#absence of any critique from within the male gay community | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

medusanevertalks · 3 years

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“Another force in the construction of transgenderism, according to David Valentine, is the conservatism of a gay male politics concerned to reject and sideline effeminacy. Whatever the balance of forces that constructed transgenderism in the late twentieth century, one puzzling element is the lack of criticism by male gay scholars, particularly since hatred of homosexuality so clearly played a role, and one group of those who aspire to transgender are men who love men. [...]

The absence of any critique of transgenderism from within the male gay community is sufficiently conspicuous as to need explanation, and David Valentine seeks to offer one (Valentine, 2007). He argues that the lack of protest by gay men points to the useful function that transgenderism performs for a new breed of conservative gay men post gay liberation. These conservative gay men assert their concordance with normative masculinity and seek to deny and exclude effeminate gay men by casting them into the category of ‘transgender’. This ploy protected the normality of the gay men and helped in his campaign to be accepted legislatively and socially as just another jock.”

— Sheila Jeffreys, Gender Hurts; 2014

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11ntersectionality-blog · 4 years

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Brooke Benaim Review

Queer Intimacies: Film Review

The Reelout Film Festival is a public and inclusive event that showcases short films and narratives focused on the lifestyles and struggles of queer people. The short film “Queer Intimacies”, presented on Thursday, February 6th, 2020 at The Screening Room in Kingston, Ontario, was an insightful and fascinating short movie compact with eight separate films that were coordinated by several different directors, encompassing numerous aspects about queer relationships and connections. This artistic media production and platform allowed the viewers to appreciate and comprehend the content presented about the queer community. While this type of genre was very unfamiliar to me, this collection of short films was truly inspirational, as it contained some in-depth content that illustrated different areas of intimacy and sexual orientation within homosexual affiliations. The film relatively discussed the problematic phases within queer relationships, as well as issues involving their sexual encounters and sex life. The alternative idea or concept behind this film was to signify the societal unacceptance towards queer people, therefore, making the LGBTQ community have to make decisions and connections for themselves. Many of the short films focused on understanding oneself and knowing who you are and what you want, while others touched upon reality vs. fantasy or the inability to connect with others. Overall, Queer Intimacies showcased the diverse kinds of relationships that queer people engage in.

An additional component to this film was that each story was composed of different actors and actresses that varied in age, race, ethnicity, and other individual attributes. Gender identity can intersect with these social factors, and commonly, these factors help us understand different forms of oppression. This could mean focusing on the differences of those who categorize as queer. This idea relates to the axes of power or oppression, which identifies ways in which groups are marginalized or disadvantaged. These personal aspects also correlate with intersectionality, which is a way to capture the overlapping contributing factors in a social circumstance. As Kaufman states in Intersectionality for Beginners, “There are countless individuals who experience oppression in society because of the cumulative and intersecting effects of “racism, sexism, class oppression, transphobia, able-ism and more”” (2018). However, power relations such as race and ethnicity, or age, did not play a role in any of the stories, as the content focused more so on the individuals struggles through relationships rather than these forms of “power”. Although this was an interesting approach in directing the attention of the film to the collective problems within queer relationships and sexuality, this took away from the harsh reality of any possible individual elements that could interfere with those relationships or cause societal controversy. Seeing that “Intersectionality has become such an important and pervasive concept because it has “given many advocates a way to frame their circumstances and to fight for their visibility and inclusion”” (Kaufman, 2018), I feel that using social factors to illustrate additional struggles in the film would have been beneficial for viewers to better understand the complexity of the problems that the LGBTQ community might face.

Gender expression was another topic touched upon vaguely in the last story of the film, where a gay male wore feminine clothing and makeup to embody himself and his values. This was one of the short films I particularly enjoyed, due to the contrast between the other short stories. This was a minor critique I recognized about the film; Although each storyline was very unique and distinctive from each other, the film typically only represented gay or lesbian relationships. The absence of diverse relationships or mixture between the films not only made the stories somewhat repetitive, but also lacked the exploration of other types of expression, such as transgender people. “As a society, we are becoming more accepting of gender and sex as more complex phenomena…with more understanding and increasing normalization of transgender and intersexuality” (Raskoff, 2017). This quotation exemplifies that society is constantly evolving and becoming more accepting of the LGTBQ community. Seeing that this film signified the struggles involving queer people, I feel as though there should have been a larger variety of queer relationships explored throughout the short movie, as this would showcase the broad representation of diversity within this population.

Another criticism I had about the film was that none of the stories displayed a positive outlook on these issues. While the main focus of this film was to indicate the problems and complications that queer people face in society, I feel as though this film in some ways enhanced the “reality” that this community encounters. What this film fails to show is the reality of overcoming these challenges; However, these struggles are very much real and present to this day, and people do live in these realistic circumstances. Many people who identify as a part of the LGBTQ community choose to be open about their sexuality, and although some might face these difficulties, in reality, many also live without these social interferences that supposedly relate to every “gay issue”. Although being queer is not always easy, I feel that the message portrayed in this film made the struggles look like the only reality there is.

While there were some negative criticisms about the short film, the positives did not go unnoticed. To begin, the focus of the film allowed the viewers to see the struggles that queer people battle through a different lens, whether that be the societal acceptance or the reality of their relationships. Those who are cisgender were able to view the social struggles through a different perspective. Furthermore, the film offered people who are queer to experience or relate to the real-life issues that the LGTBQ community often face.

Overall, Queer Intimacies was an eye-opening film that allowed the viewers to comprehend the difficult and complicated situations within queer relationships and connections. I would recommend this film to those who are interested in further expanded their knowledge about the LGTBQ community, as the film examines thorough and detailed encounters regarding the reality of queer, intimate relations. Although I had selective critiques concerning specific points of the film, the directors did an incredible job encompassing the wide range of struggles concerning homosexual relationships and incorporated them into an informing and enticing media production.

Works Cited

P. Kaufman. “Intersectionality for Beginners”. Everyday Sociology Blog, 2018, https://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2018/04/intersectionality-for-beginners.html#more

S. Raskoff. “Signs of Gender”. Everyday Sociology Blog, 2017, https://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2017/03/signs-of-gender.html#more

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