East vs.

West 11

Running head: EAST VS. WEST

East vs. West: A Global Examination of Sexual Identities

Mark R. Martell
University of Illinois at Chicago
Abstract
Bulbeck and Connell argued that homosexuality is universal; however, both authors asserted that
homosexuality appears in different manifestations, causing conflicting attitudes on how sexual
identity is perceived between Eastern and Western cultures. Using a standpoint theory
framework, this essay examined sexual identity and its relation to gender in the works of
Bulbeck (1998), Connell (2009), Eckert and McConnell-Ginet (2003), Rubin (1989), and
Wekker (2006) through a sociological lens to provide an understanding on why sexual identities
are more fluid in some Eastern cultures yet dualistic in Western cultures. This review of the
literatures on homosexual practices revealed a sharp distinction between Western and Eastern
normative sexual identities, and Kumashiro’s (2000) poststructuralist approach to reconstructing
knowledge on homosexuality is introduced. Future research is encouraged to provide a better
understanding of all sexual identities.
 Homosexuality is universal (Bulbeck 1998; Connell 2009); however, homosexual identity
appears in different manifestations, causing conflicting attitudes on how Western and Eastern
cultures perceive sexual identity. In the former, sexual identities are commonly viewed in
binaries while, in the latter, sexual identities appear more fluid. This dualistic perspective in the
West, mainly in the United States, ignores the rich continuum to sexual identity and disregards
the multiplicity of the homosexual identity. Because heterosexual identity is normative in most
societies, especially in Western culture, this leads to the privileging of heterosexuals and the
marginalization of non-heterosexuals or those who do not fall within the gender and sexual
identity norms. However, research focusing on gender and sexual identities has shown that non-
heterosexual identities also function as normative in some Eastern cultures. Using Georg
Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's standpoint theory framework, this essay examines sexual identity and
its relation to gender through a sociological lens in the works of Bulbeck (1998), Connell (2009),
Eckert and McConnell-Ginet (2003), Rubin (1989), and Wekker (2006). In this paper, I
hypothesize that gender identity development is a product of Western culture that creates
dualistic perceptions of sexual identities therefore limiting sexual identities into fixed and
bounded sexual identity labels while the absence of "gender identity development" in most
Eastern cultures create sexual identities that appear more multifaceted and malleable. The
following literature reviews attempt to illustrate and promote this hypothesis.

Purpose
My interest in this subject stems mainly from my sexual identity as a homosexual
man. Having come from the Philippines where some allowance of sexual fluidity exists, I found
a contrasting attitude about homosexuality when I moved to and grew up in the United States.
Also, when I participated in the Semester at Sea program which brought me to ten different
countries around the world and where I researched homosexuality in foreign cultures, I
discovered how many of the citizens from these foreign countries considered homosexuality or
"being gay" to be a White or Western phenomenon. Coupled with my research interests in queer
studies, I decided to explore this topic for the following reasons: 1) to introduce previous
research on gender and sexual identity that illustrates the contrasting attitudes of Eastern and
Western cultures; 2) to consider a poststructruralistic approach to understanding knowledge
about sexual identities; and 3) to encourage further research on the complexity of sexual
identities.

Sexual Identities in the West

This dualistic perception to sexual identities in the West may stem from what Westerners
experience in their gender identity development. According to Bulbeck (1998), the term gender
identity was invented in the United States. Not found in other cultures, the term gender identity
suggests both the centrality of gender to one's identity and the fixed nature of that identity.
Connell (2009) asserted that gender identity is accomplished not only individually but also
socially. She introduced the theory of borderwork, when boys and girls naturally segregate
themselves and create gender boundaries. Occurring usually in early educational settings,
Connell described how boys normally control playgrounds more, how this claim of power places
girls in roles of contamination (having cooties) and subordination, and how this privilege places
non-normative boys into the marginalized space occupied by girls. By fourth grade, homophobic
insults like fag become common among the boys before they even understand its sexual
meaning. In other words, American children's agency in learning gender aligns with their
differentiation of sexual hierarchies, which places both gender and sexual identities in gradient
scales. In result, masculinity and femininity reflect power relations in the social structures of
Western society and people's social conduct reflects conformity to cultural norms for the social
positions they occupy (p. 37). As Connell argued, this division is the structural basis of the
modern Western gender order and what makes this divided system different from the gender
orders of non-Western society. This gender separation eventually ends towards the end of
elementary school and a strong presence of boy and girl pairings begin to dominate the peer
social order. This formation of a heterosexual market becomes the center of the social markets
in which most individuals will engage and define themselves. In result, this social order creates
the normative of heterosexuality and presumes heterosexuality for all individuals, marginalizing
those who do not participate (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet, 2003, p. 24-27). This rigid
bifurcation seems to characterize western sexual identities as heterosexual/homosexual, and
because heterosexuality falls in normative status in the United States, those who do not identify
as heterosexuals fall into subordination. In the United States, this subordination leads to
inequalities in marriage rights, educational rights, and safety rights for most homosexuals. This
reflects Bulbeck's assertion that non-normative sexual identities challenge Western cultural ideas
and assumptions of the sex and gender.

