[lbo-talk] Missing the Marx

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>Charles Brown cbrown at michiganlegal.org
>Wed Jan 5 08:22:02 PST 2005
>
>Brian Dauth:
>
>CB: I don't think the hate of the ruling classes originated because 
>the ruling classes had same-sex practices, but because the ruling 
>classes oppressed and exploited them.
>
>Brian: I wasn't clear.  I think that ruling classes were hated for 
>being exploitative, then were depicted as being queer (something 
>else people hated) to boot.
>
>CB: Actually, you were clear. I may have flipped the logic off 
>some,but to go at it one more time, seems obvious the oppressed 
>hated the oppressors for oppression. Then we have your hypothesis 
>that the oppressed were jealous of the same-sexers because of the 
>contraceptive advantage. That is a hypothesis on an independent 
>basis for different-sexers to hate or dislike same-sexers. I think 
>it has to be investigated more to be established, but assume you are 
>right. So, then as you say above , one hated group, the oppressing 
>class, were attributed another hated characteristic.
>
>My thought is that there seems to be evidence that a number of 
>ruling classes ( and I am not being very specific, except Greek and 
>Roman, maybe, for which there is a lot of commonly discussed 
>evidence) _were_ same-sexers. With the Greeks, of course, it was 
>preferred same-sex.
>
>So, the point is the oppressed classes were not attributing a false 
>characteristic to the ruling class, at least the Greek and Roman one.
>
>The larger question is  "how much same-sexing were the masses doing 
>? " In other words, was it _not_ true that it was relatively 
>_unique_ to the ruling class,  and rare among the ruled ? Were the 
>oppressed classes being hypocritical/dishonest ?

It's hard to tell who is saying what in Charles' posting above.

The idea that we should categorize human beings into homosexuals, 
heterosexuals, and bisexuals and establish compulsory heterosexuality 
as the norm emerged with the regrettable cultural ascendancy of the 
bourgeoisie, the then still new ruling class in the nineteenth 
century.  The cultural hegemony of the middle class was initially 
based on the idea that the middle class are more virtuous (a race of 
disciplined producers and procreators!) than the old ruling class of 
aristocrats and the ever-proliferating working class, both of whom 
are economically dissolute and sexually perverse in the eyes of good 
burghers.

The culture of capitalism in rich nations has changed since then, as 
queering the taste has been discovered to be a great stimulant of 
mass consumption.  Today, all of us are encouraged to aspire to queer 
bobos in suburban paradise -- at least in our fantasy.
-- 
Yoshie

* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/>
* "Proud of Britain": <http://www.proudofbritain.net/ > and 
<http://www.proud-of-britain.org.uk/>