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This will be a long essay likely. Also the chapters will likely change as the essay is written.
Preamble
The LGBT[a] Question involves answering many aspects. This includes sex, sexuality, and gender. Many Marxists and so-called 'Marxists' have tried to answer this question utilising the tools of science. However the correct application to the scientific method requires a concrete understanding of Materialist Dialectics. This essay serves not only to understand LGBT people from a dialectical perspective, but also serves as a critique to the 'marxists' (in other words: revisionists, reactionaries) who claim the LGBT people are either idealist, or do not align with the dialectical framework.
This has been pushed by several 'marxists' including the 'marxists' on TERF Island[b] This is pushed to the extent that criticism stems from outright denial of gender, espousing it as 'Gender Ideology', to as low as 'supporting' the transgender movement, whilst outright denying other aspects of the LGBT people.
This is a reactionary position, especially with so-called Patriotic 'socialists' who aim to deny the LGBT movement all together and consider it as a cornerstone of the CIA. But is that true? Would it be more nuanced than this? Only evidence can disclose the truth, and thus before we consider LGBT people, we must understand what is metaphysical and what is dialectical.
Metaphysics and Dialectics
If you understand anything about dialectics from either the article or even a 101 overview, you must understand that dialectics presupposes change. With metaphysics however, everything is contained with one aspect, and that aspect cannot fundamentally change. Let us look at it from a metaphysical point of view. There is an item, it could be any item possible, let us say '1'. We understand the idea of '1' from its utilisation in mathematics. We could increment 1 (or add 1) to make 2. However metaphysics states that 1 remains the same. 2 also remains the same. It retains its purity, in other words, no other aspect or form of nuance would ever change this '1'.
Applying this 'scientifically' (this is actually pseudo-science), let's say in biology, organisms can be classified into Plants, Animals, or Fungi (or more). That there is no exception to these, and it retains its exact mechanisms which are pure. Sure, both Plants and Animals have a respiratory system, but this doesn't necessarily contradict the idea of metaphysics. Right?
Unfortunately this is where metaphysics falls apart. Under any scientific, mathematical or even general concepts, examples of purity aren't generally found. For example in science, phytoplankton can eat animals (the opposite of how it is done) and microzooplankton, which are classified as 'animals', can also utilise photosynthesis, a characteristic typical in plants.[1] Are these plankton both animals and plants? If we say so, this only blurs the lines between purity and distinct characteristics between one form and another. Thus we cannot state metaphysics is scientifically correct. What about mathematics? Well even though maths is seen to be more rigid, we cannot state maths is more pure. Maths is based on assumptions (or axioms), but it does not mean those axioms are consistent or complete, as proven by Godel's Incompleteness Theorem and the Decision Problem by Alan Turing. For simplicity, it means that the rules we have in mathematics, are not pure either.
Can the laws of dialectics help the scientific or mathematical field? It can. Lenin for example in the 'Unity of Opposites' that positive or negative cancel each other. Same with derivative and integral within calculus. This helps the mathematical field far more, as dialectics describes the relationship between two or more forms, rather than assuming that each form is isolated. Let's look back at phytoplankton. Whilst the classification is obscure and irrelevant, the phytoplankton presents itself as a valuable food source. So it presents itself contradictions between nature as its creator, but also with other lifeforms such as types of fish.
This helps us understand that the nature runs of dialectics. Metaphysics would give us not an incomplete view, but it would also hold back our understanding of the world. However, a metaphysicist may claim that the phytoplankton is an exception or anything as such. However this is only said to continue their stupid idea that metaphysics is the ideal philosophy for people. I do not like the term exception and will refrain from using it as you will see later. With the existence of exceptions, it means the model that the metaphysicist proposes with their views, is not rigid. The idea of nuance, which the metaphysicist tries to comprehend, is completely foreign to the metaphysicist. Hence what Mao said:
"Idealism and metaphysics are the easiest things in the world, because people can talk as much nonsense as they like without basing it on objective reality or having it tested against reality. Materialism and dialectics, on the other hand, need effort. They must be based on and tested by objective reality. Unless one makes the effort one is liable to slip into idealism and metaphysics."[2]
Now why did I introduce a tangent into dialectics and metaphysics? Well this is important as 'marxists' fundamentally misuse dialectics to suit their own needs, in actuality the 'marxists' should call themselves mechanical or metaphysical materialists. This is also important as a refresher as the rest of this essay will utilise dialectical analysis as it is a necessary process to understand LGBT people from a dialectical viewpoint. However, it is important to state that regardless of dialectics, No matter what form the person presents to be, you should support them as long as they do not harm others. In other words, they are valid.
