sundries

Good day yesterday. Everyone is almost in the same time zone and there was productivity. I think tonight it might be sushi time, depending if Patty is noshy after her department's party tonight.

I am dithering about opera tickets. Also theater tickets at BAM for next season. All slightly complicated by many schedule things that we lack answers to or the ability to control.

The US government wants you to know that the best thing to do in case of a nuclear attack is to shelter where you are. Even minimal shelter, like a car, would result in fewer radioactive fall-out deaths. The problem? They're not sure how to communicate this without getting us upset. I AM UPSET. DO YOU HEAR ME? I STILL HAVE NIGHTMARES ABOUT MY FUCKING COLD WAR CHILDHOOD AND I INHERENTLY OBJECT TO A RETURN TO REFLEXIVE BOMB-SHELTER DESIGN AS A RESPONSE TO AN UNCONTROLLABLE WORLD.

A town holds its silence about a bully's killing.

On a party planner. Oh, check out the slide show. Also, I want to see that map.

You've heard it before but, a piece on homophobia and how it's really about the challenge to male power that queerness represents.

The hunt is on for a serial killer in Long Island.

Journalism, in public.

Boehner, Clinton and the weeping problem. Interesting, but I think it's too sure of how people will response. Men crying makes US folks REALLY uncomfortable as a rule. I don't think it'll work in Boehner's favor, although I do think people will largely be uncomfortable discussing it, which might work in his favor. Here's another piece on it that's well-crafted but also avoids some of the questions of impact.

A look at Holbrooke's death and the suicide of Mark Madoff through the lens of Greek drama.

The European Court of Human Rights has condemned Ireland's abortion ban.

Heroic, female and Muslim. Stop being surprised. The only thing possibly surprising here is that anyone -- regardless of religion or gender -- could be this awesome.

Things I can't quite believe I'm linking to. A piece from Rob Thomas on straight people standing up for gay rights. It's not a perfect piece by any means, but it makes the fascinating assertion that a civil union is about death (hospital visitation and inheritance rights) and a marriage is about life -- that's why the name matters. I don't necessarily agree, but it's a fantastic rhetorical flourish.

Glenn Close as an Irish man. HOT. HOT HOT HOT HOT. Now more than ever, I'm pleased that friends of mine used to say she should play me in a movie of my life.

Don't forget, got industry questions? Ask here.

Also, fandom, we're going to have another talk later today. Don't worry, Torchwood, this time it's not about you. Well, not any more than usual, but seriously, on today's topic we're at least better than average.

Sherlock, queerness and more fannish inability to be welcoming to queer perspectives

One of the reasons I'm so intrigued by Sherlock, despite the complete disaster of the second episode (extra super major racism and script logic fail), is not, actually, because of the chemistry between John and Sherlock, despite the fact that it's fun to watch and a huge contributor to the show's mostly exceptional pacing.

That's right, despite enjoying it, I am not hovering on the edges of Sherlock fandom participation, because it's got the potential for some interesting slash writing.

There are two things that fundamentally appeal to me about the show:

1. Sherlock's brain. Fannish interpretation of Sherlock's brain. I'm not that smart, and I don't want to be that smart (the brain I have is challenging enough, thanks), but if intellectual orientations could be said to exist in the manner that sexual orientations do, the manner of the consequences of Sherlock's intellect are relevant to my interests and experience.

2. The queering of Sherlock. By which I do not mean that I see Sherlock as gay, bisexual, omnisexual or ace. I don't know. In fact, if the show presented me with a heterosexual Sherlock, and did so credibly, I could get on board with that too, without a problem, because it wouldn't make Sherlock any less queer in the literary sense. It's like the queering the villain trope (which the show also seems likely be signing up for in spades with Moriarty; and Mycroft's ambiguities are not insignificant in this regard either). Sherlock is to me a character who is queer in the way I am queer, regardless of his level of interest in sex or who he is attracted to in a physical or romantic way. There is an inherent "other" about him in regards to his instinctive presentation of whatever his sexuality may be, and it is recognized by people who see him, both in the audience and in the narrative. Even a theoretically heterosexual Sherlock is, in this presentation, still queered.

In attempting to read Sherlock fic on my own without recommendations, I have encountered a significant number of fics (clearly a majority, and far greater than in, say, Torchwood fandom, although it still happens there too, although to a lesser degree and is generally more frowned upon) not just warning for slash, but also warning for things like "M/M sex" and "boy kissing" right alongside things like incest and non-con.

To once again participate in full-disclosure: I have in the past warned for slash, because I was being ignorant, at times I was trying to be funny and failing, and at times because I was bowing to a fannish convention that was in frequent and accepted use when I first entered fandom in the late-90s.

HOWEVER, warning for slash is rude. It is hurtful to queer people in fandom. It is potentially harmful to young people who use fandom as a way to first examine their sexuality. And it's disrespectful to a source canon that is inherently queer, even if no characters in it are overtly (or perhaps even subtextually) LGBT.

I AM NOT ADVOCATING YOU NOT LABEL YOUR STORIES. Warnings have their place and are an accepted part of fandom etiquette for common PTSD triggers and content like incest, non-con, underage, and drug use.

I'm just advocating that Contents is an unoffensive and useful tool for the types of items some people search headers for looking for one type of story or interpretation over another. Warning in the case of slash and other queernesses indicates, DESPITE WHAT PEOPLE SEEM TO KEEP SAYING, a devaluing of queer identities and a desire to feel clever and scandalous.

And that warning for kissing crap, that boy kissing crap is particularly devaluing; look at how cute and twee and for our entertainment. Unless you're writing a high school AU, when I see boy kissing as a warning or label or anything? I DON'T READ YOUR STORY.

The whole situation is obnoxious.

And for the people who have been going "please write in this fandom" this is why I am currently not that motivated (see also: my lack of participation in the Covert Affairs fandom). The main Sherlock community does not seem like a place that's actually welcoming to actual queer perspectives and identities because of its moderation policies.

Any questions?

what partners of sex-workers should know

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTdBXLCo1Qk

Super informative. Not just with what people say, but with the range of people you'll see. Highly demystifying.

(got from another LJ'er, but due to subject matter and post where linked being locked, not sharing name unless they ask me to).