So, let's do this.
The main points I gathered from the article:
-Homophobia is enforced via sexism and heterosexism
-When we are growing up and are grown up, we are scared into sticking tightly to the heterosexual script for fear of being ostracized/attacked/losing het. privilege in general
-Lesbians are perceived by the dominant culture to be a threat to society (i.e. not producing babies, not being dependent on men economically, throwing the sexist system out of whack)
-To keep lesbians in hiding and to keep women 'in their place,' we make examples out of those who do step out of line by making life really tough and shitty for them
-This works (to some degree)
-Because of this the womens' movement is constricted by fear of being called lesbian and suffering society's wrath, has been 'playing nice,' not opted for real, radical social change, and so,
-We must actively fight homophobia in order to move forward
I definitely agree with the author's message. First off, I'm gonna own the fact that as a queer* woman my initial gut reaction was my inner angry dyke* yelling a big fat 'fuck you' to all the straight women who turn coward when their sexuality goes under question -- past and present. That being said, I recognize that anger does not help this situation, and that my first reaction is severely lacking in compassion. I think it's incredibly important to challenge homophobia not only in our institutions, but to eradicate the social stigma attached to homosexuality. If individual women didn't react negatively to being lesbian baited, then this wouldn't be an issue. Women, gay and straight, wouldn't care if they were labelled lesbians because of their radical movements to enact social change, rejecting gender roles, etc.
Women do care, though. The question we need to address is why do they care? And how can we change that and move past it?
As an out queer, I'm used to the repercussions of being open about my identity in a homophobic society. Since I don't really have anything to lose that I've already lost or gone without (the ubiquitous heterosexual privilege being a big one), my perspective is slightly blurred. I do see that it is scary to be labelled with the L word if that means that you could be discriminated against, beaten up, harrassed, etc. I also see that maybe fear comes from not wanting to lose male attention, i.e. lose potential partners/lovers who perceive you as gay. I think it goes deeper than that, though... which of you, honestly, would not give a damn if everyone thought you were gay (and you weren't)? I urge all of you to examine your own piece in homophobia, however small it may be, and please share (anonymously if you want), or share other opinions on why lesbian baiting is so effective.
Also I want to keep this open to any other issues that came up for people reading this article.
* I'm using these terms in their reclaimed sense, I hope they didn't offend
-Kelsey
Kelsey, I love your optimistic view of a world where women do not care about being labeled lesbian because of their activity in radical social change. Sadly, I think the reality is that most women are not interested in social change and in fact probably have a great deal invested in the status quo. One of the arguments the articles lists as being used against lesbians to increase the strength of lesbian baiting is that they somehow threaten the American family. Its ridiculous I know, like some lesbian is gonna kick down you door, turn your spouse gay, and give your kids death metal albums - but people believe this shit! And more than that, they're worried about it. Its weird to think that there are people out there who devote large sums of money and hours upon hours of their time campaigning against what you do with another consenting adult in privacy, but those people exist. In the millions. I know you are aware of this but the world is not Prescott College and we are not the majority. Democracy is, unfortunately, a dictatorship of the majority.
ReplyDelete-Devin
democracy in the u.s.a. can fairly be described as a dictatorship of the majority, i agree. however true democracy, DIRECT democracy is amazing and should be remembered in our discussions of the word.
ReplyDeletedevin i'm pretty sure many womyn (and men) ARE into social change, just not necessarily radical change.
also, haahhaha kick down your door and force your kid to listen to metal...that's funny.
kelsey i really resonate with what you wrote. when i was maybe 12 or 13 i chopped all my hair off and 99% of my middle school thought i was gay/called me some pretty intense names and said really fucked up things to my in the hallway. i had never even thought of it before...i guess i knew what "dyke" meant but i never had any relationship with it.
i responded to these derogatory assumptions by dressing like a boy. i quickly started seeking out community with other 12-13 year old punks (seeing dead kennedys t shirts felt like angels coming down from heaven). By highschool I was exposed to an even larger community of safe, radical folks. other archetypal highscool imagery started beckoning and by sophomore year i got my braces off! and felt confident enough to actively create community with dead kennedys t shirters, le tigre t shirters, dead prez t shirters, etc.
so although i completely see devin's skepticism about labels not mattering because womyn find radical communities...that has been my lived experience. and Devin I appreciate your emphasis on personal choice in your monopoly entry - i really agree, and that was an ESSENTIAL part of my navigation toward my community.
you both are awesome and I'm really getting a lot out of your thoughts and participation. thank you!
-addie