The inextricable linkage between sexual freedom and anti-racist struggle has been a subject of increasing scholarly attention in recent decades. Theorists working at the intersection of critical race theory, feminist theory, and decolonialism have persuasively argued that heteronormativity/ the assumption that heterosexuality is the default and preferred sexual orientation has been leveraged to marginalise and oppress LGBTQ+ and people of colour.
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An intersectional approach attentive to the mutually reinforcing nature of racism and heteronormativity is, therefore, essential to a comprehensive anti-racist praxis. By questioning and challenging the dominant belief that heterosexuality is the norm, taking back control over our own sexual choices, and seeing how racism and sexism overlap, we may make significant progress towards achieving a fairer and more just society.
This essay underscores that sexual freedom is not a distraction but rather an integral part of the struggle against racial injustice by discussing colonialism and heteronormativity, sexualisation and dehumanisation, and finally, what freedom means for the Global South.
Colonialism and Heteronomativity
Lugones (2007) provides a framework for analysing how “heterosexism as a key part of how gender fuses with race in the operations of colonial power” (Lugones, 2007, p.186).
In this text, Lugones proposes that colonialism did not impose European structures on the colonised. Instead, it created a new gender paradigm that included separate arrangements for colonised males and females compared to bourgeois colonisers. Consequently, colonialism introduced several genders and the concept of gender, serving as a means to structure new production relationships. In doing so, a new gender system emerged, creating “a light and a dark side” (Lugones, 2007, p.206).
This meant the ‘light side’ hegemonises white bourgeois people and shapes contemporary/colonial gender views. Lugones argues that white bourgeois women’s sexual virginity and submissiveness maintain white men’s social, colonial, and racial domination. Lugones acknowledges how white bourgeois women may be marginalised in the gender section, but colonised women were absent and marginalised due to their race, gender, and class.
The ‘dark side’ is not wholly antithetical to this notion, but this side is rather brutal and pushes for “deep reductions of anamales, anafemales, and ‘third gender’” (Lugones, 2007, p.206). An example of this is how Davis highlighted how enslaved women were “breeders” (Davis, 1981, p.7) for birthing enslaved people to boost monetary gains for the white bourgeoisie, also how “rape …was an uncamouflaged expression of the slaveholder’s economic mastery and the overseer’s control over Black women as workers [and] facilitated the ruthless economic exploitation of their labour” (Davis, 1981, p.7). Black women were not seen as women but as tools to boost economic gains.
Lugones contends that gender is a product of colonialism deliberately used to dismantle the cultures, belief systems, and social groups that serve as the foundation of the so-called “civilised” (Lugones, 2007, p.186) in Western society. Therefore, it introduced a method of organising production and property relations, pushing forward Orientalist tropes, which promoted colonised people as “the Other” (Said, 1979, p.48).
Through her writing, Lugones clarifies the intricate relationship that exists between heteronormativity and the colonial/modern gender system, which in turn contributes to racial injustice. From an intersectional and decolonial feminist perspective, the battle against racism cannot proceed unless we question and reject the current system and support sexual freedom. The struggle to overthrow the modern gender system and enforce colonial ideals, which are intimately related to racial classification, is known as decolonising heteronormativity. This makes it possible for sexual freedom to grow while advancing the antiracist movement, according to an intersectional and decolonial feminist perspective.
In continuation of this discussion, Manzoor-Khan (2023) problematises that “Western … define themselves as not only peaceful, but inherently feminist, and equal, since misogyny is framed as a cultural defect, not an operation of power” (Manzoor-Khan, 2022, p.137) than that of the ‘patriarchal rest’. She suggests that this approach hinders the battle against racism by downplaying the connections between oppression and Islamophobia. Ergo, it is essential to embrace intersectionality and reject this dualism.
Manzoor-Khan argues that this framing of Orientalism leaves racialised people to be subjected. She uses the example of “people seeking asylum on the basis of sexual orientation [and how they] are frequently deported and detained by the British state” (Manzoor-Khan, 2022, p.146) to expose the hypocrisy of how many individuals seek refuge based on their sexual orientation because of laws that prohibit homosexuality, which originated with British colonisation in most of the world’s countries.
