Rainbow Capitalism and the Queer Movement

By Sakshi Singh

The month of June is celebrated as Pride Month to honour the Stonewall Riots of 1969. While pride is something to be celebrated every day, this month specifically aims to bring people together and highlight the progress made by the LGBTQ+ community. However, in the backdrop of this celebration, lies the phenomenon of rainbow capitalism. Claiming to boost LGBTQ+ voices, celebrate LGBTQ culture, and advocate for their rights, companies capitalise on this by painting products in the rainbow shade but take little to no concrete steps towards uplifting the communities within their workplace or outside.

For instance, let us assume that a shoe manufacturing company X, launched a special rainbow edition, a so-called “pride-themed” sneaker for the month. By just scraping the surface level of what it is to be queer, they advertise themselves as an ally of the LGBTQ community, gaining an entirely new consumer base comprising of allies and queer people. The same company X however, remains silent when the rights of the people from the community are curbed, also refusing to employ people who identify as queer.

Earlier, due to the presence of gendered stereotypes, homophobic attitudes were prevalent which made people hostile towards those who came out. In contrast, the 21st century witnessed large-scale solidarity amongst the LGBTQ+ community, leading to a newfound identity of the queer people in the economic space. Unfortunately, this led companies to view them and other allies of the movement as “marketable” categories. They started advertising their products as “pride must-haves,” coercing customers into buying rainbow products as a way of displaying solidarity. Only the upper-class elites, however, had access to these products, and they were largely inaccessible to the socially oppressed classes. In order to put the issue of classes into perspective, it is important to understand Karl Marx’s theory of capitalism. Marx explains how capitalism is not just a mere competition between goods and services, but also arranges society into social classes—leading to social alienation. This social alienation further leads to the alienation of a person from the class they belong to, limiting their contact with others. Some might argue that this alienation can be avoided, but the theory states that it is a natural result of the division of classes that occurs due to capitalism. This implies that alienation will continue to exist in society as long as capitalism thrives.

A problem faced by people belonging to the queer community is a disassociation from their identity which arises from a feeling of alienation. This entrenches rainbow capitalism as people believe that they will gain access back to the community by consuming these products. In the Indian context, queer liberation is limited to pride parades and the sexual identities of upper classes and castes. Those who do not fit into ideal expectations (often those belonging to the lower castes or lower strata of the society) are ignored.

The upper caste continues to consume these products as they have been led to believe that they are supporting the pride movement. Rainbow capitalism, therefore, continues to exist and with it thrives misrepresentation and misinformation.