The Red in the Rainbow: Sexuality, Socialism and LGBT Liberation

by Hannah Dee (editor)

This inspiring story of the fight for sexual liberation travels across continents and centuries uncovering a radical struggle including the Stonewall riots in 1969 and the mass movement against apartheid South Africa that achieved the first inclusion of LGBT rights in a constitution. This is a remarkably hopeful account of the way women and men have made history even in the most difficult circumstances. It should be read by every activist who aspires to win a world free from oppression and to realise the unfinished dream of liberation that so many have fought for.

Genres: Nonfiction, LGBT, Politics, Queer, Feminism, History, Sociology

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 2011

Reviews

[Pixie · Rating 4 out of 5]

as far as i can tell, a great starting point for linking lgbt struggle to class struggle. easy to read and very informative. however, i'm docking one star because i don't like the phrasing "women dressed as men" and the assumption that these were cis lesbians and not trans men, since we cannot know for sure how people in the past understood themselves. in general, the heavy focus is on cis gay men, which of course is because there's more material there, infuriating as that may be. however i do think there could have been more focus on trans struggle. these faults aside, i still think it's well worth a read for anyone interested in genuine and lasting equality.

[Pau Vilchez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro que te hará abrir la vente y viajar a través de la historia del colectivo

Como ya es tradición de cada verano, decido comprarme un libro en inglés para practicar el idioma ya que estoy de vacaciones y no hago clases. Este año no sabía muy bien con cual hacerme hasta que me di cuenta del mes en el que me encontraba: el mes en el que se reivindica y se da más visibilidad al colectivo LGBTIQ+. Así pues decidí informarme sobre libros que me explicaran aspectos y me hicieran entender aún más este colectivo y The Red in the Rainbow fue el elegido.

Para empezar, como siempre, voy a hablar del diseño ya que es un punto importante y la primera apariencia. La portada es preciosa y encaja a la perfección con el contenido de libro. En ella, encontramos diferentes chapas en las que podemos leer diferentes manifestaciones, lemas, partidos… que se explican una vez empezado el libro. Personalmente me parece preciosa. Eso sí, un punto algo negativo sobre el diseño del libro sería el material pues es bastante “blando” cosa que puede hacer que se estropee un poco pero no me ha importado.

Seguidamente hablaremos del contenido. Este libro, al no ser una novela de ficción no explica un argumento con unos personajes. Según mi punto de vista es mucho más un ensayo en el cual la autora nos da a conocer muchos puntos importantes que todos nosotros deberíamos conocer y que para mi sorpresa muchos de ellos me han sorprendido. En su interior, como bien informa el título, encuentras información súper valiosa sobre el colectivo LGBTIQ+ (más bien su historia, cosa que me ha fascinado), la sexualidad y el socialismo.

Primeramente, la autora comienza explicando la historia del colectivo LGBTIQ+ desde la antigua Grecia, pasando por las tribus prehispánicas americanas (que me han sorprendido muchísimo), la edad moderna… Gracias a ella, descubres que a diferencia de lo que uno se puede pensar o lo que nos explica la sociedad heteropatriarcal las personas del colectivo han estado presentes siempre, obviamente, y con muchas más libertades y normalidad que ahora. Ha sido mi apartado favorito del libro y he descubierto aspectos muy sorprendentes sobre figuras históricas y como era ser un miembro del colectivo en los diferentes periodos históricos. Además, la autora más adelante se centra en temas de política y socialismo que es el punto que menos me ha gustado y más información había. Al estar en inglés no he podido acabar de comprender todo al cien por cien así que no lo recomiendo si no tienes buen nivel pero yo lo he entendido bastante bien pese algunos puntos más específicos al hablar de temas que no controlo tanto.
Para finalizar, se centra en tiempos más actuales como por ejemplo Stonewall y los últimos años. Además, te hace reflexionar cosa que me ha fascinado y acaba de crear una reacción al lector/a y darse cuenta del día a día del colectivo, las políticas sobre él…

Finalmente me gustaría añadir que recomiendo esta lectura a todas aquellas personas con buen nivel de inglés que se quieran informar sobre el colectivo, el socialismo… pues me ha encantado y me ha hecho abrir mucho más los ojos y descubrir aspectos que no conocía y muy poco hablados. Me encantaría que se trajese a España en español para que más personas pudieran leerlo y descubrir qué se esconde detrás de The Red in the Rainbow. ¡Nos leemos en la próxima lectura!

