How Far We've come

One thing I find fascinating about Duberman’s Stonewall (and this whole class really) is seeing how split apart the gay community was back before and around Stonewall. I keep trying to imagine myself participating in the gay community of the 50’s and 60’s—which organization meetings and conferences would I have attended, would I have played into butch/femme roles or taken on a Kiki personality, chosen to assimilate or be radical. Although my gay life so far seems to have taken on somewhat radical edges, I’m quickly realizing as commencement rears its ugly (though much wanted) head, that those choices, my work in the GSC, and my public affection for my girlfriend, have all been made within the privileged realm of Carleton. And while I still absolutely think that our gay ancestors were able to do a pretty good job paving the road, and that I am unlikely to be attacked by a police officer at a gay club, I know that ultimately I will have to face all those same decisions, though perhaps in a subtler fashion.
I think the more academic point I’m trying to make is that while I was initially amazed at how far the gay community has come, I think in reality, its disagreements have just become subtler. For instance, it seems to me like the “assimilate vs. radicalize” debate of the 50’s and 60’s has shifted to the “normalize vs. celebrate” debate of today. While these two clashes are very different, I think at their core, they are asking the same question, and it was only by asking and fighting over the first, that we’ve been able to partake in the latter.
As a young gay (both in terms of biological age and years since coming out—is there an official gay term for that? Because I think there should be. Maybe gayge?), I have not really figured out my answers to these questions. I want to be both radical and normalizing, to fight the government and its heterosexism, yet make it so young kids can think about their sexuality without scaring it out of themselves first. So, while we’ve come a long way, we certainly have a long way to go yet. And I’m excited to be a part of as much as I can.

an official advertisement

This weekend I went with a few friends to check out some slam poetry in the city. I didn’t really know anything at all about the place or the even before I went, but was pleasantly surprised to find myself sitting front-row to a couple of gorgeous queer women (and 1 man). The even took place at The Loft, a literary center that hosts book clubs, workshops, printmaking…and slam poetry once a month that is centered around giving minorities a voice. This past weekend the theme was Asian queers, and it was absolutely amazing. One of the performers, D’Lo is Sri Lankan, but grew up “on hip-hop” in LA. She came on stage wearing an oversized sweatshirt, huge pre-faded jeans, and a completely shaved head. During the course of her performance she managed to take off her jeans and her sweatshirt, and don a skirt, sari, long wig, earings, and the voice of her mother. The transition was stunning, and gender bending. If you guys are interested in some really great spoken word, you should check out the Loft—I think the next poetry event is October 20th, and it will also be dealing with issues of sexuality and gender.

To Box or Not

One strand of conversation that has been particularly interesting to me in class is that of gender. Since coming to Carleton (the very beginning of my journey into sexuality, gender, and heteronormativity), I have just begun to recognize the impact of gender on our society: the prevalence and pervasiveness of gender roles in homes, health care systems, and even LGBT societies—and yes, I did mean to leave the T in. Although we ‘queer’ folk like to believe that we are going against the grain, and in many ways we are, gender roles still have a powerful though underlying current of power in our culture, one that was perhaps set up in the 1950’s by those rebellious “Outlaws” and culturists. The effeminate gay man, ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ roles, and the butch-femme relationship all illustrate how gender roles continue to effect us, (and yes, Juni, how in many ways we remain boxed in). However, I’m particularly interested in how gender roles continue to effect transgendered people. Although in some ways, transgendered folks were the first to really cross gender boundaries, at a very deep level they enforce gender roles almost to an extreme. Yet, as Loren Camron (an amazing trans activist photographer who came to Carleton and went out to lunch with a few us) pointed out to me, the current genderqueer movement, created by transgendered people, practically forces out all of its original inventors by claiming that there shouldn’t be any gender.
I apologize for the wordiness and lack of a clear point here, but I am still trying to wrap my mind around how exactly we can navigate gender roles. But also, I think my ultimate question goes even deeper than that, and relates back to Juni’s comment in class because just as the current gender queer movement is pushing out the original transgender people, the modern gay movement which seeks to eliminate a gay stereotype is pushing out those inspiring 50’s activists. So when does removing ‘the box’ go to far, and to what extent do we need stereotypes in order to have a community? How can we eliminate the tension between those that want a box to fit in to, and those that feel the need to transcend them?

Preambling

After mocking the whole world of blogging, I feel both embarrassed and excited to finally have an excuse to start my own. While I still fail to understand the theory behind personal “diary” blogs, I am beginning to see the allure of a class blog, an electronic and open space to rant, rave, and indulge. So, with that mindset, and apologies to all the bloggers out there, I’m off.