Sexual Orientation
Sexual Orientation (also known as Sexuality) is an aspect that must be considered. Usually 'marxists' are apathetic to sexual orientation and assume it is natural, but regardless, it is necessary to analyse this process. Apart from heterosexuality, there are 2+ forms of sexual orientation: Homosexuality and Bisexuality. There is also Pansexuality, Asexuality, which will also be considered but the main forms is either Homosexuality and Bisexuality. There is also heterosexual queer people, but this typically applies to people who has a gender which is not the same as the gender assigned at birth.
What causes someone's sexuality to be heterosexual, homosexual or any other sexual orientation is still a matter of discussion as of writing this essay. For example, there is a false hypothesis which states that there may be a 'gay gene' present in homosexuals which allows them to be attracted towards people of the same gender, however this is proven to be false.[3] Regardless, sexual orientation exists, and is a material thing. But is it dialectical? Sexual orientation is caused by an attraction towards a particular sex or gender. One of the ways that sexual orientation is through love of a particular person and some characteristics towards the person, such as how the person presents themselves (their gender expression), genitalia that is present (their sex, more on that later), how the person acts etc. So how do we translate this through dialectics?
Let's start off with a person without a partner... They typically want to fulfill a need that they want a partner, at least at some point in their lives. This is the first negation, in as such they begin or want the search for a partner. The 2nd negation is finding a partner that fulfills the person's needs towards the sexual orientation. This may sound simple, however we are assuming two things. One, that every person has a sexual orientation. And two, the sexual orientation remains static, which is far from the case.
Even with the person who present a firm affirmation of their sexual orientation, it can gradually change or not. Yes, the change is typically negligible, but it means applying a metaphysical approach would be insufficient. It does not mean every person is bisexual, as this defeats the purpose of sexual orientation, but rather overtime the person may change and their sexual orientation would be drastically different, through means of quantitative and qualitative change. This is typically the case with people whose sexual orientation has been hidden as due to society, or they are questioning their own sexuality and/or gender. Even people who claim to be heterosexual have found themselves to engaging in homosexual media. For example Republicans in the United States are often caught to be engaging in homosexual behaviour.[4] Also we should consider asexual people. Asexuals do not have a liking for anything sexual. However asexuals typically will engage in a romantic relationship whether that would be homosexual, heterosexual, etc. Their sexual orientation fulfills a different need compared to anyone who is heterosexual or homosexual, as it would only involve romantic interests. Whilst sexual orientation for a homosexual would consider not only romantic interests, but also sexual interests. However there is the case for aromantic people as well. Aromantic people (also Aromantic Asexual people or Aroace), do not have a sexual orientation. This means the model we presented before also is inadequate to accommodate those people.
So how do we address this? Sexual orientation is a complex phenomena, so implementing such model would either exclude people or be too complicated to utilise. Sexual orientation varies between person to person, thus it is hard to analyse it in concrete detail. However, we can conclude that metaphysical analyses of sexual orientation is simply not compatible given the fractal nature of sexual orientation. Especially if we consider no one is 100% Homosexual, nor is someone 100% Heterosexual, or what other sexual orientation is present (Note that I am excluding a lot of other sexual orientations).
