Cheers to the Future

Capitalism and Gay Identity
Directed Freewrite: Page 236

For me, I found this essay intriguing. It was extremely interesting to actually think about how lesbian and gay individuals weren’t very prominent back in the day. I guess it’s not that they weren’t prominent, but more hidden would be the correct word to use. I never really thought about how the gay community grew so much over the past years until this reading. I thought John D’Emilio hit the subject right on and wrote a very interesting piece. John D’Emilio opened up several topics in this essay. As we all already know, we are all experiencing a shift in our economic and social life due to the rapid growth in our technology. I believe that this shift is just as important as D’Emilio’s discussion about our capitalist economy. Not many people realize how much technology has an impact on our everyday lives, as well as our future. Technology ultimately will contribute changes to the future of American families, communities, etc.

Technology is a great thing. Although America is so set on advancement in technology and new cool things, like upgraded cell phones and touch screen computers, I don’t think many people realize how much it can affect us in ways we wouldn’t really ever consider. Think about it, with technology almost anything seems possible. Today, we are able to switch sexes surgically and create surrogate mothers for couples who are unable to give birth on their own. This is a great advancement in technology, don’t get me wrong! I love seeing couples who have tried for years to be able to finally have a child of their own. I also love seeing individuals who are unhappy in their own body and being able to finally be happy in another body. You also have to look into the future though. I think this goes hand in hand with what D’Emilio was explaining about capitalism. According to him, “capitalism continually weakens the material foundation of family life, [but] on the other [hand], it needs to push men and women into families, at least long enough to reproduce the next generation of workers” (D’Emilio 235). Although this advancement in technology is great, I do believe strongly in D’Emilio’s statement. He’s one hundred percent right. With all of this change, we still do need to remember what the foundation of a family is. It’s a proven fact that with the increase of lesbian and gay individuals, then the birth rate will ultimately decline. If the gay and lesbian community was not as prominent back then, but currently now it is, then what’s in store for the future? I do not want anyone to take this the wrong way because I’m definitely not saying we should stop gay relationships altogether at all, but we should consider this fact for our future!

Ultimately, we cannot escape social and economic structures in our society. We can only learn from them and grow from them. Without change, then America would be one very dull country!