sundries

[rm]

So we're headed up to Cold SPring today after I finish some work. Meanwhile, after finally being sure I wasn't going to get whatever stomach ailment Patty had, I woke up feeling very weird today. Of course, I have celiac disease and often feel very weird. I also have peculiar eating habits in general and haven't been eating enough the last few days (due to fear of Patty's stomach ailment) so whatever this is, I hope it's not that because I'd like for us to have a nice, awesome romantic weekend.

The situation with the pulled queer zombie anthology from yesterday keeps getting more convoluted. See the end of the LJ comments from his post yesterday or his follow-up today about this issue and the nice-guy defense.

Look, I get that it seems clear that the publisher has a lot going on and is stressed and no one wants to pile-on a dude who seems un-evil and is having a bad week. I also get that as a LGBTQ ally (or, for that matter, as a LGBTQ activist) one has to sometimes step back from the heat, because it's just too exhausting.

So if the guy had really gotten complaints from homophobes and pulled the book, I would have been disappointed and cranky, but moderately understanding. Pulling the book because he's stressed and has too much on his plate? disappointed, but understanding. Pulling the book because of either the potential for homophobes that have not actually appeared and/or because he was afraid it would be seen as gimmicky and not generate appropriate stories are action/reason scenarios that are homophobic - the first an indirect and convoluted version of "gays will make trouble," while the second sounds suspiciously like equating LGBTQ content with inappropriately sexualized content and/or LGBTQ authors with a sub-group of authors not producing appropriate quality.

Fun. For no one.

CNN asks whether Wolfman can destroy vampire fever? This question is infinitely more interesting in all the ways CNN doesn't mean it. Are we as a culture ready for an animalistic sexual metaphor as opposed to a remote one? And, by the way, how are we feeling about body hair this year? If I had time, I'd write more.

Moishe House. THe NYTImes describes it as "The Real World with challah."

More people support gays and lesbians serving openly in the military than homosexuals doing the same. This raises a lot of issues about euphemism, assimilation, designing more useful (if not more accurate) polls, and taking the sex out of queer identity.

Comments

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

On DADT, someone made a very good point in their response to the article in the comments section, and I think I agree with you and that respondent: Americans are just squeamish about the word 'sex.' And how FRUSTRATING is that? I wanted to say "stupid," but I realized that the people who are okay with the concept of gay and lesbian people serving in the military but somehow can't stomach the thought of homosexual people serving are responding based on emotions only, rather than allowing their logic to influence their responses. And that's the problem with democracy: when you ask the people what they want, many only feel and refuse to think. Or you get people who are so detached from what they feel that they only think, and don't realize how those thoughts really impact their or others' lives when put into action. Either way, it is a detriment to social progress.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Americans are just squeamish about the word 'sex.'

Is it just Americans, or is it a wider First World problem, I wonder? (I suspect that American culture *does* tend to be more squicked out than others at sexuality in general...)

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

Another good point...although I don't know enough about the social environments of other first-world countries to judge.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

This really surprised me until I read your comment.

I think Americans are incredibly puritanical when it comes to sexual activities. I never thought about the word homosexual as meaning anything different than gay, but I can see how the word could make some people focus on the assumed sexual activities of the person rather than the whole person.

Ignorant, yes, but I can't think of another way to explain it.

[ubixtiz.livejournal.com]

I think the inclusion of "sex" in the word is part of it, but it's also probably worth noting that "homosexual" is the word that's been overwhelmingly used by authoritative establishments (state, medical, religious) to criminalise, medicalise, and demonise queerness. It's the terminology of anti-gay rhetoric, whereas "gay" and "lesbian" have been the terms overwhelmingly used by LGBT rights groups, LGBT cultural events and publications, and queer people in their everyday lives.

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

And also...another excellent point.

[juniperus.livejournal.com]

I hope you both have a really wonderful weekend - stay well!

[botia.livejournal.com]

My first wedding was in Cold Spring. Lovely place.

[kaffy_r]

Have a happy, romantic weekend, and may your stomach cooperate!

Hmmm. Americans (North Americans, I should probably say) and body hair? Not a comfortable mix, it seems to me. And, yes, that does seem to be all mixed up with a fear of Too Much Physicality, which of course is the house in which Fear of Sex lives.

It's all very simple.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

To the average American, homosexuals are predators lurking in dark bars and having wild sex with anything that moves. Gay is your neighbor and his husband who have too many cats and make amazing guacamole for the block party.

It's entirely about sex. Why do you think the right wing is always on about "HO-MO-SEX-U-AL!" and never about "gay?" Straight men hate gays because when they are reminded of the existance of gay men, they think of gay sex acts, and they imagine these acts being done to them. (Paraphrased Quintain Crisp)

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I'm following the Queer Zombie Anthology through you and Bodlon -- the fact that he pulled it due to imaginary bigotry is ridiculous. Setting aside that it's ridiculous, even if that was his reason, he shouldn't have said it aloud.

I know this is not necessarily relevant (ie, people are pissed at the reasons he pulled it, not just at the loss of the thing itself) but seriously, a short story anthology can't be that hard to assemble.

If we can find ten or twelve good Queer Zombie stories (what exactly is the criteria for that? Is it about Queer Zombies, or Queer themes in a Zombie genre, or Queer zombie fighters, or all of the above, or other?) I'll typeset 'em myself and proudly put it up on Lulu under the Extribulum imprint. The hardest part would be author contracts, and if the authors are agreeable to be a little cowboy about all this, I don't think that's insurmountable. You could base story fees on sales; say, a flat fee of up to $25 per story, payable in increments as the book sells; if it doesn't sell well everyone gets something, if it sells well everyone gets their full fee, and if it takes off, then it's bonus time! :D

I know it's not a solution or a balm because the anthology is not what it's really about, but people seemed really excited about it. If he's not willing to step back up, I will.

[linkspam-mod.livejournal.com]

Your post was added to a linkspam round-up (http://linkspam.dreamwidth.org/23639.html).

[botia.livejournal.com]

Posted by: feralboy12 Author Profile Page | March 11, 2010 4:35 PM

About ten years ago, my daughter went to the prom with a young gay man. She wore the tux, he wore the dress. They were accused of "ruining the prom." I was very proud. (http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/03/small_town_america_and_institu.php#comment-2342516)