Re: Capitalism and Heterosexism: Judith Butler & Nancy Fraser

[Katha Pollitt <kpollitt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello all,

  I hesitated to respond to Yoshi's post because I haven't read either
the Butler or Fraser to which she's referring.  But since she insists...
  I actually thought malgosia made a good point: if the question is, is
homophobia integral to capitalism, we just don't know. You can see it
either way:
1. homophobia is an essential part of capitalism because it reinforces
gender roles, thus helping to segment the working class; it gives those
without much power a class of people to feel superior to; it is part of
the whole military-Christian-right-America-first mindset; it is a way
for people being swept aside by the shifting economy to feel that they
still represent the good, the moral, the decent; it plays a role in
keeping people distracted and stupid  ETc.

2.  Homophobia is not essential to capitalism, although in some ways
useful to particular political and economic forces. That it is not
essential is proved by the fact that it is on the decline. Legally, Gays
are acquiring more rights (domestic partnership, adoption rights); many
corporations are quite gay friendly; there been a big rise in percent of
people who favor gay marriage and profess themselves unprejudiced; it is
less and less acceptable to say homophobic things, more and more famous
and powerful people are out of the closet. with no ill effects to their
lives or careers, large swathes of American pop culture are heavily gay
or gay-influenced (South Park, Village People, Indigo girls, all ads for
men's underwear ) etc.

I'm more inclined to the second position.It seems to me that mostly it's
reactionary southern politicians, fundamentalist churches, and assorted
macho nationalists  (Farrakhan) who play the gay card, not corporate
leaders, banks, or politicians with more than a regional base. That AIDS
has not been the catalyst for suppression of gays--much as some
Christian Coaltion types would like -- is I think very telling. And if
you look cross culturally, the countries that are most homophobic are
hardly the most capitalist!
  But I agree with Carroll Cox: the need to see every bad thing as an
essential feature of capitalism leads to an overly determinist,
monocausal view of society. I think you, Yoshi, may feel that those who
say homophobia isn't essential to capitalism are dismissing its
importance, and often (as on lbo-talk) they are.  But I would just say
to them, well, capital punishment isn't essential to capitalism -- as is
proved by the fact that the US is the only major capitalist country that
still has it-- but the lbo-talk men would never dismiss the importance
of fighting capital punishment.
 Or would they?

cheers, katha