Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,ca.politics,ba.politics
Subject: Re: Stereotyping
From: mike@batpad.lgb.ca.us (Mike Batchelor)
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 92 08:56:01 PDT
Organization: The Batchelor Pad

cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) writes:

> In article <193135@ipl.jpl.nasa.gov>, pdb059@ipl.jpl.nasa.gov (Paul Bartholom
> > In article <11678@optilink.UUCP>, cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) wri
> > > Look.  We all know that homsoexuals are severely damaged people.
> > > You know it too.  That's why you engage in the continual efforts
> > > to persuade yourself that you are really OK, and why you insist
> > > on forcing other people to shut up about the subject.
> > 
> > No, Clayton, we don't "all know" that homosexuals are "severely damaged
> > people".  All you are proving is that *you* are a severely damaged person.
> > Get help, Clayton; you need psychological counselling badly.
> > 
> > Paul Bartholomew          |   "The time has come, the walrus said, to talk 
> 
> I can see the conversation: "I know a group of people march in 
> parades where they wear the most outrageous outfits, things that 
> offend the vast majority of Americans.  They spend much of their 
> time complaining about the unfairness of a society that doesn't 
> approve of these outrageous displays that they put on in public.
> 
> "They complain about our society stereotyping them as sadomasochists, 
> effeminate cross-dressers, and child molesters, in spite of the 
> gay parades in which groups like Dykes on Bikes participate, men 
> dress up in drag, men dress up in S&M attire, and groups such as 
> the North American Man-Boy Love Association are welcome.

Don't forget Lesbian Mothers of Long Beach, who rode in our parade in
the back of a large stakebed truck with their kids.  Some of the kids
were circling the truck on their bikes.  They had balloons and a big
banner.  There were about 20 mothers, and 30 or so kids.

Gay Dads had a smaller group and no truck.

Then there was the contingent from One in Long Beach, driving down the
parade route in typical heterosexual-pretentious-rented-classic-Cadillac
fashion.

Oops, I see you already have forgot them...

Dykes on Bikes down here had about six women, only one of whom was
riding a Harley dressed in leather.  The rest were on Ninjas or
Yamahas, wearing shorts and a tank top or t-shirt, and sneakers.

> "They complain about our society stereotyping them as sex obssessed,
> but many of their discussions in a public forum revolve around 
> pornographic movie 'stars' and casual sex with strangers.

Couldn't you just die to know what we talk about elsewhere?

> Soc.motss, and the gay parades, are the equivalent of a parade
> in which black men are all eating watermelon, killing, raping,
> and robbing people, or pretending to be Stephen Fetchit.

Cramer, posting from Optilink, is the equivalent of a parade in which
white men are all marching in sheets, carrying swastikas, and
pretending to be successful, ambitious executives.  Only not so
subtle.

> Homosexuals hate stereotyping.  So why is so much energy put into
> reinforcing those stereotypes?  Is it because those stereotypes
> reflect reality for some significant fraction of homosexuals?

What if it does?  How many queers at Sun or SGI show up to work in
drag?  How many news teams cover the Arrival of the Queers every
morning in Silicon Valley?

It's your own fault if you buy the stereotypes you see in the media,
and assume that they somehow reflect reality off-camera.  The vast
majority of queers in this country have never marched in or even
attended a gay pride parade.  Yet you feign objectivity, and claim
that it is the queers themselves who are reinforcing stereotypes???



[] ---
[] Mike Batchelor -- mike@batpad.lgb.ca.us
[] Long Beach, California
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA