Identities

This week's readings explored personal and political identity politics, as they relate to men. In Fromm's "Sane Society," men grapple with severing maternal ties in order to become separate individuals. In Virgil's "Aeneid," Aeneas balances being his father's son with being a good statesman/soldier. These themes can be bound in a broad category called identity politics. Who are we? How do we develop our sense of self? What agents of socialization come to bear upon the decisions we make that define who we are? Though there are many answers to this last question, we see three distinct answers in this week's texts: maternal relationships, nationalism, and religion. Interestingly, nations and religions often take on maternal qualities, further blending these categories of identity.

There are many ways in which a man defines himself. "[H]e has to overcome the deep craving to remain tied to mother." (Fromm 39) He has to "belong to a nation." (Fromm 56) We see this search for self definition played out in Aeneas' journey. Aeneas is his father's son and also a son of his country.

At the risk of beating a dead horse, I'm going to take this post to the same place I've taken previous posts - to the topic of gender. In both readings, women represent the foundation from which men can start to develop identities. Women are nurturing mothers, or motherlands. There is no option for women other than to be the platform from which men launch their adult lives. In the context of this week's readings, what does women's identity politics look like? I think that Fromm alludes to some of the ways in which women develop personal and national identities: there is Eve's fall from grace (where the woman is, at least in the beginning, more intelligent than the man); there is the acknowledgment that matriarchal societies exist, and that those societies are different than patriarchal societies. I would also argue that women's identity can be considered in what Fromm doesn't say, in the negative space of the essay, so to speak. For example:

"The incest tabu is the necessary condition for all human development, not because of its sexual, but because of its affective aspect. Man, in order to be born, in order to progress, has to sever the umbilical cord; he has to overcome the deep craving to remain tied to mother. The incestuous desire has its strength not from the sexual attraction to mother, but from the deep-seated craving to remain in, or to return to the all-enveloping womb, or to the all-nourishing breasts." (Fromm 39)

If we look at what isn't said, then can we assume that women do not have to work through any of these issues as they develop their personal identities? If men fight the urge to return to the womb, then are women stronger for not having to fight that urge? Are biological women freer to develop identities because they have their own wombs and breasts from which to be comforted and nourished? Or do women just have "daddy issues" which Fromm was not able or interested in documenting in this excerpt?

Then, of course, there is gender identity politics as it relates to the queer community. I know that this goes way beyond the scope of what we read this week, but as our task is to write about ideas that relate to personal experience/interest, I'll proceed.

How are we to understand personal and national identity politics in the queer community? Does a transsexual person born a woman undergo the personal identity development of a man? If this happens later in life, then does that middle-aged person become the equivalent of an adolescent in terms of personal identity? And what of national identity? This is especially relevant in light of recent developments in the existence of DADT, where personal and national identity politics crash into each other. Men and women are asked to deny their personal identities in order to embrace and participate in a culture of national identity. Fromm writes that the "average man today obtains his sense of identity from his belonging to a nation." (Fromm 56) Clearly, this is true, since countless LGBTQ people are willing to sacrifice their personal selves to maintain their national identities.

What does all this rambling mean for us today? In sum, I walk away from this week's readings with the following:

• Personal and political identities are not mutually exclusive.
• While we focused on male identities, there is room to use these readings to talk about female identities as well.
• Families, states, and religions are primary agents of socialization and individual development.
• Modern theories of identity politics face the challenge of incorporating and representing groups whose development is not traditional (though not less valid or important for falling outside of tradition).