Gay identity in a cross-cultural comparative discourse. A critique on the application of sexual categories for male-male encounter

Alexandra Samoleit

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Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Cultural Studies - GLBT / LGBT, grade: 2,0, University of Erfurt, language: Engli...

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Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Cultural Studies - GLBT / LGBT, grade: 2,0, University of Erfurt, language: English, abstract: This paper is a critique on the application of sexual categories for male-male encounters. The paper will start with an analysis on the development of 'homosexuality' as a modern category for sexual preference in Western societies. In comparison to that, the social and cultural frame of Muslim societies will be shown. Furthermore, various discourses applied to cross-cultural encounter between Western and Muslim societies will be examined to answer the question in how far sexual categories are used to explain social conditions and how categories from Western societies are transferred into a Muslim context without critical reflection. In the last part, the paper will deal with the question in how far developing social networks based on male-male sexual acts in Muslim countries are adapting to a 'global gay identity' and with which consequences. To illustrate this, recent studies about homosexual men in Turkey and Lebanon will be referenced. For the most part, this historical 'evidence' has been described in studies based on a small amount of reliable information and with unfortunate usage of definitions and categories common to European and North American sociology. 'Homosexuality' is such a term. It is by no means neutral and applicable to Muslim or other non-Western societies. It ascribes meaning to certain social occurrences and obstructs the perspective on the actual realities. Pre-knowledge from one's own cultural background is applied to the subject instead of obtaining knowledge from the subject itself. Amongst sociologists it is recognised that 'the homosexual' is a historical construct and that it is necessary to make a distinction between homosexual behaviour, which is and has been present in most cultures and homosexual identity, which is a rather young phenomenon originating from Western European and Northern American culture. Sexuality has a history of its own with ideas, practices and values that are different in various times and spaces. Additionally, the variety of these historical examples shows that a single definition for homosexual behaviour in Islamic societies cannot be found because different people in different social situations define sexualities differently.