[lbo-talk] Nepal gays and Maoists/Marxist Approach

[Miles Jackson]

ravi wrote:
> At around 20/1/07 9:35 pm, Miles Jackson wrote:
> 
>>I just bristle when people use modern, historically produced
>>categories (like those of sexual identity) and project them into the
>>past to manufacture false universality.
>>
> 
> 
> This seems to beg the question. Either every category is historically
> produced and hence we either stop talking of them or we talk about them
> in the same way. Is it the point then that neither homosexuality nor
> heterosexuality are exclusively present in the historical record?
> 
> 	--ravi

Well, it depends on what you mean by the terms "homosexuality" and 
"heterosexuality".  If you just mean that same-sex sexual activity 
occurs, then I agree that homosexuality exists in most known societies. 

  If you mean that people have an exclusive, stable sexual identity 
based on their sexual desires and activity ("I'm gay", "I'm straight"), 
then homosexuality (and heterosexuality!) is far from universal.

Miles