Specifically, the British implemented the 1960 India Penal Code and Queensland Penal Code of 1899 as the foundation for the legal frameworks in their colonies. Consequently, the British successfully administered and formalised a legislative framework that criminalised homosexual activity in their colonies via their colonial administrations (Han and O’Mahoney, 2014, p.273). This made the West civilised for engaging in heternormativity, and the colonised were uncivilised if they did not conform.
Additionally, Manzoor-Khan provides another example of an Orientalist trope which describes “Muslim women as sexually licentious, Muslim men were viewed as having untameable, deviant sexual appetites that needed regulating” (Manzoor-Khan, 2022, p.146). What Manzoor-Khan pleads is that the European narrative constantly fluctuates; thus, by categorising people based on race and associating them with sexual deviance, they were seen as being socially and culturally regressive. Regardless of the scenario, how Muslim and LGBTQ individuals are treated demonstrates that Western nations consider marginalised/racialised people as insignificant in their efforts to shape their identity in a manner that conceals their aggression.
To further the fight against racism, Manzoor-Khan asserts that we must refuse this oversimplified dichotomy and acknowledge the intricacies of gender and sexuality in both Western and non-Western settings. By dismissing superficial notions that the Western world is intrinsically supportive of feminism and LGBT rights and instead adopting the concept of intersectionality, we can construct a more comprehensive and impactful campaign to combat all types of oppression, thus understanding how sexual freedom for the anti-racist struggle.
Sexual Freedom and Resistance
Racist ideologies have consistently relied on and perpetuated the dehumanisation and humiliation of racialised people, particularly women of colour. The objectification of these backgrounds has been used to justify the domination and hostility inflicted against them. Advocating for sexual freedom while avoiding the categorisation of marginalised populations can be a form of resistance and help further the anti-racist struggle. Therefore, reclaiming agency over their sexuality is a form of resistance against this oppression.
‘Third World Protest: Between Home and Away’ (2010) examines sexual freedom in the Global South, including its history, problems, and resistance and transformation. Through the lens of “self-determination, is seen to emanate both from outside and within the nation-state” (Rao, 2010, p.198), we can critically examine colonial legacies, intersectionality, activism, cultural relativism, and globalisation, sparking a more profound curiosity to this discussion.
Chapter 5 covers how the Global South protest movements and their relations with Western audiences and institutions. Rao examines how these movements manage local and international settings, frequently encountering Western co-optation or Western-centric frameworks. The chapter discusses solidarity and the difficulties that develop when protest organisations try to obtain Western support without surrendering their goals or autonomy owing to an “uneasy alliance with bourgeois nationalists” (Rao, 2010. p.139).
To amplify this idea, a way of embracing sexual freedom that furthers the anti-racist struggle is through the use of art. Art serves the function that activism also does: acknowledging and celebrating the diverse range of sexual orientations among marginalised communities is essential in challenging harmful stereotypes and affirming their worth, thus making it “vehicles for social justice and, in some cases, for social and political activism” (Campana, 2011, p.278).
An example is how Somali poets have used their artistic expression to delve into subjects of sexuality and defiance, examining the interconnections with broader anti-racist movements. Somali people have turned to oral poetry as a result of significant challenges in embracing sexual freedom owing to the widespread occurrence of sexual assault (Boezio, 2021), strict cultural norms about female sexuality, and the social condemnation of homosexuality (Ussher et al., 2017). To challenge these oppressive systems, oral poetry has paved the way for them to gain sexual freedom that is not often considered in mainstream discussions like the ones mentioned earlier.
Somali oral poetry, also known as ‘gabay’, has substantial cultural and historical significance within Somali culture. Within the anti-racist movement, Somali oral poetry has been effectively used as a potent instrument to challenge and undermine societal conventions about sexual freedom.
