From: jakec@ralvmm.vnet.ibm.com (Jake Coughlin)
Subject: Role Models (was Gay Homophobia)
Originator: jakec@ralvmm.vnet.ibm.com
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 92 17:03:12 GMT
Organization: IBM T. J. Watson Research

in one of his characteristic tirades, bob sarver, or i should
say ``our own john claggart,'' espouses that closetted gays need
masculine role models.  he has two reasons for this assertion:
for one, the masculine gays, poor dears, who are so pitifully
and hopelessly locked in that closet, to which sarver himself
has hidden the key where you will never find it, ie up his butt,
need to see that they can be gay without becoming (gasp) nelly
(only jess could have said it better, btw).  think of it, my
good friends, Instant Nelly, the breakfast bar.  second,
although i don't believe this has been voiced, sarver needs a
placcard for the breeders (you know who you are!).  talk about
advertising, we'll have walking gay billboards, marlboro man
winking at marlboro man!

i know there are some here who agree with sarver that we need
role models, but try as they might, they can't stand the thought
of agreeing with him.  ``my god,'' they think, ``there's gotta
be *something* wrong this idea.  look who said it!''  well,
don't you fret, dearies, because there is.  sarver wouldn't know
a role model if he glued one together, and we're probably
talking about someone who pretends he's fucking his secretary
while he's masturbating.  [yes, dearies, that *is* sexist, but
consider the subject... :-]

maybe i won't even tell you what a role model is, preferring the
post-Modern approach.  a role model is certainly not an actor
for while actions speak louder than words, existance precludes
all action.  tom selleck is not a role model.  dana carvey is
not a role model.  madonna is not a role model.  barbara bush is
certainly *not* a role model, and neither is her little dog too!
in short, the signifier is not the signified.

for when you act like one of these people, you've missed the
point.  you can act, but it's better to be, and when you are,
then they aren't.  for if you're madonna, then madonna's doesn't
exist.  sound confusing?  it's really quite simple.  look at
your role model and determine the role not the model.  learn
humor from dana carvey.  learn ambition from madonna, but for
queer's sake, don't learn of a fashion from barbara; she's too
poorly dressed.  and here's where we'll lose sarvart because in
this context, to learn is to discover in one's self; it doesn't
mean to acquire.

also, to learn is not to acquiesce for learning is a personal
process.  a role model can supply the role but not the model.
*you* need to provide your own context for the role, and the
price is too high for anyone selling you a bill of goods like
sarver.  if the role doesn't fit, you can't wear it.  maybe you
can lift and tuck, but it certainly won't be your favorite
article.  maybe you can snip and sew, but you've now created a
new role.

again, the world is yours, dearies, and find your role models
where you can.  just remember that you're not emily dickinson's
frog on a log in the corner of the pond; there are role models
all around you waiting to be discovered and tapped.  you might
find that the ordinary are much more functional than the
extraordinary.

jake, who still has nothing to say to sarver, in spite of my
sudden frivolity
-- 
Jason Coughlin ( jakec@ralvmm.vnet.ibm.com )
Queer Without A Cause!
"I find myself suddenly in the world, and I recognize that I have one
right alone: that of demanding human behavior of the other." -- Fanon