Rainbow capitalism
Rainbow capitalism[1] (also called pink capitalism, homocapitalism[2] or gay capitalism[3]) is the involvement of capitalism, corporatism, and consumerism in appropriating and profiting from the LGBT movement. It developed in the 20th and 21st centuries as the LGBT community became more accepted in society and developed sufficient purchasing power, known as pink money. Early rainbow capitalism was limited to gay bars and gay bathhouses, though it expanded to most industries by the early-21st century.[4]
Marketing to the LGBT community has played a major role in promoting social acceptance of LGBT people, including increased LGBT representation in media and advertising, though it has also perpetuated stereotypes of gay men.[5] LGBT people are often poorer than heterosexual people when adjusting for other factors and often have more difficulty finding and securing work, though increased protections for LGBT individuals work to counteract this in some countries.[6] Some governments and politicians use LGBT rights to support their foreign policy, either by supporting pressure on other countries to adopt LGBT protections or by opposing immigration from these countries.[7][8]
Capitalism incentivizes corporations to promote LGBT rights to increase worker satisfaction, expand the consumer base, and maintain a positive public image.[9][10] Many CEOs of corporations support LGBT rights through personal belief.[11][12] Some companies in the United States have been criticized for expressing nominal support for the LGBT community while also supporting anti-LGBT politicians.[13] LGBT people can also be victims of gentrification.[14]
Opponents of corporate pride include right-wing and left-wing activists, who believe that corporate support for LGBT rights goes too far or not far enough, respectively.[15][16] 76% of LGBT Americans support corporate presence in Pride parades.[17]
Historical context
After the Second World War,
In the United States, marketing toward gay Americans began in "underground" gay communities in the late-19th century, occurring after urbanization allowed these communities to come together. Sellers were often unaware that a community they serviced was associated with the gay movement, though many bathhouses, brothels, and bars were sometimes operated for the gay community. The relocation of enlisted men during and after World War II allowed gay neighborhoods to form, LGBT periodicals emerged, and the 1958 Supreme Court decision One, Inc. v. Olesen legalized materials featuring discussion of homosexuality. The Stonewall riots shifted perceptions of the gay community in 1969, and the gay community was recognized as a legitimate economic market in the 1970s. Marketing to the gay community was complicated by the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, but it also further elevated awareness of the gay community.[4]
The gay movement resulted in a negative social response, in part driven by the
Mechanisms
Social acceptance
Capitalist accommodation of the LGBT community has caused a significant increase in
Social marketing is the intentional use of marketing to achieve social tolerance and social acceptance. Businesses often have the advantage of needing to appease only their target market rather than a majority of the public at large, as is the case in politics. LGBT individuals are also more likely to be early adopters of new products. This has caused businesses to be more likely to accept LGBT individuals and communities before the general public and legal protections. The majority of Fortune 500 companies established nondiscrimination policies by the 2010s and guaranteed equal benefits to same-sex couples.[27]
Politics and the LGBT movement
Historical views
The first modern political movements advocating sexual freedoms and sexual rights date back to the Age of Enlightenment in Europe, during which many traditional ideas of medievalism and feudalism were challenged. According to Michel Foucault, this period saw a movement away from religious connotations of sex to views of "unnaturalness".[28]
The role of sexuality was debated by writers and philosophers of the era. Plays during this time would transgress gender norms, though LGBT themes were often implicit, and Libertine and Gothic writers sometimes experimented with representation of homosexual activity. Liberal philosophers such as Montesquieu and Cesare Beccaria advocated the rights of due process for those accused of sodomy, and Marquis de Sade adapted the arguments of John Locke to support sexual expression as amoral. Conservative commentators viewed these developments as having a "corrupt impact" on women.[28] The earliest organized LGBT movements formed in the late-19th and early-20th centuries from the communities centered around specific industries that catered to LGBT groups, such as gay bars.[4]
Economic aspects
According to the 2000 census, lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals and couples in the United States are equally as likely to be poor as heterosexual individual couples. 7% of same-sex female couples were in poverty, 4% of same-sex male couples were in poverty, and 5% of heterosexual couples were in poverty. After adjusting for various family characteristics, LGBT families are more likely to be poor than heterosexual families.[6] Several studies conducted in the 1980s and 1990s found that the number of LGBT Americans that experienced employment discrimination ranged between 16% and 68%. Gay men were also found to earn 10% to 32% less than similarly qualified heterosexual men. Transgender people were found to have high unemployment, and those who were employed received low earnings.[29]
In the 21st century, the gay rights movement has produced greater protections for LGBT people as workers and as consumers. In the United States, accommodation of the LGBT community through capitalist mechanisms has resulted in economic and societal protections for the LGBT community greater than those prescribed under the law. Under the American economic system, employers are incentivized to support the workforce to achieve greater efficiency. This cooperation has resulted in the creation of employee resource groups that allow for organization improvement of LGBT employment.[30] Corporations that support workplace diversity are more likely to protect LGBT employees and executives beyond what is required by the law.[9] Capitalism also incentivizes corporations to incorporate workplace equality policies to achieve greater customer satisfaction. Corporations with LGBT workplace equality policies are viewed more favorably by customers, employees, and partners. Corporations that implement these policies see benefits in marketing capability and overall improvement in performance.[10]
Diplomatic aspects
