A Call for Commercial Consciousness

The question was put to him,
What hope is; 
And his answer was:
"The dream of a waking man." 
- Aristotle¹²⁵

Aristotle replied to his interlocutor, who sought the path to hope, that the first step on the way is an awakening. Arousing from sleep, the dreamer's reverie is still fresh and tangible. The first moments of consciousness permit a heightened awareness, a pure vision unclouded by the muddle of daily existence.

It is as though the ancient philosopher were addressing modern LesBiGay scholars. Their greater hopes, too, lie in an awakening. Their paths to full LesBiGay liberation also begin with a new step: a heightened awareness of the commodified character of LesBiGay identity and commercialism's impact on LesBiGay self-realization. At the price of ineffectuality, they must answer the call for commercial consciousness.

Those who engage in LesBiGay identity politics must appreciate a dynamic fact: as long as the structures of advanced capitalism remain in place, those structures that drive the modern commercial culture past the law, the emerging LesBiGay consumer identity is likely to overtake and define LesBiGay political and legal identity. LesBiGays are not going to see their images only in the mirror. More tellingly, they are going to see them in the pages of magazines, on the screens of televisions and cinemas, on the stages of theater and music, on the monitors of computers, on the floors of department stores and malls, and throughout the private halls of commerce. These images are ever-changing, as the American commercial culture defines and redefines the commodified LesBiGay identity.

Not only will LesBiGays see their commercialized images, but so will everyone else. Society at large watches the same programs, shops in the same malls, and walks the same commercial halls. Thus, the general populace looks at the LesBiGay identity as mediated by popular culture, and interprets it for what LesBiGays "really" are. Since LesBiGays are not the majority of the populace and must appeal to the majority for its tolerance or acceptance, they must account for their commercially constructed identity. The demeanor may be suave or swishy; the attitude may be butch or bitchy; the character may be lovable or loathsome. Whatever the attributes, and however positive or negative the images, they must be dealt with by the LesBiGay community and scholars. Though LesBiGays can struggle to resist or reform their commodified identity, they cannot naively pretend that it is not there or merely insist that it is not "them."