Coloniality of Sexuality: Sexuality as a Tool of Oppression

Author: Mic van der Burgt

Abstract:

This article sketches the ways in which sexuality has been used from 1918 to the beginning of the twenty-first century as a tool to oppress Palestinians. Specifically, I look at the criminalization of male-to-male sexual acts during the British Mandate period (1920-1948), the sexualization of the land of Palestine during early Zionist colonization during the 1920s and 1930s, and oppression of Palestinians by the State of Israel. To uncover how sexuality was used as a tool of oppression, I use a ‘scavenging methodology’ (Murphy & Lugg, 2016) drawing on a variety of sources and data and using several approaches, such as legal and historical analysis. My findings suggest that sexuality has played a role as a tool of oppression in all of these differing periods and conditions. However, I argue that a notable inversion has taken place when it comes to how sexuality has been used. During Mandate Palestine, it was the homosexuality of Palestinians that was used to Otherize, whereas it is the purported homophobia of Palestinians that is used by the contemporary Israeli state. Using McClintock’s (1995) concept of anachronistic space, Stoler’s (2002) connection between race and gender, and Lugones’ (2010) concept of the coloniality of gender, this article argues that we should think of the oppression of Palestinians as working through a coloniality of sexuality, where not only embodied sexuality but also purported attitudes towards certain forms of sexuality are used as an Othering tool.

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