From: TMCCART3@ua1vm.ua.edu
Newsgroups: soc.motss
Subject: Re: Ann Lander's YUCK!
Date: 15 Oct 92 17:00:04 GMT
Organization: The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa

In article <1992Oct15.024341.12410@macc.wisc.edu>
anderson@macc.wisc.edu (Jess Anderson) writes:
 
>
>In article <1992Oct14.175729.23809@rtsg.mot.com>
>houser@rtsg.mot.com (Elizabeth J. Houser) writes:
>
>
>I speculated on what LGB people might do to reach the
>"straight-acting" LGB person who, despite regularly
>provoking so much scorn and dismay from some of us, is
>nevertheless one of us, from the point of view of our more
>virulent oppressors.
>
I'm a little new at this, and probably way outta my league. But do you
think it's possible that some LBGs act "straight" not to hide their true
orientation, but because the way they act is natural to them? I'm a les-
bian, and I suppose I *don't** act particularly straight (I don't wear
a tool belt or a crew cut either). I thought a big part of the LGB sensi-
bility was allowing people to do what comes naturally. If it comes naturally
for a gay male to walk around dressed like our stereotypical notions of what
straight men do, he should not be condemned for it. The "closet case" who
wrote to Ann Landers was unduly harsh on drag queens, etc., but it could be
that what he was trying to express was not that he wants drag queens off the
street because of what *straight* people think, but because HE finds them
disgusting. That's a whole other ball game. He needs to make a distinction
between his personal taste and what could be construed as a rejection of
his LBG brothers and sisters on a purely political level. I won't sit thru
a drag show (I find them kinda dull) but that doesn't make me a queer-hating
closet case. We ask others to live and let live; let's do that for each
other.
>
>>Jess - would you mind defining "straight-acting lesbian,"
>>please?
>
>What I had in mind were lesbians who don't want other
>lesbians to be "obvious" or to do anything in public that
>could provide ammunition for straight bigots, etc.  But
>though I have data points in my personal experience
>confirming that lesbians having this attitude exist, I
>wondered whether the analogy was parallel *enough* to hold
>as a general statement.
>
>>Let me guess - stereotypical bimbo - bleached bonde hair,
>>implants, gobs of makeup, pounds of jewelry, brainless,
>>spends all of her time shopping...(gee, sounds awful close
>>to one of those "icky" drag queens people have been
>>complaining about;-)
>
Again, we may be talking about two different things. I feel pity and contempt f
or women who put themselves through the torture of heels and makeup just
so straight people won't laugh at 'em. But if a lesbian *likes* wearing this
stuff but is still proud to be a dyke, why should we call her an Aunt Tom?
Maybe I'm restating the obvious, or missing the point entirely, but "acting
straight" is not necessarily a disavowal of queerness (queerity? queerability?)
 Thank you for your time and indulgence.
 
 _______________________________________________________________________
|    "Be frank and explicit with your lawyer...It is his business to    |
|             confuse the issue afterwards." -- J.R. Solly              |
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| __ Tracey McCartney            University of Alabama School of Law __ |
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