Gay shame in a geopolitical context

Abstract

With the developing acceptance of gay equality in the west, it is assumed that we live in a post-shame era, with 'the world we have won'. However, this is a chimeric cliché of neoliberalism (rather like the idea that we are all postfeminist now). The 'proud' homosexual of the west is discursively constructed against the 'shamed' homosexual of the east, a typecasting resonant with postcolonial clichés of the primal, religious and homophobic savagery of the global south in contrast with the civilising, liberal evolution of the secular global north. Shame displacement is of course a dynamic of shame itself. The perceived failure in achieving the 'proud iconic gay' of media cultures in the global North results in a traumatic double bind of being ashamed of being ashamed. This article will reconsider the cultural politics and temporality of shame for primarily white gay identities after the 'War on Terror'. As Islamophobia has exponentially increased, some western gays translocate their unacknowledged shame onto a misconceived 'brown threat' in a complex, aggressive, and racist shame loop (Lewis 1971, Scheff & Retzinger 1991).

The expression of hate speech against Afro-descendant, Roma, and LGBTQ+ communities in YouTube comments

“…With respect to the LGBTQ+ community, it is worth mentioning the presence of pejorative nouns like vergonha ('shame'), and negative adjectives such as mentiroso ('liar'), and vagabundo ('vagabond'). The use of these terms primarily serves to strengthen the metaphor of amorality, which suggests a deficiency of ethical or moral conduct (Baider, Constantinou, and Petrou 2017;Munt 2019). This reinforces the notion that the dominant social structure in Europe continues to discriminate against individuals who do not conform to the heteronormative standard (Ben Chikha 2021).…”

Shamed citizens: Exilic lived experiences of queer Mongolians

“…Feeling shame at the individual level leads to reflection, or may produce a new self, whereas the act of shaming occurs when someone or some institution imposes it on people, 'telling you that you ought to be ashamed' (Probyn et al, 2019). When it comes to shame and homosexuality, 'shame is foundational to the creation of modern gay identity'; while unacknowledged shame brings anger and resentment, resolved shame has transformative potential (Munt, 2018).…”

Dark satanic mills to ivory towers

“…SM: Within queer communities, it still remains perfectly acceptable to express horror about 'low-class' orientations, values and taste. I've lost count of the casually contemptuous remarks made by queer and feminist academics about working-class people; this could be displaced shame, as is their racism (see Munt, 2019). The scramble to teach at an 'elite' university is complicated, because I think it becomes a compensatory mechanism for some, to escape homophobic and/or class shame and find pride in at least one aspect of their subjectivity.…”

“…Various news sources cited this extraordinary voting pattern, for example https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/11/04/donald-trump-joe-biden-lgbt-votes-2020-2016-election-edisonresearch-national-election-pool/ Accessed 9 November 2020. We urgently need more research to investigate such contra-indicative voting trends, but please see alsoMunt (2019) for understanding how gay shame gets transferred into racism.…”