> On Mar 3, 2024, at 3:55 PM, hari kumar <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> “Nothing Human Is Alien To Me” – Theses on Gender and Sexuality
> https://mlrg.online/gender-and-sexuality/nothing-human-is-alien-to-me-theses-on-gender-and-sexuality/
Hari's work is important to Marxists, especially activists in the US and other
overdeveloped countries, where sexual and gender norms of what is acceptable
are changing. There is little guidance in Marxist theory regarding sexual
preference and gender identity beyond the prejudices of Victorian-era
gentlemen, their followers, and what has taken place in past revolutionary
movements: Repressive regimes typically repress sexual and gender behavior as
well as exploited ethnic groups, women, and workers [Part 4 of the paper]
whereas revolutionary and socially progressive regimes tend to relax or
eliminate those strictures. This was the case in the Russian Revolution on
homosexuality laws as it swung towards revolution and then to reaction.
Hari's paper surveys the biological understanding that underlies sexual
preference and gender identity in addition to the societal and historical
influences [Part 3c, Figure 7b]. The fact that there has been ~5000% increase
in treatment of gender dysphoria within a decade speaks to the societal and
historical influences over the purely biological, but Hari surmises that "The
external environment in capitalist society abounds with oppression and
alienation, all of which provoke major hormonal fluxes." I don't know about
that and wonder if there are some hormonal or other markers in the people who
present themselves to the medical system for gender-related treatment.
The Brenda/Bruce "saga" [Part 3a] and other evidence points to a strong
biological influence in sexual preference, but even here there is a
hotly-debated "nurture" versus "nature" argument, such as in the increased
likelihood of homosexual orientation found in each son a mother produces
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5777082/]. But this, IMHO, along
with the widely observed behavior of homosexual behavior among humans of
different societies and historical epochs as well as across many other animal
species, undercuts the belief that homosexuality is any way a moral failure or
a degeneracy, which is a prejudice that has plagued the Marxist movement from
the time of its founders.
As early and ill-formed as the science of sexuality happens to be today, I
think gender is even more opaque. So I question Hari's statement that "These
three factors (intrinsic chromosomal influence with its’ resulting hormonal
neural imprinting, extrinsic environment, and social norms) together form
gender expression" [Abstract].
But none of this should pose a large challenge to any movement seeking human
liberation. In the same way that societal prejudices influenced Marxist and
socialist movements of the past, these same pressures have eliminated some of
these prejudices in today's left movements. Socialist groups that discriminate
against people based on their sexual preferences is today rare; Hari found an
example in India's Socialist Unity Centre (Communist). Discrimination against
trans-gender activists is more common and very divisive. I have heard of TERF
wars and the prohibition against even discussing the issue in some socialist
discussion sites.
My takeaway from Hari's paper, is that there is no basis for such prejudice.
IMO, it only serves to divide us and contrary to the goals of socialist
liberation. I hope comrades take the time to read the paper rather than go off
on tangents to debate the familiar topic of names, labels, and historical
categories that we're so fond of on this list.
Mark
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