The concept of "homocapitalism" is the application of gay rights issues and involvement of LGBT communities in international trade and foreign aid. In most African countries, same-sex marriage is seen as "ungodly, un-African, homonegative, unnatural and unacceptable", often invoking religious ideas of Christianity, Islam, or traditional African religions. Western nations, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, apply political and financial pressure for these countries to adopt legal protections for LGBT people. Countries that refuse to provide these protections are sometimes boycotted by governments and private donors. This is in contrast with predominantly Buddhist and Hindu countries, where homosexual activity is typically not prohibited on religious grounds.[7]
Far-right politicians, such as British MP David Coburn, have also used LGBT issues and the persecution of LGBT minorities in other countries to advocate homonationalism.[31] Homonationalism, a term coined by queer theorist Jasbir Puar, refers to the growing acceptance of LGBT rights by Western nations coupled with the complicity of LGBT individuals and organizations involved in nationalist politics. This ideology first arose within the context of the War on Terror, as the United States positioned itself as LGBT-friendly in opposition to the seemingly homophobic Muslim world.[8] It has also been used by the Israeli government to justify its position in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict by comparing its stronger protections of LGBT rights to those of Palestine.[32]
LGBT people involved in the American
Corporate involvement in LGBT Pride
Major corporations have become more active in LGBT Pride events in the early-21st century. Many corporations celebrate Pride Month by incorporating it into marketing and publicly expressing support for the LGBT community. In the United States, some of these corporations have been criticized for making campaign donations to legislators that oppose LGBT rights.[13] Other corporations are praised for providing material support to the LGBT community during Pride Month. Kellogg's has been praised for celebrating Pride Month by donating to GLAAD and featuring content about preferred gender pronouns.[13] Many corporations release pride themed products during Pride Month, and contribute to LGBT nonprofit groups using the proceeds.[35][36] Adidas, Apple, Disney, Nike, Peloton, and other major brands donated to The Trevor Project and other LGBT nonprofit organizations in 2020.[37]
Many factors may affect whether a corporation takes a stance on LGBT issues. Protection of LGBT workers results in higher job satisfaction and increased performance.[10] Support for LGBT rights is also associated with seeking a positive public image, particularly for corporations that have high brand-awareness. LGBT people within the company may also influence the behavior of a corporation. The presence of openly LGBT employees in a workforce correlates with corporate support for LGBT rights, and employee resource groups for LGBT workers are sometimes supported by corporations, giving these groups involvement in decisions regarding LGBT issues. Such involvement was a factor in the partial repeal of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in Indiana and the bathroom bill in North Carolina.[38] Many CEOs and corporate executives also personally support LGBT rights and seek to direct their companies in line with their personal beliefs.[11][12]
Neighborhoods
 | This section may contain information not important or relevant to the article's subject. (December 2022) |
These processes are especially evident in the dynamics of
This kind of sociosexual relations appraisement is characteristic of gay modelling, which has its origin in the companies' new formation of a concentrated sexual market through rainbow capitalism:
In Spain, neither virile redefinition of homosexuality, nor gay model spreading, were made from the active homosexual movement of the time. [...] The penetration of the new model is carried out through private channels: by entrepreneurs who mimetically reproduce gay institutions already present in other countries".[39]
— Pink Society, p. 82–84[19]
Response
Right wing response
In the United States, Republican politicians have criticized corporations for taking stances in favor of LGBT rights. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other Republicans criticized Disney for being "woke" after it challenged the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act in 2022.[15][40]
Push-back from LGBT groups and organizing
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Many leftist LGBT groups protest corporate involvement and support of LGBT Pride.
Rainbow capitalism has been criticised as a form of pinkwashing and tokenism wherein corporations as a marketing strategy try to cynically improve their reputation in order to distract from things like poor labour practices or their donations to anti-LGBT politicians. LGBTQ Nation states that "many brands that engage in pinkwashing are guilty of using the LGBTQ community to boost their PR and incur capital from 'pink money', all while maintaining unjust labor practices, discriminatory hiring processes, and supporting anti-LGBTQ organizations".[49][50][51][52]
Support
Advocates of greater corporate involvement in LGBT Pride say that corporate support for the LGBT community can influence legislation, increase access for LGBT people, and reinforce broad support for acceptance of LGBT people in society. In 2020, The Trevor Project found that a majority of underage LGBT Americans felt more positively about their sexual identity because of brands that support the LGBT community.[53] 76% of LGBT Americans supported corporate participation in Pride Month events, in contrast with organizers of many Pride events.[17]
See also
- Anti-capitalism
- Cishomonormativity
- Communism and LGBT rights
- Cultural assimilation
- Eco-capitalism
- Go woke go broke
- Hegemonic masculinity
- Heteronormativity
- Late capitalism
- LGBT marketing
- LGBT stereotypes
- Media culture
- Pink money
- Pinkwashing
- Political economy
- Purple capitalism
- Queer anarchism
- Social justice
- Woke capitalism
References
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- ^ a b Albelda, Randy; Badgett, M. V. Lee; Schneebaum, Alyssa; Gates, Gary (1 March 2009). "Poverty in the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Community". Williams Institute.
- ^ a b Ojilere, Aloy (2018). "The Diplomacy of Homocapitalism Against Africa: Same-Sex Marriage and the West's Promotion of Homosexuality". World Affairs. 22 (1): 152–163.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-022861-3. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
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- ^ a b "Corporate America's Evolution on L.G.B.T. Rights". The New Yorker. 27 April 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
- ^ a b "Apple's Tim Cook raises concern over LGBTQ laws in the U.S." Reuters. 11 March 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
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- ^ Lockwood, Beatrix (1 July 2020). "'No more rainbow capitalism' as protests shine light on Black trans lives". Reuters. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
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External links
