A postprogressive nation: Homophobia, islam, and the new social question in the Netherlands

Abstract

Sexuality is pivotal to the moralization and culturalization of politics in the Netherlands. Culturalists of various stripes represent the presence of (post)migrants and especially Muslims as disturbing to the Dutch moral order. They insist on the need to educate (post)migrants culturally and morally, to include them as citizens in a European or Dutch moral community, and to mold them into "well-integrated" citizens. Certain ideals of sexual freedom are mobilized in an "individualization" offensive directed at Muslims, who are asked to show their loyalty to a dominant secular and liberal order by unequivocally embracing gay rights and sexual freedom. While "homonationalism" is an operative component of right-wing populist rhetoric, its salience is clear beyond the neonationalist right. The chapter examines "progressive" articulations of homonationalism in the Netherlands, focusing on the "moralist reinvention" of social-democratic and social-liberal discourses in the context of the neoliberal Netherlands.