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The absence of the Oedipus complex in the Antilles blocks typical neurotic homosexuality

Properties2
tagsja-picks, contrarian_or_surprising, corroborated, xref, category/contrarian-or-surprising
aliases@fanon_black_1952, loc. 584

3 min read

The absence of the Oedipus complex in the Antilles blocks typical neurotic homosexuality

Evidence

It is too often forgotten that neurosis is not a basic element of human reality. Like it or not, the Oedipus complex is far from coming into being among Negroes. It might be argued, as Malinowski contends, that the matriarchal structure is the only reason for its absence. But, putting aside the question whether the ethnologists are not so imbued with the complexes of their own civilization that they are compelled to try to find them duplicated in the peoples they study, it would be relatively easy for me to show that in the French Antilles 97 per cent of the families cannot produce one Oedipal neurosis. — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 584 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Let me observe at once that I had no opportunity to establish the overt presence of homosexuality in Martinique. This must be viewed as the result of the absence of the Oedipus complex in the Antilles. The schema of homosexuality is well enough known. We should not overlook, however, the existence of what are called there “men dressed like women” or “godmothers.” Generally they wear shirts and skirts. But I am convinced that they lead normal sex lives. They can take a punch like any “he-man” and they are not impervious to the allures of women–fish and vegetable merchants. In Europe, on the other hand, I have known several Martinicans who became homosexuals, always passive. But this was by no means a neurotic homosexuality: For them it was a means to a livelihood, as pimping is for others. — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 1015 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

  • corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
  • XREF: connects to: The Oedipus complex does not arise among Antillean Negroes; The Oedipus complex is far from arising among Negroes in the Antilles — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 584; Colonial displacement into Europe creates situational homosexuality absent in Martinique (+7 more)

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