Each Person Is a Unique Creature - Essay Example

All people are different from each other because each person is a unique creature. In turn, individual uniqueness requires a certain identity that determines the individual's place in society. This identity can be cultural, religious, political, and even sexual. Sexuality is very important for every human being, and it can be represented in its unconventional shape (i.e. in the form of homosexuality). The problem is that often sexuality and identity are seen as the result of various social stereotypes regarding masculinity and femininity. In his work titled Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics, Jose Esteban Munoz offers a queer theory that aims to analyze the ideas of human identity within the existing psychological and political theories.

This problem has to do with traditional notions of sexual identity. It is believed that heterosexual relationships are the norm while homosexuality should be viewed as deviant behavior. This means that homosexuality and homosexual identity are not the norm. However, such a view is contrary to the interests of sexual minorities who are interested in obtaining more rights and opportunities in the field of their sexual identity. Munoz examines the culture that he believes makes every effort to go beyond the traditional notions of identity formation. As an example, he analyses Magda Gomez's performances. In fact, in her performances, Gomez shows a clear departure from the generally accepted norms and principles regarding the closure of her personal life. She tries to show the spectators the features of the intimate life of people who do not live by the generally accepted rules and regulations. Munoz uses this excellent opportunity to demonstrate the features of a culture that uses different artistic means is trying to break the traditional framework in respect of human behavior and identity. On the other hand, Munoz has the opportunity to observe the presence of certain racial and gender stereotypes that continue to exist in the framework of modern gay culture.

In particular, the author points out the fact that despite the desire of sexual minorities to acquire the right to the individual formation of their identity, they still face various stereotypes. According to one of his observations, the gay culture is represented by the idea that a gay is primarily a white man: “The phenomenon of the queer is a white thing 'phantasy is strangely reflected by the normativity of whiteness in mainstream North American Gay Culture” ( Munoz 9). In turn, the common notion of masculinity suggests that masculinity is associated rather with dark skin while homosexuality (equating to femininity) is associated with white skin. The author pays particular attention to these racial and gender stereotypes and believes that representatives of sexual minorities have to go their way of identity formation independent from the common stereotypes. He supposes that “minoritarian subjects need to interface with different subcultural fields to activate their senses of self” (Munoz 5). In this regard, it is necessary to make a critical analysis of the various points of view on the formation of human identity. In particular, the author expresses a critical attitude toward Freud's theory. As it is known, according to Freud's psychoanalytic concept, the person goes through a series of stages that ultimately have a decisive importance in the formation of his or her identity. Despite the value of Freud's psychoanalytic theory, it implies uniformity and a rigid set of conditions that are necessary for the formation of personality. However, the main task of the representatives of different sexual minorities is gaining a unique identity that implies the possibility of unique psychological development. In this regard, the process of disidentification and avoiding stereotypical identities may be particularly important.

To sum up, reading Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics by Jose Esteban Munoz allows one to see that the racial and gender stereotypes that exist in American society continue to have a significant influence on the formation of human identity. Based on the analysis of contemporary gay culture, Munoz concludes that it is based on the idea that gay is primarily a white male, while the dark color of the skin is associated with traditional masculinity. All of this suggests that despite their attempts to find ideological freedom from traditional stereotypes and perceptions, gays are still connected with conventional notions of social norms. The author pays particular attention to the need to find ways to generate sexual identity because ultimately the existing notions of sexual identity are social constructs. Read More