To explain this, let's take a look at a concept that we haven't touched much on. Love. Love is another complex phenomena and it doesn't just manifest in romantic relationships. It manifests in family relationships, friendly relationships, etc. Love is needed as a survival trait. However love can manifest in different way, which is how sexual orientation can manifest. To analyse sexual orientation, love must be analysed, as a variety of different factors matter, including general appearance, personality, etc. This is why LGBT people typically state "Love is love", as the sexual attraction towards one sex/gender is only one core aspect to which a person loves another. However this has been misused multiple times by more anti-LGBT groups as to suggest that the LGBT people support the likes of pedophilia or zoophilia, both groups which are not part of the LGBT people, as it is not sexual orientation that presents their love, but rather a person taking advantage over a younger child, which the gender/sex is usually irrelevant, as the age matters more. And the latter being sexually attracted to animals which are not as intelligent as a human being. Suffice it to say, the two groups are mentally ill.
Gender and Sex
And thus this leads to the other aspect, the aspects of gender and sex. This is where the waters get muddy with 'marxists', as it tends towards either two ends with 'marxists' as stated earlier: Either outright opposition; or indirect opposition. This will elaborated later on, but first of all we must consider the two aspects considered controversial in marxism, Gender and Sex.
Gender
Gender is another complex phenomena that exists in humanity. The invention of gender through the division of labour is what lead to from the transition from primitive communism to slave society. Some state that gender came as a result of sex, I will address that later.
Gender is usually separated into three components, Gender Roles, Gender Identity and Gender Expression. Gender Roles are deleterious, they are a byproduct of society enforcing gender throughout history. A common example is women acting submissive, petite, allowed to stay in the kitchen, while the man is acting dominant, being the financier of the house, and much more. Of course even cishets[c] have been affected by this. Thus even in today's capitalist society, the idea of gender roles are being slowly deconstructed, or so it seems.
Gender Expression is an aspect where someone expresses their gender. It is separate from their gender identity. Gender expression makes people express themselves as they want. Usually gender expression and gender identity are in correlation. Gender Identity is the gender that is a part of a particular person. Like sexual orientation, it is usually not pure, and it may change overtime, or in others words, they are just discovering their true selves.
While this is an ideal model, there is a flaw that is present within model as due to gender, and that is gender is a social construct. This means that gender is constructed through means of culture, and thus gender is largely arbitrary. This does not necessarily mean that gender is a bad thing however. Language is also a social construct. But it is an essential aspect for communicating ideas and concepts which may have not existed beforehand. So is gender necessarily a bad thing? We must tackle the 2 aspects (Gender Roles will be ignored as it is already deleterious).
Gender Expression is communicated through means of using clothing that is applicable towards a particular gender. As stated earlier, this may correlate with their gender identity, but it does not always correlate as such. There are usually 2 cases towards this, either the person prefers clothing that's not typical of the gender identity but wants to keep their current gender identity (A feminine boy or a masculine girl, Not to be confused with trans people), or a person who does not match their assigned gender at birth and is not ready to use the clothing that they view fit, in this case transgender people. Typically gender expression fit into 3 categories according to the models present. Masculine, Feminine, or Androgynous. It appears as a spectrum, and applies to most people. most.
Sex
New Movements
Identity Politics and the Liberalisation of the LGBT People
Notes
- ↑ For the sake of simplicity, the LGBTQIA+ or the Queer community will be referred as LGBT. I will state other sexualities or genders later on.
- ↑ Also known as the United Kingdom.
- ↑ abbreviation for cisgender and heterosexual.
References
- ↑ “For decades, most scientists have thought that phytoplankton lived only by photosynthesis. It turns out that many of these phytoplankton also eat the way animals do. Some eat other phytoplankton, some eat bacteria, and some eat tiny animals.”
Patricia M. Gilbert (2019-03-27). "Plants Are Not Animals and Animals Are Not Plants, Right? Wrong! Tiny Creatures in the Ocean Can Be Both at Once!" - ↑ Mao Zedong (1955). Introductory note to "Material on the Hu Feng Counter-Revolutionary Clique.
- ↑ Sara Reardon (2019-08-29). "Massive Study Finds No Single Genetic Cause of Same-Sex Sexual Behavior" Scientific American.
- ↑ Joe Ali (2023-03-15). "Randy McNally: Drag ban Republican caught ‘liking’ gay thirst traps quits social media" Pink News.