The persistence of heteronormativity is not only due to the weight of social conventions and norms, but also to material conditions of existence: being in a couple means having more resources. Sophie Lewis asserts that the conditions of heterosexuality are inseparable from economic realities: ‘Most women are too overworked, too exhausted by the demands of capitalism and its culture of compulsory enjoyment to even have the opportunity to learn to love.’

Sophie Lewis wrote ‘Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation’

#relationships #domesticWork #sociology #heteroNormativity #materialistFeminism #feminism #love #subjugation #appropriation #sexism #heteroSexuality #patriarchy #subalternStudies #family

Subordinate activists come up against elitist structures that prevent them from accessing positions of responsibility: they are and will remain “mere activists”.

'“Good” activism generally involves exhibiting “cultural goodwill,” talking about politics with a high degree of abstraction and self-restraint, attending large anonymous meetings on national issues, and organizing one’s time in such a way as to be available for activist activity. These traits run counter to the circumstantial, more occasional, practical, and local engagement of working-class activists.'

A recension of Raphaël Challier's book: "Ordinary activists. How parties demobilise the working classes": https://shs.cairn.info/journal-politix-2022-1-page-235?lang=en

@politicalscience

#rallying #mobilisation #mobilization #engagement #parties #activists #activism #subalternStudies #struggles #politics #FrPol

“I simply do not see why the nation has to have an official sexuality, especially one that authorizes the norm of a violent gentility; that narrows the field of legitimate political action; that supports the amputation of personal complexity into categories of simple identity; that uses cruel and mundane strategies both to promote shame for non-normative populations and to deny them state, federal, and juridical supports because they are deemed morally incompetent to their own citizenship. This is the heterosexuality I repudiate.”

― Lauren Berlant, in "The Queen of America Goes to Washington City: Essays on Sex and Citizenship"

#heteroNormativity #beliefs #subjugation #radicality #appropriation #sexism #heteroSexuality #queer #Berlant #LaurenBerlant #literature #fluidity #patriarchy #subalternStudies

“The Orient and Islam have a kind of extrareal, phenomenologically reduced status that puts them out of reach of everyone except the Western expert. From the beginning of Western speculation about the Orient, the one thing the orient could not do was to represent itself. Evidence of the Orient was credible only after it had passed through and been made firm by the refining fire of the Orientalist’s work.”

― Edward W. Said, Orientalism

#culture #subalternStudies #islamophobia #orientalism #whiteSupremacy #mandates #history #EdwardSaid #hegemony #quote #quotes

“The subaltern as female cannot be heard or read.”
– Gayatri Spivak

#relationships #subalternStudies #exploitation #patriarchy #couples #emotions #domination #sociology #women #femininity #fragility #heteroNormativity #quotes #citation #GayatriSpivak #Spivak