Massad’s mistake
Anton Veenstra
I think Mr Massad makes the same mistake that Freud made when he spoke of Leonardo being homosexual. Men who desire men in whatever time or place may or may not feel the same things or become identified by their practices or feelings. What they have in common is the brutal reaction by society when the expression of their desire is judged and condemned by brutal oppressive regimes, western or otherwise. I accepted a "gay" identity in the 1970’s and soon after travelled in Egypt Jordan Syria and Turkey; the gay men I met in Egypt judged and accepted me by my attitude to them. I don’t think I attempted to impose any consciousness of identity on them. A number of times, as far as my limited understanding of the Arabic language allowed me to understand subtle coded verbal interchanges, my friends were warning me that cautious and neutral conversational presentation was required in certain situations. Doubtless much has changed between then and now, but I would ask Mr Massad whether he has asked the groups of Egyptian gay men arrested for congregating in gay discos about their assumptions of identity.
«Gay sexuality is universal»
Ali Timaji
I think that there is a fallacy in the idea of Orientalism by Edward Said, and specifically by the people who are not in touch with any Eastern culture on a daily basis, or based on their benefit, are more in favor of Orientalism. Being a gay or lesbian is a sin by Islam or an unacceptable identity by tradition and constitution in the East (in general terms), in a way that it is impossible for one to gain his or her rights. Is gaining rights for a gay or lesbian a universal human behavior, or are the ideas presented in the “Orientalism of Sex” correct?
Being a gay or lesbian is not a western identity which came to the East, and in the East one should learn how to survive in the environment, especially gays and lesbians. In the East, one gets married and has children and uses this traditional marriage for the best coverage. People who live in any religious and traditional oppressed society would learn to become a survivor, especially when they are labeled as minorities. When there is no base or rights for gays and lesbians in a oppressed society, so how could on show his or her rights through history? Historically speaking, the gay movement in the United States only started in the 1960s. I know some gay people in Iran who were attacked by parents, family, strangers and officials physically and mentally, and they are looking to find their way to be recognized in the society, and many of these people were just normal Iranians who did not have any major ties to the Western world.
Gay sexuality is a basic human need and is universal and is not related to Orientalism or any other fancy terms. I know many Middle Eastern couples in the U.S who are gay or lesbian, and they are still afraid to come out of the closet due to the nature of being survivors. I remembered that Iranian officials issued identity cards for a short time for those who did not have the “balanced hormones” (the Iranian government’s definition at that point for gay people) so they could have less conflict with the Islamic police twelve years ago. Interestingly "Mogbacheh", which means gay, existed before the Islamic conquest in Iran or the start of the era of Islamic Imperialism; there is no document of gay people’s life conditions in Iran before Islam due to burning of all the libraries by Muslims. Mogbacheh was used by many Iranian poets such as Rumi, and Hafez, but due to the non-existence of any rights in the constitutions for gay people, Mogbacheh remains just in poems.
I have had a long debate since the banned artificial minaret in Switzerland with some friends, who were born in the U.S, and they haven’t lived in any Middle Eastern countries; furthermore those friends have no idea about the Islam, which the minaret is not even part of the Muslim ideology or symbol. Most of them have a fancy idea about the Middle East and the culture, and they are experts at stereotyping the Middle East, and the Muslim nations by a hidden tune of a seeing a superior culture. I have learned from the debate that Middle Eastern Studies or Orientalism for my friends is part of their identity crises to find themselves in the U.S, for example, one of them is from Ashkenazi and atheist Persian parents, and the other one from a proud Persian family. Is it possible that Massad has the same issue? Is it possible that Orientalism or another subject such as Middle Eastern studies in the West encourages a new type of superiority or new version of racism? Middle Eastern people are going through a new phase which I believe is aiming toward a Middle Eastern version of renaissance due to the existence of new technology such as the Internet, and the Orientalists seem to be in favor of encouraging the idea of bringing back the “old Aladdin” to the East. Massad’s philosophy is more in favor of bringing the East back to the Islamic imperialism by using the definition of Orientalism.
«Not like McDonald’s»
Jack Fertig
As a long time radical gay liberationist I laughed out loud at Massad’s description of a “Leninist” Gay International movement in which the European organizations are copy-cats of American groups. Such discipline and unity as “Leninist” suggests is far from the reality of the Gay movement – which in any case has been long co-opted into capitalist frameworks and long divorced from its anti-imperialist roots. And in fact Gay organizations were strong in Germany, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia long before there were any such in the US. Other European organizations are extremely different from their American counterparts.
Where I do agree with Massad, yes, the American model has come to predominate, and the highly constructed, normative, and exploitative view of sexuality (both hetero- and homo-) that is dominant in America is not one I want to see foisted on other cultures with copy-cat same-the-world-over discos and gay bars proliferating like McDonald’s. And yes, we are being exploited in the interests of Imperialism. Long-time right wing bigots who used to fulminate against homosexuals are suddenly outspoken in defending us from the Islamic demon-du-jour. Thanks, but no thanks. Watching these people become “our friends” just as long as we’re discussing Islam, the same way that Laura Bush morphs into a feminist whenever Afghanistan is mentioned, is simply ludicrous.
But saying that Westerners are “creating homosexuality” is perhaps taking Foucault a little too seriously. The ubiquity of same-sex love and attraction in human cultures and its observation of hundreds of animal species demonstrates that it is part of the normal range of sexuality. “Homosexual” may be a neologism dependent on western contexts, but it is also a word that works simply in place of more general “men who love men and women who love women.” If the word is problematic, an alternative is welcome, but in the meantime it may fit not just for the Western social construction, but for any sort of same-sex attraction.
Massad records same sex love in the Arab world himself. Between colonialism and the innovations of Wahhabism, the Arab world has become a very dangerous place for same-sex lovers. I agree that pushing American-style cultural constructions into the Arab world is wrong, but what of men who love men and women who love women in the Arab world? Are they to live in isolation and terror? What does Massad suggest? Massad accuses Western gay organizations of “violence” in the Arab world. What violence is that? The violence of Western Imperialism has been in many ways disastrous in the Arab world. That’s too long and horrible a list to approach here. But what Arabs have been physically harmed by any aspect of the Western gay movement? The charge is preposterous, but I welcome any answer from Massad.
We get frequent reports of gays in Arab countries being tortured, executed under law, and otherwise murdered with impunity. What remedy does Massad offer? As we have experienced the same sort of violence in the West it is easy to identify with its victims elsewhere and the natural impulse is to fight it there as we have here. Granted that makes an uncomfortable parallel to the Imperialist dynamic. As a gay anti-Imperialist I am eager to hear of any alternative plan to protect the safety and humanity of all people, same-sex lovers no more or less than others. Does Massad actually have an affirmative plan? Without some constructive alternative he seems just to shrug off torture, gang-rapes, and murders, while railing against those who are struggling, however imperfectly, for justice.