In her book Victory: The triumphant gay revolution (2012), Linda Hirshman discuses the major events, struggles and success of the gay movement in the United States. As discussed in class many times, here “gay” primarily refers to white men belonging to an upper socio-economic class. Nonetheless, Hirshman takes her readers from the early 19th century balls to the recent elimination of Don’t ask Don’t tell policy. As she prepares to wrap up her story of the gay movement, she discusses marriage equality as one of the “last battles”. In this paper I will discuss why Hirshman chooses to talk about same-sex marriage and what are some current thoughts on this issue.
Despite what many people believe, marriage, as we commonly understand it, is not …show more content…
The issue of same-sex marriage has been central in the news media regarding the queer community. The images in media of loving couples fighting for the right to be married like the rest of the population has gained traction among many people over the years. Given all the discussions and debate surrounding same-sex marriage, Hirshman had to discuss this issue. For many supporters of the gay movement, the end goal has always been marriage. Since a legal same-sex marriage would demonstrate the acceptance by the heteronormative society of a family consisting a same-sex couple. Hirshman often discusses that the queer community is different solely due to their sexual behavior so the acceptance of their sexual act should abolish …show more content…
From Gayatri Spivak’s Can the subaltern speak? (1988) it is possible to draw a parallel with the queer community. A reimagined world without the gendered constructs is not possible as the hegemony mutes “other” ways of knowledge construction. Conformity to the ways of the hegemony is the key to survival for the subaltern. Hence it is understandable why the issue of same-sex marriage is important to the queer community as it gives them the opportunity to be accepted by the hegemony. However, the anarchist view proposed by many demands a complete freedom from constructs and the absolute choice of creating one’s unique identities without a need to be accepted by the hegemony since hegemony will be
Despite what many people believe, marriage, as we commonly understand it, is not …show more content…
The issue of same-sex marriage has been central in the news media regarding the queer community. The images in media of loving couples fighting for the right to be married like the rest of the population has gained traction among many people over the years. Given all the discussions and debate surrounding same-sex marriage, Hirshman had to discuss this issue. For many supporters of the gay movement, the end goal has always been marriage. Since a legal same-sex marriage would demonstrate the acceptance by the heteronormative society of a family consisting a same-sex couple. Hirshman often discusses that the queer community is different solely due to their sexual behavior so the acceptance of their sexual act should abolish …show more content…
From Gayatri Spivak’s Can the subaltern speak? (1988) it is possible to draw a parallel with the queer community. A reimagined world without the gendered constructs is not possible as the hegemony mutes “other” ways of knowledge construction. Conformity to the ways of the hegemony is the key to survival for the subaltern. Hence it is understandable why the issue of same-sex marriage is important to the queer community as it gives them the opportunity to be accepted by the hegemony. However, the anarchist view proposed by many demands a complete freedom from constructs and the absolute choice of creating one’s unique identities without a need to be accepted by the hegemony since hegemony will be