According
to Global Sex author Dennis Altman, there have been arguments
that globalization is not a new phenomenon; that it began, some say,
as long ago as the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans.
Throughout
history, as travel and communication became easier, the world became
more connected and ideas spread more quickly. The difference is that
these days, Altman quotes David Held as saying, “What is new about
the modern global system is the chronic intensification of patterns
of interconnectedness mediated by such phenomena as the modern
communications industry and new information technology… through…
technological, organizational, administrative and legal [dimensions
of interconnectedness].” Faster modes of transportation such as
trains and airplanes, and faster modes of communication such as the
telegraph, the telephone, and the Internet, replaced and built on
each other, allowing globalization to occur quickly.
Globalization
is rapidly becoming a reality and we are seeing the Americanization
of the rest of the world. Altman mentions that people, art, and
fashions often do not become popular until they are associated with
something American, and that American films and the English language
are widespread and popular. Globalization does not mean the
eradication of local cultures because, Altman argues, other popular
cultures besides the American culture flourish, such as African
music, Mexican soap operas, Indian films, and “television in most
countries is dominated by locally produced shows….” Cultures
often retain their identities and customs even though they are
influenced, or even taken over, by other cultures. Altman claims that
“almost all of us remain linked to particular places, even if we
may also feel part of communities which are not primarily defined by
a shared space.”
The
three main socioeconomic factors that create the contexts in which
sexual acts and identities occur, according to Dennis Altman, are the
economic, the cultural, and the political.
Altman
exemplifies the effects of economy on sex by noting that as cultures
trade with each other and there is more contact between the two
peoples, they see the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. This
can be seen in the case of the spread of syphilis from North America
to Europe after Columbus’s contact with North America. Altman also
mentions prostitution “Japan established brothels through east Asia
to accommodate the expansion of Japanese business….” This shows
how the development of the international economy and the expansion of
trade have affected sexuality and affected people’s personal lives.
According
to Altman, “Sexual mores and values have constantly changed as
societies have come in contact with outside influences….” He
mentions an opinion, held by a person in Japan, that introducing the
birth control pill into that country would “undermine Japanese
social stability.” Altman notes that Ronald Ingelhart has observed
that many countries have shifted toward “a more permissive view on
abortion, divorce, homosexuality, and extramarital sex.” As outside
influences permeate a local culture, that culture gets exposed to
alternative attitudes on sexual behavior.
Political
issues relating to sex such as the legalization of gay marriage, the
women’s rights movement, the gay rights movement, and the push for
anti-discrimination laws to include sexual orientation are discussed
in government around the world, in places such as Namibia, South
Africa, Fiji, and Mexico. Altman mentions the case in which “the
Namibian high court… ruled that a homosexual relationship should
enjoy legal equality.” He also connects the political regimes and
relative wealth of Singapore and the Philippines to the size of their
gay cultures.
According
to Dennis Altman, “growing affluence allows – and forces – new
ways of organizing ‘private’ life… as sexuality is increasingly
commodified.” He supports this claim with the example of how
sexuality was affected by the expansion of Europe and Japan through
imperialism. For example, syphilis spread after Columbus’s contact
with North America. Also, Japan established brothels in the areas of
east Asia that it conquered “to accommodate the expansion of
Japanese business.” Altman also argues that the conquerors and the
conquered began to affect each other in ways other than economically,
but also in terms of sexuality. He gives the example of Josephine
Baker, Carmen Miranda, Alicia Parla, and reggae music, which
contributed to the stereotype relating African-Americans and
Hispanics to sex, which affected sexuality among white Americans by
creating in them an association between the exotic and the erotic.
Also, he says that colonizing states contribute to the affluence of
the conquered peoples, which sometimes causes the conquered peoples’
traditional family structures to break down.
Altman says “images of different sexualities are rapidly diffused
across the world, often to be confronted by religious and nationalist
movements.” In this age in which most cultures embrace modernity,
there are a few that openly reject it – namely the Lubavitchers,
the Amish, and the Taliban – who still have patriarchal attitudes
toward women and children. Because the definition of modernity is
constantly changing, the change in sexual attitudes can be seen in
most cultures to be progressing still. For example, in Japan, a sort
of sexual revolution has been taking place for several decades, and
more women are questioning their roles as housewives and considering
full-time jobs, are more likely “to reject arranged marriages,
initiate divorces, and pursue cases of sexual harassment and rape.”
Altman says that “state regulation plays a crucial role in
determining the possible forms of sexual expression.” He gives the
example of reproductive laws in China and Ireland. China’s
one-child policy, in one case, resulted in a woman who was pregnant
for the second time to be deported and forced to have an abortion.
That law also causes high rates of infanticide in China. Ireland’s
strict laws on abortion cause Irish women to go to Britain in order
to have reproductive freedom. In countries fortunate enough to have
governments that allow people to vote so that the laws reflect
popular values, problems like this are becoming less common.
Countries such as the United States, Namibia, South Africa, Fiji, and
Mexico have pushed for laws against discrimination by sexual
orientation, and gay marriage is becoming legal in more countries.
In
chapter 4 of Global Sex, Altman says “the growing
internationalization of trade in both sex and drugs has played a
major role in the diffusion of HIV….” He goes on to say that it
has been argued that “patterns of use of illicit drugs are becoming
globalized and ‘standardized,’ leading to the rapid spread of HIV
in countries in both Southeast Asia and South America where the
U.S.-led ‘war on drugs’ has meant injecting practices have partly
replaced traditional opium smoking.”
Awareness
of HIV/AIDS is also an effect of globalization, as evidenced by the
popularity of American films about people with AIDS, and the use of
the red ribbon and the AIDS quilt as symbols of awareness. Altman
references the “considerable amount of literary and theatrical
response to the [AIDS] epidemic” in Latin America as evidence of
the awareness of the disease’s link to globalization. He notes that
condom use has also spread throughout the world.
Though,
through contact between cultures, globalization has facilitated the
spread of diseases such as AIDS and syphilis (as mentioned in the
chapter on socioeconomic factors of sex), globalization also
facilitates communication between cultures, allowing information on
HIV/AIDS and awareness of the disease to spread as well.
This essay was originally written in October 2006 as a college essay.
For
more entries on gender, sexuality, and L.G.B.T.Q. issues, please
visit:
http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2010/10/justice-stephen-breyer-and-recognition.html
http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2010/10/justice-stephen-breyer-and-recognition.html
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