On Sexuality, Self, and the Shape of Society: A Baha'i Alternative to Materialistic, Body-centered Cultural Values

Holly Hanson

In a comment to a recent post on Baha'i Views, Tan Ya refers readers to a talk on "Sexuality, Self, and the Shape of Society" by Holly Hansen which was delivered to the "Building the Kingdom Conference" in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, June 29, 2001. It is a fascinating analysis. Here is an excerpt from it.

Our current way of thinking, that divides people into heterosexuals and homosexuals, came into being about one hundred years ago. It is real: we both shape and are shaped by the societies that we live in. Since these categories are so firmly established, it makes sense that we experience our own reality as defined by desire. Sexual identities are very comforting to people - both people who identify themselves as homosexuals and people who identify themselves as heterosexuals.

However, if we look at how we have arrived at the conception that people are defined by desire and find happiness in possessions and a romantic partner, we may ask ourselves whether we really want these ideas shaping us, whether this is the best we can do for ourselves. We have come to this pattern of thought through a long process that involved an increasing focus on the human body and the loss of a consensus about humanity's spiritual reality. It followed a drastic reduction of the richness of people's social relationships. It accompanied a profound anxiety about the direction of social change, which led to intensely rigid gender roles, a narrowing of the realms of activity considered acceptable for women and for men. After several hundred years of this process, we experience ourselves as bundles of needs which can be satisfied through consumption. We are so accommodated to the degradation of human beings as objects of the desire of others that it seems normal. We objectify ourselves, and whole industries exist to help us do it. We have commodified every conceivable social relationship: we pay people to talk to us and to take care of our aging relatives, we have learned to express our emotions in purchases. As a result, we live with material excess whose results will be inscribed on the planet for generations. The set of beliefs and practices we have about sexuality are less than useless. The theories are pernicious, the standards are false, the claims are hollow, the habits are perverse, and the excesses are sacrilegious. This was my first point.

Mentioned in the Hanson talk is the Bahá’í Network on AIDS, Sexuality, Addictions and Abuse, a committee appointed by and under the guidance of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Canada. Their website is a valuable source of information around the subject of sexuality, including homosexuality, from a Baha'i perspective, and has information regarding addictions and abuse as well.