"heterosexual"/"homosexual" (was Re: debates was guilty / innocent was debates)

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>On Wed, 18 Oct 2000 09:16:15 -0700 (PDT) Miles Jackson <cqmv at pdx.edu> wrote:
>
> > This is Soc 101--role conflict.  This has nothing to do with the claim that
>people must be unitary subjects.  There are different roles associated with
>different statuses; psychoanalysis is irrelevant to understanding that.
>
>Because philosophical attitudes are not constituted by contradictory premises,
>right? There is no id... no ego... no superego... the distinction between
>desire and fantasy is an illusion... no unconscious or conscious... to the
>winds with reality testing and repression, to the flames with neurosis and
>psychoses... off to the earth with obsession and hysteria... and into the sea
>with dreams, memories and language... the subject is unified, a complete
>(w)hole.... with a definitive psychical (whoops, doesn't exist) beginning and
>end. No loops, no tricks of the mind, no shadows or phantoms. We are on solid
>ground with the self. Clear as crystal, a diamond that does not 
>crack: totalled.
>
> >  When I claim that people  must be unitary subjects, I don't mean 
>people must
>act and think and inhabit the same status and its associated roles in every
>situation.  This obviously doesn't happen.  Rather, there are stable roles
>associated with particular stable statuses (e.g., gender, race, lawyer,
>gay/straight).
>
>These statuses are not stable. If they were stable, then kids around the
>schoolyard wouldn't call Joey gay.
>
>Maybe we can talk about that. Gay is a stable category, right?
>
>So, does Dick sleep only with other men?
>Have many women does Dick have to sleep with before he's not gay?
>If Dick sleeps with more women than men, is Dick straight?
>Where does het end and bi begin?
>If Dick says he's gay but is married and has two kids, is Dick gay?
>What if Dick likes football?
>If Dick sleeps with men but fantasizes about women, is Dick gay?
>Exactly which sexual position provides Dick with the adequate qualifications
>for him to legitimately be able to say, "Hi, I'm Dick, and I'm gay."
>Can a gay man be a virgin?
>How do you know if you aren't gay if you haven't had sex with another man?
>
> > Perhaps my point is too simple: imagine what would happen if every time we
>were asked to identify ourselves we said "it depends".
>
>Is Ken gay?
>
>You're damn right it depends!
>
>Kant categorically denied that a man would satisfy his lust if the gallows
>awaited him after the business. Kant was wrong. It depends. Sometimes lust is
>only worth satisfying if the gallows await - otherwise we'd walk through the
>front door instead of climbing up the side of the building.
>
>ken

Whether the so-called subject is "unitary," "fractured," "no-thing," 
or whatnot doesn't explain when & how social categories 
"heterosexual"/"homosexual" emerged; when & how the oppression of 
"homosexuals" superceded the prohibition of "sodomy"; when, where, & 
how the prohibition of "sodomy" arose & under what conditions crimes 
of "sodomy" were prosecuted & punished; etc.

And more importantly, the questions are under what ensemble of social 
relations the oppression of "homosexuals," as well as categories 
"heterosexual," "homosexual," "bisexual," etc., will become obsolete 
& how we may create such an ensemble.

Yoshie