Sexual Politics, Orientalism and Multicultural Citizenship in the Netherlands

TLDR

Sexuality features prominently in European debates on multiculturalism and in Orientalist discourses on Islam, and the secularization of Dutch society, transformations in sex and morality since the 1960s, and the normalization of gay identities since the 1980s have made sexuality a malleable discourse framing modernity against tradition. This article argues that representations of gay emancipation are mobilized to shape narratives framing Muslims as non‑modern subjects, a development best understood through the culturalization of citizenship and the rise of Islamophobia in Europe. The study focuses on the Netherlands, where gay rights discourses intertwine with anti‑Muslim politics and representations. The entanglement is problematic but also opens possibilities for new alliances and solidarities within LGBTQ politics and sexual and cultural citizenship.

Abstract

Sexuality features prominently in European debates on multiculturalism and in Orientalist discourses on Islam. This article argues that representations of gay emancipation are mobilized to shape narratives in which Muslims are framed as non-modern subjects, a development that can best be understood in relation to the ‘culturalization of citizenship’ and the rise of Islamophobia in Europe. We focus on the Netherlands where the entanglement of gay rights discourses with anti-Muslim politics and representations is especially salient. The thorough-going secularization of Dutch society, transformations in the realms of sex and morality since the ‘long 1960s’ and the ‘normalization’ of gay identities since the 1980s have made sexuality a malleable discourse in the framing of ‘modernity’ against ‘tradition’. This development is highly problematic, but also offers possibilities for new alliances and solidarities in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning (LGBTQ) politics and sexual and cultural citizenship.