Gay Imperialism

[sanguinity]

15. Jin Haritaworn, with Tamsila Tauqir and Esra Erdem, "Gay Imperialism: Gender and Sexuality Discourse in the ‘War on Terror’". (link is now dead; see ETA below)

Racism is the vehicle that transports white gays and feminists into the political mainstream.

Haritaworn et al discusses the interaction between gay rights and the "war on terror" -- namely, how some white gay activists have struck a mutually-beneficial bargain with neoimperialists, such that "concern" for Muslim queers is used to gay-wash Islamophobic agendas, in return for sexual rights being elevated to the status of a core social value, on par with "freedom" and "democracy." As a result, the social position of white gays is improved, while the position of queer Muslims is worsened. Haritaworn focuses the discussion on Germany and the United Kingdom, and draws parallels with similar neoimperialist bargains struck by white feminists.

There are a lot of rhetorical maneuvers here that are familiar to me. For instance, despite Muslim queers of color being the alleged central figures of the narrative, their voices are written out of the narrative (white gays speak "for" them) unless they are willing to testify in ways that are useful to the imperialist frame:

...the journalists wanted me to respond to the ‘difficulties’ of being gay and Muslim, as well as to the homophobia of Muslim communities in Britain and abroad. I often suggested shifting the focus to the considerable work being done within liberal and progressive Islam. Journalists reacted with silence when I asked them to report on progressive Imams who have conducted Nikahs (Muslim marriage contracts) for same-sex couples, or on parents who had supported their gay children.

Other rhetorical attacks white gay activists include framing people of color as straight oppressors of white gays and as possessors of unique privileges ("imagine someone getting away with saying that about a black person"). Meanwhile, within Muslim communities, since gay-rights rhetoric so often acts as a carrier/justifier for Islamophobia, gay rights becomes equated with anti-Muslim racism, thus worsening the position of Muslim queers.

Some maneuvers detailed by Haritaworn et al are new to me. Most audacious, in my mind, is equating Muslim anti-gay rhetoric with the neo-Nazi anti-gay rhetoric of the British National Party, a move that paints Muslims and neo-Nazis as allies (!?), and thus elevating gays to the ever-coveted "most oppressed" status.

The article is fairly heavy in academic language (I found it rough going in places), but it was well worth my time. Unfortunately, you'll notice that the link above goes to a Google cache of the original article [see ETA below]: one of the white gay activists discussed in the paper appears to have successfully pressured the publisher into declaring the original anthology out of print.

(hat tip)

ETA: The Google Cache no longer works.

• Google's cache page of the article, archived elsewhere (html translation of the original pdf)
  
• Scan of the article (pdf, not machine-readable)
  
• Article, responses to the article, and links documenting the dispute (archived by spiralsheep at Dreamwidth)

Comments

[bcholmes.livejournal.com]

This sounds like a really interesting book essay. Thanks for the write-up.

[sanguinity]

I think the anthology -- Out of Place: Interrogating Silences in Queerness/Raciality -- sounds pretty interesting, too. Given what's going on with the publisher and libel laws, however, it might be tricksy to get one's hands on a copy.

[dhobikikutti]

Thanks for the link.

[angiereedgarner.livejournal.com]

Thank you-- it's nice to have a link even if cached re gaywashing and neoimperialism.

[angiereedgarner.livejournal.com]

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/aizura231009.html

Explains and links to the .pdf of that chapter hosted for downloading and sharing. Here is the link--

www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=
edf3d795b172f5376b21be4093fab7ace04e75f6e8ebb871

[sanguinity]

The debunkingwhite post had a couple more links, both to newspaper editorials:

• 'Stop using Palestinian gays to whitewash Israel's image'
  
• Beirut: city of projected fantasies

They don't lay it out as clearly as the Haritaworn article does, however, and they don't have all the documentation of what they're referring to.

[sanguinity]

FYI, the cached link no longer works, but spiralsheep has archived it, and I've posted my archived copies, too. Post has been edited for the new links.

[arantzain.livejournal.com]

Saved and will read.

I wanted to say thank you in particular for often reviewing articles/works that are available online. I know that I should be more proactive in seeking texts, in requesting and purchasing, and I am working on it; in the meanwhile, I'm always grateful to have something I can reach immediately, online.

[sanguinity]

It's likewise gratifying on the reccing end. :-)

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

This review is a good summary and I appreciate it. Thank you.

[sanguinity]

Too important to leave to the whims of tl;dr.

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

The googlescholar cache above doesn't appear to be working. Nor is the .pdf available from Manchester University any more. I've republished the article on my dreamwidth account (but haven't added the references yet):

http://spiralsheep.dreamwidth.org/279890.html

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

References in now.

The formatting is horrible because I wanted to present the article exactly as it was published (minus italics for titles cos I don't have time) but my small tag didn't work on the notes and I don't have time for any fancy html. :-(

[sanguinity]

Thanks. I posted my archived copies to a server for download, too, and updated this post to point to all three.

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

I posted my archived copies to a server for download

Even better (especially the formatting). Thank you.

[zahrawithaz.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this; I must definitely read it.

I think that this gaywashing is doubly ironic, given how much homophobia in the Islamic world derives from imperialism in the first place, both in terms of criminal statutes and male-on-male sex tourism.

[sanguinity]

Yes, exactly! One of the articles discussing the suppression of this anthology linked to... *gropes through my browser history* ...here! Desiring Arabs, by Joseph Massad. Which, from the looks of the reviews, talks about precisely that history.