‘Gabay’s Beauty and the Poetics of Witnessing’ (2009), authored by Mohamed Haji Mukhtar, offers a comprehensive examination of Somali oral poetry, with a particular emphasis on the genre called ‘Gabay’. The book explores gabay’s aesthetic, philosophical, and socio-political dimensions, offering a valuable understanding of its significance within Somali culture and beyond. Mukhtar thoroughly investigates the intricate sophistication of Gabay, analysing its poetic techniques, grammatical attributes, and verbal delivery customs.
Mukhtar emphasises the importance of Gabay as a tool for expressing and engaging with culture, highlighting its ability to convey complex emotions, stories, and historical experiences and its role in monitoring and documenting Somali history and culture. He claims that Gabay is crucial in shaping Somali identity and fostering a sense of unity among Somalis, both inside Somalia and among those living abroad in challenging dominant narratives and societal norms. The author analyses the many ways Gabay has been used to evaluate power structures critically, advocate for social fairness, and confront injustice, specifically in the context of gender, sexuality, and colonialism.
While Mukhtar’s (2009) work does not explicitly prioritise sexual liberation as a central issue, it analyses Somali oral poetry to demonstrate how Gabay may be understood in combating racism. This includes its role in questioning and opposing repressive societal standards and advocating for fairness and equality, particularly in matters pertaining to sexual autonomy.
Additionally, ‘Subversive Poetics’ (2003) by Kapteijns explores the complex connection between Somali oral tradition and postcolonial feminism. The author examines how Somali female poets use oral poetry to challenge patriarchal systems and colonialism’s lasting effects. These poets use clever and rebellious techniques in the spoken tradition to question and resist prevailing stories and express their power. Kapteijns argues that comprehending these poetry traditions is essential within the context of postcolonial feminism.
This viewpoint illuminates the intricacies of gender relations, power conflicts, and opposition types in Somali culture. Kapteijns explores how Somali women use poetry to negotiate and challenge established power hierarchies, showcasing their resilience and agency within the larger framework of postcolonial discourse (Kapteijns, 2003). Kapteijns’ work is being mentioned because it is a way of conceptualising what sexual freedom looks like in non-Western countries.
In the case of Somali oral poetry, it is unconventional to Western standards of sexual freedom. Still, Somalis are “representing [their] own interests” (Rao, 2010, p.141), and in doing so, it creates a cross-national alliance between the Global North and Global South. By including work like Kapteijns’ and Mukhtar’s, we can break away from the mainstream/Western perspective on the discussion of what sexual freedom is meant to be like and face the reality of how sexual freedom has different definitions for different people, especially those in the Global South.
By doing this, we can see how those in the Global South have their way of discussing the role of sexual freedom in fighting against colonial legacies that harm them and making room for their struggle makes a more inclusive fight towards the anti-racist struggle.
Final Thoughts
Incorporating sexual freedom into the fight against racism is not only an additional element but a vital focal point that the liberation movements must centre upon to achieve a genuinely inclusive and emancipatory result. The analysis of several academic sources and studies highlights the complex and interconnected nature of oppression, including both racial and sexual subjection.
The significance of sexual liberation in advancing the fight against racism is enormous, as it confronts the fundamental heteronormative and patriarchal systems that sustain both racial and sexual subjugation brought on by colonialism. Sexual freedom enriches the movement by broadening its scope to include all forms of oppression and also strengthens it by fostering a more inclusive, empathetic, and unified approach. The synthesisation between sexual freedom and anti-racism leads to a more robust and transformative movement capable of addressing the root causes of oppression and paving the way for a genuinely equitable society.
Thus, for anti-racist movements to be truly liberatory, they must embrace and advocate for sexual freedom as a fundamental human right and a critical component of their organising principles.
If you have made it this far into this plethora of research on the origins of sexuality, the sexualisation and dehumanisation of people, and finally, what it means as a form of resistance, I hope that my research provides you with more clarity and justification on the need for incorporating sexual freedom to further the anti-racist struggle.
Bibliography
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