Sex, needs and queer culture
Subtitle: from liberation to the postgay
By: David Alderson
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 316
ISBN-13: 9781783605132; 9781783605125
Subjects: Gay liberation movement; Queer theory; Capitalism; Social aspects; Homosexuality; Sex; Economic aspects; Neoliberalism
Other titles: Sex, needs & queer culture
Description: The belief of many in the early sexual liberation movements was that capitalism's investments in the in the norms of the heterosexual family meant that any challenge to them was invariably anti-capitalist. In recent years, however, lesbian and gay subcultures have become increasingly mainstream and commercialized - as seen, for example, in corporate backing for pride events - -while the initial radicalism of sexual liberation has given way to relatively conservative goals over marriage and adoption rights. Meanwhile, queer theory has critiqued this "homonormativity," or assimilation, as if some act of betrayal had occurred. In this work, the author seeks to account for these shifts in both queer movements and the wider society, and argues powerfully for a distinctive theoretical framework. Through a critical reassessment of the work of Herbert Marcuse, as well as the cultural theorists Raymond Williams and Alan Sinfield, the author asks whether capitalism is progressive for queers, evaluates the distinctive radicalism of the counterculture as it has mutated into queer and distinguishes between avant-garde protest and subcultural development. In doing so, the book offers new directions for thinking about sexuality and its relations to the broader project of human liberation.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Acknowledgements; title: Introduction; title: Transitions; title: Is capitalism progressive (for queers); title: Feeling radical: versions of counterculture; title: Subculture and postgay dynamics; title: Postscripts; title: Index.