Homosexuality, Capitalism and Technology

In D'Emilio's essay, titled Capitalism and Gay Identity, he argues that homosexuality originated with the capitalist movement in the United States. He suggests that capitalism allowed for homosexuals to freely identify with a sexual identity - even though some were previously engaging in homosexual behavior, they were now able to identify with a larger group in common society. D'Emilio says, "The fact that capitalism had drawn far more men than women into the labor force, and at higher wages. Men could more easily construct a personal life independent of attachments to the opposite sex, whereas women were more likely to remain economically dependent on men...College educated white women, far more able than their working-class sisters to support themselves, could survive more easily without intimate relationships with men" (D'Emilio, 231). So, he says that due to the growth of wage labor, both men and women were free to live independently from one another and this spurred identification with homosexual identities. I can see why D'Emilio believes this to be so, but my opinion differs slightly. I feel there was homosexual behavior and identity around before capitalism - but capitalism can definitely be named as a contributing factor to the growth of the homosexual revolution. 


As our current economic and social life changes, our family dynamics change. I believe it is important to keep record of the socio-economic shifts, although I think we all have to remember that the social economic standards can change drastically in a heart-beat. To dwell on why the standards change now versus how they changed before can teach us a lot but those standards are going to continue to change rapidly while we keep up. The current state of the American family is much different than it was in the 1970's and the new American family will be remarkably different than today's family. Any changes to the ideal that D'Emilio proposes are related to the changing economic structures of today's American family. The economic and social structures are flexible are will continue to stretch and form in to new standards for the next generation.