Recently I’ve been looking into this subject and found a few answers on the subject of romance, love, and sex in western cultures.

It seems that these subjects are problematic when paired with Western cultures, especially with the fact that the elite exploit these and shape it into a way to benefit themselves. Over-sexualization, brainwashing children, sexism, banning abortion, homophobia and sexualization of the LGBTQ+, and other things. It has caused many problems that have spread to countries that aren’t in the west, and goes against a human’s nature and rights.

In order to be cleansed from the poisonous western culture, from a communist perspective, what would be a more suitable way to look at these three topics?

  • Kaffe
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    1 year ago

    All cultures define these things based on their economic structures and cultural histories (including historical economic systems). I wouldn’t put this as “Western Culture” but “Bourgeois Culture.” There are insights within the “West” that seek to look beyond Bourgeois Culture, and Feudal and Antique Culture as well.

    Bourgeois rule has influenced and changed all cultures it has come into contact with, and all cultures define Bourgeois economic relations within their historical terms. I think reading about North American indigenous cultures and their views of these things could give you an insight into how their practices were rooted around their societal structures and economies. The “Two Spirit” identities in NA indigenous communities historically served specific roles within their societies, and the resurgence of these social identities is in the form of decolonization against Bourgeois Culture and the revolution (from their societies into Capitalism) it caused within these cultures. https://www.them.us/story/two-spirit-indigenous-activists (side note: while 2S represents social identities similar to gendering, which isn’t directly related to sex and love, some same-sex/gender relationships have argued their existence in 2S terms as well. I’m not indigenous so it’s best to hear from the individuals and communities who identify with the term).

    For a Western, yet post-Capitalist and revolutionary perspective, I think Kollontai’s work is interesting. It really targets the economic aspect of all relationships under Capitalism, and class society as a whole. She applies dialectical materialism on the history of “love” in European societies (though, we shouldn’t think this only applies to Europe, since ideology permeates and cultures cross influence each other). She’s making predictions of post-Capitalism, but she’s also saying that the Proletariat, like all classes before it, will create its own definitions of sexual morality and love, adapted to the conditions of Proletarian rule. https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/atc/1724.html