Sexual Identities in the East

The following articles answer the specific questions: How are gender and sexual
identities expressed in some Eastern cultures? Are non-heterosexual identities marginalized in
some Eastern cultures? According to the following researchers, non-heterosexual identities in
some Eastern cultures are conceptualized as multiplicitous and contextually salient and
considered normative. Connell introduced the mining community of Mpondo in South Africa
whose members measured manhood through helping others and emphasized in the partnership
between men and women building homesteads. Because of the absence of women in mining
communities, the miners developed a 'mine marriage' system between the older and younger men
in the compounds. This domestic relationship consisted of the young miners performing
domestic duties and providing sexual services in exchange for presents, guidance, protection, and
money from the older miners. This same-sex relationship occurred cyclically because the
younger man would eventually acquire a "mine wife" if he became a senior miner in the
community. For the older miner, this same-sex relationship and behavior ended once they
returned to their homeland. This Mpondo community presented a cultural norm of situational
homosexuality, where individuals in segregated environments isolated from the other sex have
sexual relations with others of their own sex even though their true attractions are to the opposite
sex (Blumenfeld and Raymond, 1993, p. 82). According to Bulbeck, this cultural practice
involving older men having sexual relations with younger men asserted age-graded
homosexuality, which often marked a young man's rite of passage or mentoring role. Age-
graded homosexuality has existed since classical Greece and most recently in the Sambian
community of Papua New Guinea, where sexual actions between men connote a ritual practice
that all men participate in at a particular stage of life. This cultural norm illustrates how Sambian
men participate in homosexual behavior at one age and switch over to heterosexuality later in
life. This fluidity to sexual identity in the Sambian culture reflects a part of masculine
development that men do because of culture not something because of sexual orientation.
 Similarly, some Asian cultures also display male gender behavior that may challenge
Western perspectives of sexual identities and masculine norms. Because females and elements
of femininity strongly influence Asian cultures, some Asian men display masculinity differently
from Western standards. For example, in Japan, men express their emotions openly and cry to
music or during movies. In Korea, men hand their earnings to wives and victorious Korean
athletes always thank their mothers in their speeches. In China, men show pride in their cooking,
knitting, poetry, and calligraphy skills (Bulbeck, p. 142). Furthermore, Bulbeck introduced
cultures where heterosexual men participate in homosexual acts without this being a threat to
their sexual identity. In Brazil and Melnesia, homosexual activity entails a social order
where the dominant male retained his masculinity while the male in the passive sexual role
entailed femininity. In these cultures, the dominant position of inserter or fellated takes
preference over the less desirable subordinate position of insertee or fellator because the
"female" role equals unacceptable masculinity (p. 150-151). Thus gender and sexual
performatives among men in Asia, Brazil, and Melnesia do not connote sexual orientation, but
rather, they reflect cultural and normative practices.
Furthermore, Bulbeck introduced profession-defined homosexuality which
involved "third-gender” individuals. Considered neither man nor woman, third-genders have
specific roles and statuses in many Eastern communities. In India, hijras, a religious community
of men who undergo an operation to remove sexual organs and left a eunuch, perform
ceremonial blessings at weddings, festivals, and births while dressed in women's clothing. Hijras
also prostitute themselves, and in social terms, can be wives, mothers, or grandmothers. This
flexibility of hijra sexuality reflects the Hindu religion which contains Gods with ambiguous
sexuality and sexual identities. Similarly, this fluidity to sexual identity also presents itself in
Polynesian societies where mahus, considered a third entity, do women's work and have sex with
men. Likewise, the kagema in Japan dresses in Kabuki female attire when fulfilling sexual
desires of men, women, and monks. Also, the xanith in Islamic society takes on domestic and
sexual roles of women, dresses in women clothing, and participates in festivities for women yet
has all the legal rights of a man and can choose to become a "real" man with no societal
repercussions (pp. 157-158). These third-gender individuals distinguish themselves from
homosexuals due to the lack of connection to sexual orientation and more connections to social
and spiritual functions. While one can argue that third-gender individuals are similar to gender-
benders (drag king, drag queen, female impersonators, or transvestites) of Western culture, I
argue that gender-benders differ from third-genders because Western dualisms of gender identity
and sexual identity marginalize non-normative genders to remain either male or female and their
gender performatives to lack religious connotations.
Wekker (2006) introduced a society where mati women participated in homosexual
behavior for religious and financial purposes. An egalitarian culture whose members believe in
having characteristics of both male and female Winti gods, the mati identity reflects a jealous
male God who desires women and who cannot bear to see women in a long-term relationship
with a man. Thus, Wekker asserted that in this culture a mati woman remains sexually active
with either gender but prefers women with whom they depend on for sexual and emotional
pleasures and with men whom they remain involved only for financial reasons and sexual
reproduction. Like in age-graded homosexuality, older women initiate young girls into the mati
world in the form of an apprentice relationship (p. 442). While one can argue that mati sexual
behavior presumes lesbian or bisexual identities, these fixed identity labels common in Western
culture do not apply to mati women because mati culture does not claim a core homosexual
identity.

