. Here the use of queer and development of queer theory starts using the intersectionality of other life aspects as influences in contexts of gender, sex, and sexuality. She cites Butler’s book as influential, “…one of its most influential achievements is to specify how gender operates as a regulatory construct that privileges heterosexuality and, furthermore, how the deconstruction of normative models of gender legitimates lesbian and gay subject-positions (83).” I think that the idea that gay liberation and feminism being inclusive to break down stigmas and legitimize oppressed groups is important, and if feminism and queer theory continue to develop into broad spectrum and include all aspects of people it will continue to bend the norms.