On Sat, 25 Sep 2004, Charles Brown wrote:
> CB: Coincidently,I was just rereading Zaretsky the other day. It is a good
> book. Zaretsky just came out with another book.
>
> Heterosexual sexual relations are a crucial component of _all_ human
> societies, including pre-class societies ( in fact all mammalian species
> etc.) We would be an extinct species without them. There is no special link
> of hetersexuality to the class oppression of capitalism.
You're conflating two things here: 1. heterosexual sexual activity 2. the sexual categorization of people into stable types
As numerous societies throughout history have demonstrated, you don't need to have the stable sexual category "heterosexual" that we have today to ensure the survival of the human species. This is not a trivial distinction.
Kel's recent post about her ex is a good example of the consequences here: once we produce and reinforce these rigid sexual categories, we facilitate derogation and stigmatization of people who don't "fit". It's important to keep in mind that the sexual preferences of K's ex would not raise an eyebrow in some societies, and people would not even think of pressuring him to have one stable sexual identity.
How does it link to capitalism? I'm pretty much a naive Marxist here: heterosexism is part of the superstructure of our actually existing capitalist society, and like the other superstructural components--family, religion, law, custom--heterosexism tends to reinforce and stabilize the capitalist social order.
A few examples:
1. Antagonism against gays and lesbians divides the workers (think Cox and his argument about racism, which CB notes in his post). 2. Gays and lesbians serve as scapegoats for economic and political frustration, redirecting hostility from the capitalist class. 3. The need to be unambiguously straight or gay incites personal consumption to reinforce sexual identity (bubba buys a macho truck)--creation and expansion of capitalist economy. 4. Perhaps most subtly: the notion that people are stable sexual types reinforces the ideology of the unique individual (people are stable personality types, who act on the basis of their own unique constellation of traits and preferences). This more or less obliterates any consideration of how social factors shape human life, and encourages people in everyday life to individualize problems and social issues (e.g., poverty exists because people are lazy). This is ideology par excellence.
Could a capitalist society exist without heterosexism? Sure. However, just like racism and sexism, it's a piece of the ideological puzzle in our actually existing capitalist society.
Miles