My Very Queer Wishlist

I ripped this from Nikki's blog, the idea was so good. :)

1. Same-sex marriage gets legalised.  Yes, it will lead to the death of the family as we know it. But who has a 'normal' family as according to The Man?  It's time to quit shovelling around that heterosexist, patriarchal rhetoric and think outside the box. It's 2010.

2. The bridges between the communities of colour in the queer community start to heal.  Were all oppressed by sexism, racism, classism and heteronormativity; let's form a united front to change it!!

3. The bridge between the queer community of colour and the White queer community is reforged.  We need to realise our differences are a source of strength and solidarity, and we are all worthy of equal rights, respect, and dignity.  Yes, that means we have to talk about racism.

4. Transpeople get the rights and respect they deserve.  All colours, all pronouns, all of them deserve huge props for the strength and determination they have to express themselves in a very hostile binary society.

5. More media representation of queers of colour.  Hell I'd be happy with more people of colour being depicted in the media, so long as it's accurate and not perpetuating those disgusting stereotypes that make it hard for people of colour to go about our daily lives.  As for having more queer people of colour in the media, that would help break down the barriers and start creating more acceptance within our own communities in general.

6. Families of queer persons be more accepting.  For all queers many times, it's not worth losing the support of family members (financially, emotionally, etc.) by coming out.  I understand.  And people of colour have different elements that oppress them (racism, exotification of people of colour, etc.) and family is a ready-made safety net when things go bad. It's a slippery slope and everyone makes the choice that is right for them.

7. We develop or borrow an appropriate pronoun for those individuals who do not identify or want to be addressed as 'he' or 'she'.  They is really, really tough for me to remember, and the Ze thing really isn't working for me.  Can't we just take a page out of Indonesia's five-gender system and use hir?  It's close enough to the norm so as not to be difficult to integrate, but still does the trick.

8. Everyone is free to express their gender as they please.  Not gonna happen within my lifetime, but maybe in my next one.

This is a half wishlist half to-do list.  There are so many agencies out there working to change the status quo; I need to get involved with some. Or start one. ;)

A Critical Analysis of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Recently I read a comment from an online author I frequent, proclaiming that she was angry at a L&O:SVU's portrayal of lesbians as "drug addicts in... obsessive dysfunctional relationship[s]".  Yes, I agree this is a gross misrepresentation.  But then I began to think, At least her demographic, a White lesbian, is being represented.  How often are people of colour portrayed on L&O, much less queers of colour....?

And so I have to contest her remark with: is it better to be portrayed in a slanted light, or simply not mentioned at all?  Would inaccuracies be better than silence?  Initially, I chose the former, because at least then, a conversation can be started.

And then I thought about all the episodes I've watched (over 150 and counting) and also about all the people of colour in antagonistic roles....  There is a very racist trend going on in this show, even among the characters of colour.

Tamara Tunie's (Medical Examiner Warner) and Ice-T's (Fin Tutuola) characters are of African descent, but they are very light-skinned and are more readily accepted by Whites. Along with BD Wong, (SVU psychiatrist), and sometimes Joel de la Fuente, they are the only recurring characters of colour on the show. However, they do not have consistently active roles in the series. 

The villains are often portrayed by light-skinned and, possibly, mixed race actors, increasing their acceptance by the white target audience and alienating those with darker skin tones.  Very few queer characters are present, and when they are it usually is not in the most progressive light. The fact that the producers have been dangling Detective Olivia Benson's sexuality over everyone's heads for the past decade does not help.

I've been trying my best to keep my lens of SVU superficial, but I think the bubble has burst.  My relationship with the show is coming to a close.  I think I'm going to give NBC a piece of my
mind before I depart though....  Those mindless conglomerates like to hear what their viewers have to say right?




p[s

Labels (Pt. 2?)

I hate the terms 'butch' and 'femme' and most of all 'dyke'. I just have these horrible visual conjured up in my mind's eye when I think of them.  It makes me want to scratch something until it screams for mercy.  I keep thinking 'how the hell are we going to move forward to equality for all when we have these gross labels holding us back'?

But then I remember that humans are labelers.  We need categories to organise our world. That doesn't mean I have to acknowledge those crass terms.  :Snape-worthy sneer:

I have a feeling I've blogged about this before, but I'm too lazy to go back and check.  I just had to get this agitation out of my system, so I can focus on my last bit of schoolwork.

???

I had this half-formed idea about a great blog I could post... and then I brought up a new box and I felt the idea literally dry up.  

I'm finding more and more often that I'm losing my focus when it come to imagined things.  I could have felled trees to write down the ideas and stories that I've conjured up over the years.  And now I'm having trouble creating daydreams.  

I feel like a chimney with a stopped-up flue; all the soot and ash is backing up.  I know how to solve the problem.  Now the only issue is how to act.  Or maybe react....

Precipice

Whenever I think of cliffs and precipices, I always imagine the ones that are in Scotland? Ireland?  I know it's somewhere in the northern British Isles with a cold, angry ocean beneath.  I think I indulged in too many Old English tales as a child.... 

It's times like these that I feel I really see things as they are.  There is no haze of love and happiness, just... reality.  I find that I need the buffer in order to function.  I think it's a human need.  Let's see, according to Maslow, our basic needs are: air, water, shelter, food, and sex.  Walking up the pyramid, we pass by safety and security and on to love and belonging.  Love and belonging....  Next are esteem and finally self-actualisation. It's good to know that psychology degree isn't going to waste.

I'm glad that even in my emotional troughs, and I am entirely overdramatic, I can keep perspective.  I just recalled that I went through this same emotional tumult when I started off at UCF.  Ugh, the drama of the College Democrats.  We put the 'fun' in dysfunctional.  I reckon it was around this same three-month mark that the strain began to really show. I would know only, I deleted that blog.  Five years worth of knowledge gone.  Damn. Talk about impulsive and irrational.

I think I'm done here. TG my words are finally flowing again.  maybe now I can finish those two bloody assignments. >:/

Boundaries

I now know what the hell everybody is talking about when they speak of "boundaries".  Let me define it as I understand, just as a point of reference.

Setting boundaries is being assertive and making one's needs known ahead of time in a relationship order to avoid compromising and potentially upsetting situations.

I'm learning how to do this only because I've been having such a rough adjustment period to this Pacific Northwest.  Live and learn.