Oppression, Identity, and Liberation

[Butterfly]

Oppression, Identity, and Liberation
Feministe
By Sherry Wolf
01 October 2009


http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2009/10/01/oppression-identity-and-liberation/


The first part of the book is devoted to history. Chapter 1, "The Roots of LGBT Oppression," begins with the premise that what we today recognize as the family, with its accompanying sexual taboos, is a product of class-based societies. She then makes the intriguing claim that while sex acts have been policed for thousands of years, the concept of an LGBT identity is very new. Chapter 2, "Repression, Resistance, and War: The Birth of Gay Identity," goes on to explain how exactly that identity came about. Shifting societal patterns resulting from immigration and World Wars I and II led to greater independence among LGBT people (little victories included marriage licenses and public displays of affection), which led to a greater awareness among previously isolated individuals that there were others out there like them. These developments led to greater policing of sexuality by the US and other states, which in turn heightened a sense of resistance among those affected by it. In "The Myth of Marxist Homophobia," Wolf debunks the idea that Marxism is inherently anti-LGBT but then goes on to detail the oppression of LGBT people in self-identified Marxist states like the Soviet Union, and "The Birth of Gay Power" chronicles the Stonewall Riots and the victories and setbacks of other American LGBT liberation movements.