CS #5

Sedgwick’s book explains in the introduction, a main strand of argument is deconstructive. In other words, she attempts to demonstrate that homosexual/heterosexual, masculine/feminine, knowledge/ignorance, private/public, secrecy/disclosure, and a host of other symmetrical binary oppositions are inherently unstable and incoherent because each paired term is dependent on its opposite of its meaning. She also discusses the ongoing debate about whether homosexual identity is a product of a person’s essential position or of one’s personal and cultural experience. For me, “Epistemology of the Closet” is not a single discipline or field of study. Sedgwick across the boundaries of gay and lesbian studies, cultural studies, and literary criticism. Many terms and concepts I need to absorb and digest.

When I read the Sedgwick’s book, it makes me think gay/lesbian/queer studies in Taiwan. I thought about many questions such as What defines a homosexual? Distinction between sexual practice and sexual identity – the cultural construction & meaning of sexuality, from the past to present day. What Capitalism has an impact on sexuality? In Taiwan, the society sees the term homosexual more emphasis on its medical roots from the turn of the last century (early 1900s). So, when the first AIDS patient appears in Taiwan, people think about homosexual equal AIDS. Homosexual is taboo, people should not talk and discuss it. Homosexual was thought as a kind of disease and sex pervert, most homosexuals like to play the opposite sex and define as AIDS. When the first homosexual groups establish in 1990, we finally went through the last stage as fight for human rights. In this stage homosexual’s human rights step by step get some esteem and gain attention from Taiwanese society. The freedom and equal rights theory that was quoted by civic society became the major discourse of media. Does it mean people accepts gay/lesbian/queer groups in our society? The answer is no. Until now, Taiwanese society still hold the myths and stereotypes that dehumanize gay/homosexuality such as:

·         Sexual Attraction: Gay men are attracted to all men and can't control their desires.

·         Health: HIV/AIDS is primarily a disease among gay men.

·         Relationships: Gay men are not relationship-oriented.

·         Childhood: Male homosexuality is caused by parenting or trauma in childhood.

·         Sexual Behavior: Gay men are promiscuous and obsessed with sex.

Homosexuality issue in Taiwan is the transformation of cultural configuration. Heterosexism and homophobia are the result of ignorance about sexual orientation and gender identity issues. Education about GLBTQ issues can help combat fear and discrimination, enabling gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people to be authentic and not to live a lie of false heterosexuality or gender identity in order to be safe. When talking about Sexuality and social construction, people like to ask are “homosexuals” born or made? As Sedgwick states in her book, the study of sexuality is not coextensive with the study of gender; correspondingly, antihomophobic inquiry is not coextensive with feminist inquiry. The incoherent of sexuality/identities as it transforms to different races, classes, nations, and cultures, the unfamiliar, and unintelligible into the recognizable form and content in the values and institutions, the act of translating is readily forgotten neglected and repressed.