Showing posts tagged sexuality
stoplgbtqahate: We need 0% for all of these! Agreed - but to clarify, we don’t need people to THINK there is no discrimination against these people, we need to address the actual problem of discrimination. Opinion polls on issues like these simply suck (for example, I highly doubt white Americans actually experience more discrimination than Asian groups - especially post-9/11, when any bearded man of Indian descent is so easily mistaken for Arab or Muslim). This is based on the public’s PERCEPTION of which groups are most affected by discrimination, and doesn’t take into account actual experience or the many ways in which these groups intersect. Categories like “African American” and “women” don’t take into account the experiences of African American women. I also wonder what the gay/lesbian category would look like if it included other sexualities (bisexual, pansexual, etc.) and gender-variant people. Something to think about.

stoplgbtqahate:

We need 0% for all of these!

Agreed - but to clarify, we don’t need people to THINK there is no discrimination against these people, we need to address the actual problem of discrimination. Opinion polls on issues like these simply suck (for example, I highly doubt white Americans actually experience more discrimination than Asian groups - especially post-9/11, when any bearded man of Indian descent is so easily mistaken for Arab or Muslim). This is based on the public’s PERCEPTION of which groups are most affected by discrimination, and doesn’t take into account actual experience or the many ways in which these groups intersect. Categories like “African American” and “women” don’t take into account the experiences of African American women. I also wonder what the gay/lesbian category would look like if it included other sexualities (bisexual, pansexual, etc.) and gender-variant people. Something to think about.

(Reblogged from projectqueer)
“
I am seventy years old. I’ve been married four times and have four kids. I love them all, wives and children each. But I’ve never had the nerve to be honest, either about my homosexuality or the desire to spend time as a woman. Still and all a good life, but less than it could have been. I hope it’s a bit easier to be all of yourself in these times but I’m sure it’s still incredibly daunting to open yourself up to the consequences, both real and perceived, to openly embrace your genders and sexuality. I applaud and envy those of you with that kind of courage— go for it my loves, go for it all.
http://genderfork.com/2010/go-for-it/

submission - lesbians just can’t find a man?

projectqueer:

Elizabeth Hasselbeck: Lesbians Just Can’t Find A Man

Project Queer: Thanks for sharing this!

My favorite part of the article:

Hasselbeck told viewers that lesbians link up for companionship, not sex—a claim which her co-host, Joy Behar, called “ridiculous.” “Being gay is not just holding hands and walking through the tulips,” Behar says. “Oh Elisabeth,” quips Pop Crunch, “it takes real work to make Sarah Palin look like the smartest Republican with a vagina.”

That is such a ridiculous claim. I can only hope that Hasselbeck was kidding. (I do not watch TV at all really so I could not tell you what kind of personality Hasselbeck has). Either way, props to Joy Behar for telling it like it is.

I don’t watch The View, but I watch most of the clips about LGBTQ-related issues. I typically disagree with Hasselbeck, and this is no exception, but I must say I’m pretty put off by all the criticism she and other women on the show face. They certainly make a lot of ignorant comments about homosexuality (as do the majority of people I know), but those comments are always attributed to the fact that they’re idiotic women rather than the fact that they’re not particularly well-versed in queer theory.

I don’t like what Hasselbeck is saying, but I also don’t like the fact that no one can offer an intelligent critique of what she’s saying without making a quip about her vagina. The fact is: she’s not an expert on sexuality and neither is Joy Behar. I could write an entire essay here about why Behar’s view is just as problematic as Hasselbeck’s, but because she appears to be defending lesbians, a lot of gays are blindly defending her and dismissing Hasselbeck as stupid, as a dumb blonde, as another idiotic Republican with a vagina.

I think this clip is pretty important in that these women reflect the variety of misguided views out there on sexuality — both Hasselbeck’s idea that lesbianism is about a lack of options and Behar’s idea that shifting sexual attraction is all about societal pressure and embracing one’s ‘true’ sexuality later in life. Hasselbeck is dismissing lesbianism as a last resort, but Behar is dismissing all older, recently out lesbians as women who have been suppressed their whole lives, longing for another woman while suffering though unhappy heterosexual relationships. It is possible, you know, for people to have fulfilling relationships with the opposite sex and fulfilling relationships with the same sex.

A lot of the people I know are so resistant to the idea that this can happen because they’re frightened by the idea that sexuality is fluid. Perhaps they’re worried the “ex-gay” religious crowd will use these kinds of examples to validate the idea of gay conversion therapy, or perhaps they’ve got a bad taste in their mouth from years of hearing: “it’s just a phase; you’ll settle down with a nice [man/woman] eventually.” Whatever the case, it’s a dangerous mindset to trap ourselves into. You can’t fight ignorance with ignorance. Although I’m sure there are a lot of women out there who have finally embraced their lesbianism after years of unhappy heterosexual relationships, that’s not true for everyone, and attempting to invalidate a person’s past experiences and feelings by attributing their life choices to societal pressure does nothing to advance our community. There’s really no reason to keep shoving ourselves into boxes when it comes to defining our sexuality.

(Reblogged from projectqueer)

the double standard among little boys and girls

(via whyweneedsocialjustice)

(Reblogged from whyweneedsocialjustice)
Things that bother me about this: 1. that I obviously don’t fall on that side of the nature/nurture debate :|2. the fact that it screams homonormativity3. the enforcement of the hetero/homo binary4. along with number three, the fact that same-sex marriage is referred to as “gay marriage” (not everyone with a same-sex partner is gay!)5. all the references to God6. the appropriation of “civil rights” (and this is after we blamed Prop 8 on the black and Latino vote…) Come on, people. Aren’t we supposed to be a progressive community? Get with the program.

Things that bother me about this:

1. that I obviously don’t fall on that side of the nature/nurture debate :|
2. the fact that it screams homonormativity
3. the enforcement of the hetero/homo binary
4. along with number three, the fact that same-sex marriage is referred to as “gay marriage” (not everyone with a same-sex partner is gay!)
5. all the references to God
6. the appropriation of “civil rights” (and this is after we blamed Prop 8 on the black and Latino vote…)

Come on, people. Aren’t we supposed to be a progressive community? Get with the program.