tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22234799.post115165107983900961..comments2024-01-13T23:32:12.331-06:00Comments on Slaves of Academe: PromiscuousOso Rarohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11345231159759787852noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22234799.post-1152021313995111112006-07-04T08:55:00.000-05:002006-07-04T08:55:00.000-05:00Like Bitch PhD, I'm hetero and yet find myself ask...Like Bitch PhD, I'm hetero and yet find myself asking some of the same questions about heterosexualia. Namely, (how) is it possible to "queer" a straight identity? And how does one cultivate (creative) "pollution" in a sanitized suburban wasteland? <BR/><BR/>And, as usual, I love your writing.Margarethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03047700345491098393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22234799.post-1151949448287300742006-07-03T12:57:00.000-05:002006-07-03T12:57:00.000-05:00Pride, for me, has become the High Holidays for an...Pride, for me, has become the High Holidays for an extended gay family that has been forged and sustained through the internet--LiveJournal, blogs, messaging, etc. <BR/><BR/>As I shopped for that night's special feast, I loved going through the city streets filled with throngs of queers hell bent on having a good time. The costumes, the lascivious glances, the lovey-dovey couples, the I-hate-you--but-I-love-you couples, the muscle boys, the power dykes, the mommie dykes, the bear packs, the pampered dog children--I love it all. :)<BR/><BR/>After the parade, friends from all over the Americas sat down at my table and we gave thanks for finding each other. <BR/><BR/>Yes, it's cheesy and sentimental. Just the way I like my Pride. <BR/><BR/>The one thing that makes this former working-class boy feel ambivalent about Pride is that I become decidely middle class during such events. Despite the racial and gender diversity of the people at the table, Pride is very middle-class affair for everyone there: travel, expensive drinks, nice meals, shopping, parties, etc. <BR/><BR/>Are we exercising our political power or just our buying power? Is there a difference between the two now? I know that it is the latter reason that my city embraces such an event. <BR/><BR/>Is Pride an event that is geared for the middle class--those who can afford to travel, who can afford to live in the gay ghetto (which is usually a pricey place to live), what does it mean--if anything--to working-class queers?<BR/><BR/><BR/>As usual, great post oso!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22234799.post-1151912090540828252006-07-03T02:34:00.000-05:002006-07-03T02:34:00.000-05:00Hm. I'm a straight chick, and yet I'm reading thi...Hm. I'm a straight chick, and yet I'm reading this thinking, "amen, and yeah." Only I'm trying to push the other way, to escape (especially in my own mind) heterosexualia and figure out, not so much how to fight, as how to enjoy.bitchphdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15118578280520171800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22234799.post-1151875263666543722006-07-02T16:21:00.000-05:002006-07-02T16:21:00.000-05:00Hail, Amazon Sister!What leaves me dismayed about ...Hail, Amazon Sister!<BR/><BR/>What leaves me dismayed about many of those queers who shun pride do so because they feel they no longer need an active civil rights movement. They claim that their same-sex desires is just “one part of their identity.” I understand that to be true. After all, I am not just a man who likes sex with other men. I have racial, class, gender, national, and regional identities that all compete for dominance. Still, one’s sexual identity is often one of those identities that can mean the end of your life at the hands of others. Wishing that difference no longer matters does not make that true.<BR/><BR/>Moreover, I am not convinced that young queers are having some grande time coming out. More people coming out at younger ages does not mean that everybody is coming out at 16. Likewise, those who do come out face different types of problems that we don’t yet know.<BR/><BR/>Finally, like you, I have no desire to “blend” into dominant culture, even if I could do so. On the contrary, I am suspicious of most things in dominant culture. “Fitting in” will just never be me.<BR/><BR/>Love the post – Wish I were in Cold City. Kisses.GayProfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11289510184782252498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22234799.post-1151861525539201252006-07-02T12:32:00.000-05:002006-07-02T12:32:00.000-05:00Great post. Timely, too, in that this week we lost...Great post. Timely, too, in that this week we lost a brave and important advocate for gay men and promiscuous gay male sexuality when Eric Rofes died at the way-too-young age of 51.<BR/><BR/>His NYT obituary:<BR/>http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/29/us/29rofes.html?_r=1&oref=sloginMargo, darlinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18193606426735982096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22234799.post-1151823851288356532006-07-02T02:04:00.000-05:002006-07-02T02:04:00.000-05:00This is a gay male conversation, and an important ...This is a gay male conversation, and an important one--for them/you. It is not a lesbian conversation. That is interesting to me. After all, I agree that we need to fight on every front the creeping conservatism of the moment. I wish lesbians had made a rich culture of promiscuity, where events and bars and venues made a celebration out of sexually connecting with each other. But they didn't, alas. Maybe in the 1970s. A little. But not really.<BR/><BR/>I suspect this is not so much because we are prudish or morally "superior" as it is true that economically disadvataged people need traditional forms like the couple in order to build economic stability in a world that pays women shit wages and won't even let lesbians have decent jobs unless they are gender-normative.<BR/><BR/>It is all of our problem that this is so. We should ask, "Why aren't lesbians promiscuous?" or, "What would enable lesbian promiscuity?" when we ask, "How can gay men retain promiscuity as a vital part of their culture?"<BR/><BR/>It is all of our problem that there are fewer and fewer drag queens at Pride (there were almost none in Chicago). There are transgender queer performers, to be sure, but almost no drag queens. It is all of our problem that the first big gay hit movie ever--BBMountain--is so heavily invested in masculine gender normativity that it is nearly unwatchable. It is all of our problem that the sexual revolution is over, really over, for everyone now.<BR/><BR/>I'm not sure why it ended. AIDS is a big reason given, but I'm not convinced that in another political moment that a disease would have to bear the weight of so much moral conservatism. Someone like Michael Warner might popint out that in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, gays and straights who were sexually radical believed that they were making a world. I'm not sure we believe that we are making a world anymore, or worlds. We are not sure what these sexualities and aesthetics and bodies are useful for. And until we figure out what we want our sexualities to create that is new and vibrant and generative, we will be adrift. All of us.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for this very very thoughtful post.Sfrajetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18028612571210445296noreply@blogger.com