[Richard Bromhall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hannah Dee's The Red in the Rainbow: Sexuality, Socialism and LGBT Liberation, is an essential Left-wing text which highlights the ways in which gender equality and sexual liberation is vigorously - and often violently - prohibited by capitalism. Dee maps out the history of earlier and much more liberal societies and reveals time and time again that conservative refiguring of social relationships, including that of the family, heteronormativity, and the reassertion of repugnant hierarchy which is the very nature of capitalism, is furthered by the system's rapacity. The book steers the reader through the boomerang of social reform over the last two and a bit millenniums. The often demonised, but nonetheless socially liberal period in Russia, following the country's revolution in 1917 and the unity between the working class socialist and gay movements in Europe, notably Germany, acknowledges the traditions of working people, gay and straight, against the larger power structures.

The most important part of this text, however, comes towards the end where Dee discusses the fragmentation of the gay rights movement and working class solidarity. In the context of neoliberalism, we have forgotten our history she claims: Pride is attended merely as a general knees-up and not as it should be, by which she means the celebration of when the marginalised had had enough and refused to accept state oppression for their sexuality; likewise, the working class movement has stagnated, gays have apparently forgotten the real cause of their oppression - Capitalism, that is and not straights - and so seem not to come together in revulsion at all-round oppressive measures government's employ against the most marginalised in society.

Dee makes some very important points. It's not perfect though. The polemic can be somewhat disingenuous at times. Dee suggests that the Labour Party isn't as gay friendly as has been made out, suggesting that the repeal of Section 28 came a staggering six years after the 1997 election victory. She argues very well and overall I am convinced that there are problems with Labour's support of gay rights, but at this avenue she neglects the facts that previous attempts to reveal the heinous clause were blocked by some Conservative factions in the House of Lords.

Regardless of this, the text is wonderfully written, informative, and ends with hope, that we must continue to fight for all of our rights in solidarity with one another. A must read for anyone who has ever been oppressed.

[M F]

This was really interesting; a useful overview of LGBT history from a socialist perspective. I would be interested to see a second edition that addresses the enormous changes in the past ten years (equal marriage in the UK and the US, for example; greater visibility of trans and nonbinary people; new vocabularies of queerness), acknowledging that in some areas we have not necessarily made progress... Even just exploring the impact of technology on LGBT communities and activism I think would be fascinating. This book was published in 2010, which in many ways feels like a huge turning point, being as it was just prior to the total ubiquity of smartphones that dominated the rest of the decade. And some of the ideas Dee brings up, like the commercialisation of Pride, have only intensified in the past decade. As for her discussion of the EDL and the BNP... I wonder what she'd have to say about Brexit. But that slight outdatedness in itself makes this ever more a snapshot of LGBT history: what did it look like ten years ago? What hopes and dreams did people have for progress?

[Tess · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good. If you want to know where LGBT oppression came from, how to fight it, and how it can be abolished completely, you need to read this book.

For further reading I would recommend Tony Cliff’s Class Struggle and Women’s Liberation, and Transgender Warriors by Leslie Feinberg.

[Robyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

An impressively concise but thorough primer.

[Alex Rendall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very compelling arguments linking the struggle for LGBT liberation to that of other marginalised social groups, but all interlinked with the struggle for socialism.

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would have liked it to have been a little more scholarly and a little less narrative however very informative.