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 Peg's
Polemic
Every
month, philosopher Peg Tittle casts off the calm, measured and qualified
style of her profession to deliver her opinionated and impassioned
column, exclusively for the TPM philosophy café...
Number
8. Gay-Bashing
Gay
bashing. Now there's something I don't understand. 'Queers are disgusting,
man. Men touching other men, that's really sick.' So, yeah, go beat
'em up. Get real close and touch 'em all over. And they say men
are the logical ones.
But
of course it's not just the no-necks roaming the streets at night.
It's also the ones in the highrises during the day. Consider these
words of a cable television program manager: "...men French kissing
and the caressing of thighs. I found the scene to be offensive...bad
taste." But men hitting each other, bruising and breaking bodies
with fists, and men killing each other, spattering blood and guts
with bullets and knives--this is, what, good taste? I'd rather
see men kissing each other than killing each other any time. (But
then I'd really rather see Murphy Brown reruns.)
It's
weird, the relationship between sex and violence. I don't understand
it. Mitch, the bouncer, says "They're either gonna fuck or fight."
He understands it. Okay, think like a man. (I can't, it hurts.
Yes you can, try harder.)
Okay,
they both involve physical contact. So do football and ballet; the
former, laced with violence, is okay, but the latter is not.
They're
both tension releasers. Well isn't that flattering: she thinks they're
making love; he's just releasing tension. (Men, where do you get
all that tension from?)
They're
both opportunities to display dominance - well, heterosex in a sexist
society is an opportunity to display dominance. (I see, you're tense
because you're not dominant.)
So
what does all this have to do with gay bashing? I have no idea.
Told you, I don't get it. Maybe their problem is they never learned
"Rub a dub dub" when they were kids. Maybe the problem is they did.
Maybe, they figure homosex means one of them has to be not
dominant - is that the fear? Maybe it's because sex and violence
are so close, a very thick line has to be drawn between them, to
keep them apart - but why?
Wait
a minute, gay bashers are often white supremacists, aren't they?
Hmm - and misogynists. Could it be as simple as 'if it's different,
kill it'?
Gee,
I hope the aliens get it.
Peg's
Polemic will next be updated at the beginning of July 2001
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