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Post by riotgrrl on Mar 8, 2006 21:43:32 GMT -5
Everyday we are surrounded by binary identities. We are forced to choose whether we are male or female, gay or straight, black or white. The Queer Movement has been especially progressive in trying to break these binaries down. Bisexuals, transgenders, drag queens and drag kings all work to push against binary identities to create new, more inclusive identities.
How do you organize yourself around the binaries of male/female, gay/straight, black/white? Do you feel constricted or confident within' binary identities?
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Post by kristina on Mar 9, 2006 0:21:30 GMT -5
this is a topic that i think about a lot. i have a tendency to place myself in these binaries because our culture does not understand anything different and this is how i was raised. i am going to fight against the urge, at the moment, to label myself as gay, straight, or bi, in this post, but i will proudly say that i am female. i hope that i am not a big contradiction. the best thing i have come across in a long time is "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" by Adrienne Rich. In this essay she talks about the "lesbian continuum" and describes it as "a range--through each woman's life and throughout history--of woman-identified experience, not simply the fact that a woman has had or consciously desired genital sexual experience with another woman". maybe everyone has already heard of the continuum, but until about a year ago, i had never thought about sexuality this way. the fact that sexual orientation can actually be on a sliding scale and that a person can allow herself to move along that scale is a truly freeing feeling that makes the "binary laws" feel completely constricting. sexual orientation is a generally new concept, but it has taken hold of our society to the point that most can not even fathom not categorizing people as homo/heterosexual and they just think that bi's are sexual freaks who only crave loads of sex, when some bisexual people might not even be very sexual at all. Emily D., a woman who has taught me so much through her poetry, had an affectionate friendship with her sister-in-law, and no one at the time labeled her as a lesbian-that term did not even exist, but now her sexual orientation is all the rage. Walt Whitman, in his time, was chastised because he talked about women's ankles (oh, so sexually), and no one ever considered that he might have been "homosexual or bisexual", but now we could care less about what he said about women because we (as in so many scholars) just have to find out if he was gay or not because he also had affectionate same sex relationships. maybe he was just attracted to the internal character of a person and not as concerned with their physical sexual identity. now wouldn't that be queer!
kris
p.s everytime i try to write emily d's full last name, it does this: thingyinson. how wierd, but you know who i am talking about.
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tnarg
New Member
Posts: 3
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Post by tnarg on Apr 26, 2006 17:10:08 GMT -5
I have a friend who declares herself bi, but is a virgin.
We live in a culture that tries to put everything in a binary opposition!
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Post by regalia on Apr 26, 2006 22:48:37 GMT -5
VIRGIN/WHORE! HA! i've been barking on about the virgin/whore dichotomy for weeks now!
let's see how many binaries we can think of:
WHITE/BLACK
MAN/WOMAN
you get the idea...
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Post by riotgrrl on Apr 28, 2006 19:02:06 GMT -5
The Madonna/Whore (or Virgin/Whore) Complex absolutely fascinates me! For my Women's Studies Final we had to talk about the Aboriginal version, which is the Princess/Squaw Complex. Native women were seen as exotic visions of pure beauty, yet they were also used to sexually please White Colonizers.
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Post by androgychris on Apr 29, 2006 8:36:25 GMT -5
Binaries rely on definitions of the "opposing" terms. For example in the Man/Woman binary how would you go about defining what a man or a woman is? You would speak on biological terms but that would be undermining the entire transgender community. If we talk about how men/women are supposed to act or dress we still come to a standstill. There are so many ways to be a man or to be a woman that the lines become blurry. When asked what I am I generally say I'm a woman but sometimes when it rolls off my tongue I feel uncomfortable. Many things that people equate with how to be "womanly" have nothing to do with who I am and I dont know if I want to identify with that.