Reconstructing Knowledge
With the belief that homosexuality is universal, there is an assumption that
homosexuality identity is performed or perceived similarly in all cultures. However, the
presented literature reviews showed the need for further exploration of non-heterosexual
identities, especially homosexuality in Western culture. Because Western culture considers
heterosexual identity as normative, those who identify outside of heterosexuality fall into
subordination. However, these literature reviews introduced fluid sexualities within Eastern
cultures whose members participate in normative sexual identities. With this new perspective on
sexual identities, I propose using Kumashiro's (2000) poststructuralist approach on
reconstructing knowledge about homosexuality. First, he proposed recognizing two types of
knowledge that can harm those usually marginalized. The first kind of knowledge is the
knowledge on what society defines as "normal" or normative. The second kind of knowledge is
the knowledge based on stereotypes and myths. In reference to homosexuality, some members
of Western culture consider homosexual identity non-normative and homosexuals are unnatural
or deviant. To correct these types of harmful knowledge, a poststructuralist approach is needed.
First, Kumashiro suggests thinking differently on bringing about change. Rather than taking
traditional approaches in addressing harmful ideologies, he suggests disrupting harmful
knowledge and reworking history and discourse. In the case of homosexuality, treating this
sexual identity as normal will cause naturalization, redefinition, and institutionalization of
homosexual identity. Second, Kumashiro proposes unlearning one's worldview through
constructing disruptive and new knowledge. In the case of homosexuality, knowledge about this
sexual identity needs to include the undiscovered. This process involves what Kumashiro
considered as the paradoxical condition of learning and unlearning what one had previously
learned about homosexuality. Last, Kumashiro advises deconstructing the binary perception of
Self and Other. He argued the important step involving self-reflexivity in creating change. In
the case of homosexuality, Kumashiro encouraged learning about the Other, seeing the Self in
the Other, and reinscribing sameness in all sexual identities.

Conclusion
The realm of sexuality has its own internal politics, inequities, and modes of oppression
(Rubin, 1989, p. 267). Disputes over sexual behaviors and identities have become the vehicles
for displacing sexual minorities into marginalized social status. Using a standpoint theory
framework and a poststructuralist approach, this review of the literatures on homosexual
practices reveals that a sharp distinction between westerners "having" homosexual identities and
non-westerners "doing" homosexual acts does not cover the complexity of the practice (Bulbeck,
p. 153). In both Western and Eastern cultures, sexual identities exist that function as normative.
However, most Eastern cultures contain sexual identities that surpass gender and sexual
ideologies of Western cultures. In other words, cross-cultural research on gender and sexuality
showed that many Eastern societies "do not make distinctions or do not make them the same
way" (Connell, p. 82). It can be assumed from this literature review that the subject of gender
and sexuality is complex and multifaceted. Only through future research will a better
understanding of sexual identities lead to the normalization of non-normative sexual identities,
including homosexuality.

References
Bulbeck, C. (1998). Re-orienting western feminisms: Women’s diversity in a
postcolonial World. Cambridge, Engl: Cambridge UP.
Connell, R. (2009). Gender in world perspective. 2d ed. Cambridge UK and Malden
MA: Polity.
Eckert, P. and McConnell-Ginet, S. (2003). Language and gender. Cambridge:
University Press. 24-27.
Kumashiro, K. (Spring 2000) Toward a theory of anti-oppressive education. Review of
educational research. 70 (1), 25-53.
Rubin, G. (1989). Thinking sex: Notes for a radical theory of the politics of sexuality.
Pleasure and danger: Exploring female sexuality. Ed. Carole S. Vance. London:
Pandora. 267-319.
Wekker, G. (2006) What’s identity got to do with it?: Rethinking identity in light
of mati work in Suriname. Female desires: Same-sex and transgender practices across
cultures. Reprinted in Ellen Lewin, ed. Feminist anthropology: A reader. New York:
Blackwell. 435-448.