Sexual Revolution and the Politics of Gay Identity

In: Socialist review: SR, Band 15, Heft 4-5, S. 119-153

Abstract

The massive mobilization of civilians & the armed forces in the US during WWII transformed the sex/gender system. Since then various groups dissatisfied with the social relations of sex & gender have become politicized, & have mobilized to reorganize social norms regulating gender & sexuality. The postwar sexual revolution is charted through three analytically distinct phases. (1) On the basis of a gap discovered between sexual norms & behavior, Alfred Kinsey & homosexual emancipationists formulated a critique of sexual norms. (2) During the highly contradictory period of prosperity brought on by Keynesian economic policies, there were marked reactionary tendencies toward gender (attempting to keep women in the home), sexuality (violent repression of homosexuals), & an extreme pronatalism (the baby boom). In this period a number of intellectuals developed a critique of sexual repression. (3) An Ur subculture of lesbians & gay men emerged during this phase, which allowed homosexuals to reinterpret the symbolic significance of sexuality and gender. Modified AA