Profit and Pleasure: Sexual Identities in Late Capitalism
Alexandra Chasin has just examined the relationship between commerce and gay and lesbian political identity inSelling Out: The Gay and Lesbian Movement Goes to Market. Now Hennessy goes much deeper with an analysis of how sexual and gender identities are shaped by capitalism. Hennessy is an associate professor at the University of Albany (SUNY), where she has taught postmodern and marxist theory, lesbian and gay studies, and queer theory. Her basic premise is that "the structural contradictions on which capitalism is based . . . shape the work we do, the food we eat, our mobility in the world, how we know, who and how we love." Further, she argues that homosexuality can no longer be seen as a "monolithic or universal identity" and that "all sexual identities . . . are intimately inflected by gender, race, nationality, ability, age." Hennessy makes the point that these "identities themselves arise from capitalism." Because most of her arguments and observations are couched in intellectual rhetoric and tied to academic theory, Hennessy's treatise will appeal primarily to a scholarly audience.David RouseCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.