Its the same with sexuality. I know that mainstream culture calls me a lesbian but really I dont identify with that word at all. The word lesbian comes from way back when Sappho lived on the island of Lesbos. But you see Sappho may have been what we now call a lesbian due to her love for her students, (which may or may not have been sexual) but back then "lesbian" meant that you were from Lesbos. Like (however much I may not want to admit) I am an American. It had nothing to do with sexuality. (Although sometimes it seems that you say "American" and you think "heterosexual") Sappho was actually a teacher to young women preparing them for their husbands. Thats not what I want to be, thats for sure.
So I'm not a lesbian but I'm definitely not straight either. I can't even say that I'm only attracted to women either because I know some very attractive gay men and trans men. I will say I'm generally not attracted to straight men but I dont cut off the possibility. I dont consider myself bisexual either because "Bi"sexuality is just conforming to that pesky binary again. I guess this is where the use of "queer" or "pansexuality" comes into play. These terms are much less strict and can be interpreted in many different ways. But then again we're putting lables on things once again...
Oh what a tangled web we weave...
I have to go write a paper so I'll leave you all with a bit of my stream of conciousness.
~Chris
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Post by regalia on Apr 29, 2006 11:55:47 GMT -5
OH MY GOD! that's fascinating...does this appear in...oh crap...what was the disney film that used native american story/characters?
i'm fascinated with anything child-related...kid's movies, toys...mostly anything nostalgic...
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Post by regalia on Apr 29, 2006 13:14:26 GMT -5
Binaries rely on definitions of the "opposing" terms. For example in the Man/Woman binary how would you go about defining what a man or a woman is? You would speak on biological terms but that would be undermining the entire transgender community. If we talk about how men/women are supposed to act or dress we still come to a standstill. There are so many ways to be a man or to be a woman that the lines become blurry. When asked what I am I generally say I'm a woman but sometimes when it rolls off my tongue I feel uncomfortable. Many things that people equate with how to be "womanly" have nothing to do with who I am and I dont know if I want to identify with that. Its the same with sexuality. I know that mainstream culture calls me a lesbian but really I dont identify with that word at all. The word lesbian comes from way back when Sappho lived on the island of Lesbos. But you see Sappho may have been what we now call a lesbian due to her love for her students, (which may or may not have been sexual) but back then "lesbian" meant that you were from Lesbos. Like (however much I may not want to admit) I am an American. It had nothing to do with sexuality. (Although sometimes it seems that you say "American" and you think "heterosexual") Sappho was actually a teacher to young women preparing them for their husbands. Thats not what I want to be, thats for sure. So I'm not a lesbian but I'm definitely not straight either. I can't even say that I'm only attracted to women either because I know some very attractive gay men and trans men. I will say I'm generally not attracted to straight men but I dont cut off the possibility. I dont consider myself bisexual either because "Bi"sexuality is just conforming to that pesky binary again. I guess this is where the use of "queer" or "pansexuality" comes into play. These terms are much less strict and can be interpreted in many different ways. But then again we're putting lables on things once again... Oh what a tangled web we weave... I have to go write a paper so I'll leave you all with a bit of my stream of conciousness. ~Chris fabulous post - i'm exalting you!  this is why i say i'm "queer" - but some my lesbian id'd friends laugh at me bc what my m.o. is is to have relationships with men, but still have sexual relations with women and men - but mostly men...so sometimes they think i don't deserve to say i'm "queer"...OH WELL.   go forth and blur binaries! |
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Post by caramel6582 on May 3, 2006 17:06:59 GMT -5
Just for record I hate all binary systems....let me explain.
When we talk about binaries we do that label against label thing (ie. black/white), but what is never talked about is how one label may have formed or influenced the other label (ie. race influencing sexuality/gender indentification) Also it sucks when coming to defining oneself or the people around us (ie. black friends/white friends, gay friends/straight friends).
Binaries are used in my opinion as a societal money maker (My other reason for hating them). We market based on binary (property tax higher in areas like suburbs/lower in urban areas based upon the majority binary living in the area). I think if people f**ked up the money making companies (like buy stuff from opposite binary target market or fair trade companies) then maybe it'll stop.
Sorry...just ranting
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