Queer Eye for the Straight Gal

[franceslievens]

I'm a philosopher, meaning that I studied philosophy, that I have a degree that says I passed university as a philosophy major, that I know my way around the thoughts of certain old gents with too much time on their hands. It doesn't mean in any way I can philosophize. That's something different and something you usually don't study at school. As far as philosophers go, there are two kinds: the historicists that study the works of other philosophers, and the thinkers that come up with new and splendid ideas of their own. Having studied philosophy people generally assume I'm also the second kind of philosopher, that I have this Grand System of Thought that guides me through life along a clear road, preferable made with yellow bricks. If there's one thing that a focus on philosophy while trying to grow up has taught me, it's this: yellow brick roads are usually overrun with plants and end up having that foul green shade bricks get when no-one cleans them. A Grand System will ultimately lead to a dead end in my life. But the question remains: what did shape my thinking and the way I look out on life? Digging in my memory I find one constant: a strain of thoughts, of connections that I later learned to call Queer Theory. From the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, entry Homosexuality:

In contrast to gay or lesbian, ‘queer,’ it is argued, does not refer to an essence, whether of a sexual nature or not. Instead it is purely relational, standing as an undefined term that gets its meaning precisely by being that which is outside of the norm, however that norm itself may be defined. As one of the most articulate queer theorists puts it: “Queer is … whatever is at odds with the normal, the legitimate, the dominant. There is nothing in particular to which it necessarily refers. It is an identity without an essence” (Halperin, 1995, 62, original emphasis).

When a teenager, a twentysomething, making her way in life, you refer to other thinkers to shape your own identity. I have always identified myself with the outcasts and the queer, maybe even moreso than with the geeks and the nerds, although my classmates would have preferred to put me in those categories. From my early teenage years on up I've been intrigued by the queer lifestyle, as a lifestyle that stands outside normality, but also as a lifestyle that celebrates sexuality. The gay identity places itself outside normality, because of its sexuality. The sexuality isn't something that comes along, it's the reason why. It is there to show that oranges are not the only fruit, and that my taste for slash fanfiction is something that isn't new in the least.

Comments

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

You know it's Philosophy day in our Salon. This could be a good start...

[gingerpig.livejournal.com]

I try not to define my sexuality, referring to myself instead as monogamous. It's taken some of my friends a long time to be comfortable with that. Not the friends I've met through fandom, they don't care *g*. But the ones that have known me since my late teens, early 20's.

It's not til later, I'm now in my late 30's that they seem to have figured out that I'm not going through a stage, nor am I going to run off with their wives/girlfriends, or grope them when I'm drunk...erm well maybe that last bit's not quite true *g*.

and that my taste for slash fanfiction is something that isn't new in the least.

*nods* me either...

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

I guess I don't define my sexuality either. It's more about identification with the group then actual defining of my own sexuality. Or understanding that you can choose how to define your sexuality and aren't commited to what society tells you to do.

Maybe I'm just a flirt. Especialy when I'm drunk. ;-)

*smoochies*

[gingerpig.livejournal.com]

It's more about identification with the group then actual defining of my own sexuality *nods nods*

*g*

Oh and flirt works

*nibbles*

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm supposed to write something up on queer theory for our community (salon_virtuel). Why don't you join us there later?

[gingerpig.livejournal.com]

Will do...poke me on AIM gingerpig68 or yahoo gingerpig101?

xx

[paranoid-blonde.livejournal.com]

*nods*

When you write stuff like that my brain goes 'argh'. You think a lot...

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

It's the only thing I'm good at. Some of us can't run for miles or always get the basketball thrown in their face, so I think...

(and don't forget I'm still 6 years older than you, I've had more practice)

[simonf.livejournal.com]

Oysters and snails. All the same at the end of the day.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

They're both slithery animals I don't like eating?

[simonf.livejournal.com]

It's a reference to a famous cut scene from Spartacus.

http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Spartacus_(movie)

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

thank you for enlightening me.

[candlelightfrot.livejournal.com]

In other words... "Fuck it!"

Which after 51 years I feel more and more saying about so much in this world and what it says a person should be.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

I sometimes prefer "fuck you" or flipping the finger.

It's such a relief.

And what should a person be then?

[candlelightfrot.livejournal.com]

Got me...