Title
Patriotic Homosocial Discourse Part One: Electronic Speech Self-Regulation
Abstract
This is part one of a two part discussion of patriotic homosocial discourse. In the first installment, I discuss how legislation, popular media, and government officials create and reinforce the idea that electronic speech is monitored. Cases like Konop v. Hawaiian Airlines and public examples of ‘deviant’ (non-mainstream) speakers being punished reinforce the idea that electronic communication is not private. Because people believe and fear that they are being monitored, people self-regulate their speech. This in turn leaves the dominant discourse unchallenged, allowing the dominant discourse to authorize and rationalize violence against sub-groups. An example of this phenomenon is seen in the treatment of Arab male bodies. Starting with ideological foundations, (i.e., queering the East) patriotic homosocial discourse attempts to maintain a power relationship where the West dominates the East. Patriotic homosocial discourse draws on Eve Sedgwick’s theory of homosociality, particularly the violence used in homophobic discourse to separate heterosexual men from homosexual men. Combining Sedgwick’s theory with Edward Said’s history and analysis of Eastern sexualization by the West leads to a discussion of how Arab bodies are queered in order to authorize violence against them. Historically, male Eastern bodies have been feminized by the West which conceptualizes itself as masculine. After the penetration and violence of 9/11, the East disrupted the West’s vision of the passive, feminine East. In order to maintain its own identity and punish the East, the West turned to discourse that eerily mirrored homophobic discourse. The West’s masculine identity is reinforced as patriotism. Violence and action, normally considered masculine, in Eastern hands is queered. Queering, or making “deviant,” is also accomplished by heightened fears of border penetration and sleeper cells. Patriotic homosocial discourse is dangerous because it authorizes and rationalizes violence against the sub-group used to reinforce the dominant culture’s identity. Part two will discuss the Abu Ghraib prison scandal as a physical manifestation of Patriotic Homosocial Discourse.
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