‘LGBT Identity: Present Issues’. Paper presented at the University of Warwick LGBT Staff Network...

L

Warwick LGBT Staff Network

LGBT Identity: Present Issues

Dr Alberica Bazzoni, University of Oxford


Outline

LGBT Rights and Society:

• Born this way?

• Beyond gay marriage

• Islamophobia and the instrumentalisation of LGBT rights

LGBT Identity and Gender:

• Patriarchy and Gender Difference

• Examples of Gender Difference in LGBT Identities

• Sexism and Privilege

• The ‘Queer’ Approach: Advantages and Disadvantages


LGBT Rights and Society:Born this Way?

• Yes, desires are not decided arbitrarily or controlled by individual will

But:

• Risk of Essentialism and Biological Determinism

• Diverts attention from systemic heteronormativity

• Apologetic Attitude: ‘if I could be different, I would’


LGBT Rights and Society:Born this Way?

…and ultimately, bigots do not really care anyway


LGBT Rights and Society:Beyond Marriage Equality

Marriage Equality is a right cause:

• it is a clearly identified, unifying and measurable objective• it rectifies existing legal discrimination• it will potentially make it much more acceptable for future

generations to be gay and lesbian

Potential limits of focusing extensively, if not exclusively, on marriage equality:

• anxiety to conform• pressure to marry• reduction of spaces for experimentation, reduction of

diversity



> Emancipation comes to be understood as assimilation to the existing order, rather than the transformation of the same order

‘I don’t support gay marriage despite being a Conservative. I support gay marriage because I’m a Conservative’.

David Cameron



Objection: it is not fair to place all the burden of social transformationon a minority group.Transforming the social role of marriage, of the family, of monogamyetc. should not be the responsibility of LGBT people more than it is theresponsibility of heterosexual people.

At the same time, although right, marriage equality is a very limited,and potentially limiting cause.

> We might ask: what are our needs, as LGBT people,beyond marriage equality?


LGBT Rights and Society:Islamophobia and the instrumentalisation of LGBT rights

Examples of LGBT rights becoming conservative: Islamophobia and racism: “How well do you treat your homosexuals?”

‘Gay and lesbian rights discourses can risk slipping into slamophobic andracist discourses that in many ways propagate or support racist agendas.[…] From the liberation of burqa-wearing women as a partial rationale forinvasion of the Middle East, to gay marriage as a barometer ofcivilisational aptitude, […] propagating anti-Muslim attitudes is becomingthe most expeditious passage to national belonging. This form of nationalempowerment can also work for (predominantly white, middle-class)gays and lesbians.’

Jasbir Puar, ‘To be gay and racist is no anomaly’,The Guardian, 2 June 2010


LGBT Identity and Gender

• When we talk about gender, we talk about power relations

• To have a sexual orientation other than heterosexual, or to self-identify outside gender binaries, is not sufficient to step outside gender as a system of power


LGBT Identity and Gender:Patriarchy and Gender Binaries

Patriarchy: • society is built on a male/female binary• this binary is not symmetrical, but hierarchical:

• women occupy subordinate roles compared with men• women-identified values are disparaged compared to men-

identified values.• Accordingly, there is an unequal distribution of wealth, income,

power, respect and other social resources throughout society between men and women.



Gender binaries work on different levels, from psychological to socio-political.

• Psychological: Binary

distribution of traits between the

genders

• Socio-political: Division of labour

and social space between the

genders



Individual level: the binary system of traits

Feminine

Passivity

Weakness

Emotions

Verbal attitude

Sweet

Caring

Practical needs

Dependent

Beauty

Can’t drive, parking especially

Masculine

Activity

Strength, aggressivity

Rationality

Analytical attitude

Tough

Self-accomplishing

Abstract ideals

Independent

Intelligence, power

Drives fast and furious



Can

’td

rive, park

ing esp

ecially

Beau

ty

Dep

end

ent

Practical

need

s

Carin

g

Sweet

Verb

alattitud

e

Em

otio

ns

Weak

ness

Passiv

ity

Femin

ine

Mas

culi

ne

Act

ivit

y

Stre

ngt

h, a

ggre

ssiv

ity

Rat

ion

alit

y

An

aly

tica

lat

titu

de

To

ugh

Self

-acc

om

pli

shin

g

Ab

stra

ctid

eals

Ind

epen

den

t

Inte

llig

ence

, po

wer

Dri

ves

fast

an

d f

uri

ou

s



Socio-political level: the division of labour and social spaces

FemalePrivate domain

Jobs related to care and practical needs

Unpaid / less paid work

MalePublic domain

Jobs related to the social community

Paid / better paid work


LGBT Identity and Gender:Examples of Gender Difference in LGBT Identities

• Sexuality: gay male sexuality is largely expressed and recognized, while lesbian sexuality is virtually non-existent in public representation, or exploited for male heterosexual consumption.

• Parenting: lesbians, as women, are seen as more naturally able to raise kids. There is more resistance towards gay men as parents, because we still lack representations of men raising kids.

• Representation: ‘the universal gay’ and lesbian invisibility


LGBT Identity and Gender:Sexism and Privilege

‘Privilege’ refers to a set of advantages (or lack of disadvantages)enjoyed by a dominant group, who is usually unaware of the privilege itpossesses. It is conferred to individuals and groups possessing thecharacteristics that define domination in a society.

Chart of privilege in Western societies:

• Male• White• Heterosexual• Rich• Educated• Physically able


LGBT Identity and Gender:Sexism and Privilege

While LGBT people do not benefit from heterosexuality or genderconformance, this does not mean that they do not benefit from otherforms of privilege, nor that they do not partake in other forms ofdomination and oppression of others.

> We need to address sexism and gay male privilege, inside and outside LGBT communities


LGBT Identity and Gender:The ‘Queer’ Approach: Advantages and Disadvantages

‘Queer’: a category that moves beyond strict categories of gender identity and sexual orientation

• Advantages: • it is a liberating and all-encompassing label, it goes in the

direction of a contamination of traits of masculinity and femininity

• It allows for sexual fluidity

• Disadvantages:• It is potentially a neo-liberal category, focused exclusively on the

individual, that makes existing privilege invisible

> ‘queer’ as the illusion that we are all equally unique


Conclusive remarks

• Gender is a question of power, and LGBT identities are affected by it.

• The LGBT community is internally differentiated, and not exempt from privilege and power relations present in the rest of society.

• LGBT people all have in common the interest in enlarging the possibilities of gender expression and sexual orientation, so we need to keep building alliances between us.

• We need to recognise and contrast inequality inside and outsidethe LGBT community, and construct alliances with othermarginalised or underprivileged groups.

L

Warwick LGBT Staff Network


Thank you!

‘LGBT Identity: Present Issues’. Paper presented at the University of Warwick LGBT Staff Network...

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