Bryan ([info]boyan_fraser) wrote,
@ 2007-12-26 19:31:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Track This  Flag  Next Entry
Current mood: mischievous
Current music:Covenant - Ritual Noise

Liberte, Egalite & Fellatio: The Queer Confessions of a Fanboy Slasher
From La Zambinella to Sarrasine:
"If you were a man or a woman... How much more interesting, though, to be both and neither."

I think I hate the word gay. It's became ridiculous, stuffed with connotative distractions like drink-in-your-hand-cigarette-in-the-other-flower-between-your-teeth happy. I also hate labels, which might be part of the problem. Yes, I understand that, politically, for instance, they can be useful, but still, blech. The word, like 'feminist' and 'queer', is so crammed full of meaning that it don't mean anything anymore.

And it's not like I don't use labels; I've called myself "gay" and "queer" (and sometimes even "bi", because, even though I generally prefer cock, I'm not completely opposed to pussy) when the subject's come up. When I say, "I hate the word gay," I certainly don't mean that I'm ashamed of anything, or that I'm not a gorgeous, cock-sucking, asslicking, slash-writing, slash-loving badboy. I just don't especially like the label for the wishy-washiness of it.

But couldn't the same thing be said about stereotypes? Labels are undeniably easier, and maybe that's why I don't like them, in part. "Bi", for example, has so many negative connotations--everyone thinks that you can't make up your mind, that you're hedging your bets, when you (and "you" is me *g*) just aren't that picky when it comes to genitalia. Why have limits? They're so limiting.

I feel like I've spent my whole life trying to get away from terms that other people have chosen for me, from gay to atheist to fan to man. These days I'd rather skip the whole explanation, or do it right. I used to be stronger about stuff like this, or maybe less worried might be more accurate, and say fuck everyone; but these days I have this need to make sure that people know who I am, not who they want me to be, so it won't come back to bite me on the ass. This is obviously a personal decision, one that suits me, but one that might not, of course, suit anyone else.

And we'll never get beyond these goddamn labels if we slashers keep reproducing them. I like slash best when it stomps all over labels and presents this kind of sexual utopia where it just doesn't matter who you fuck. We should just let the characters be omnisexual and fuck each other and anyone else they might fancy without the need to explain or justify their desires. Let them suck cock happily, like it's a perfectly natural thing to do. Which it is.

I think we should all suck cock like it's a perfectly natural thing to do. So go on, get out there and suck some cock. Go blow some big hot stud in the name of oral and political freedom. Vive la revolution! A vos genoux! Blowjobs for everyone! Cock-suckers of the world unite!



(Post a new comment)


[info]jordle
2007-12-26 09:43 pm UTC (link) Track This
If you can find me a cock, I'll happily suck it. The problem is I can't seem to finds anyone who wants me to.

I hate labels too. I don't think it is necessary to have to name someone based on their sexual preference. When someone is gay it almost becomes the person's entire identity. It is the first thing someone says when they describe said person. It's ridiculous that people feel the need to share someone's sexual preference with others.

I'm only interested in men. While I could let a girl do stuff to me, I'd never be able to do it back, so it really wouldn't be fair to go there :P

I have no issue with people who are truly Bi but I have one friend in particular that got very hurt by a number of girls who were just experimenting with being lesbians. My friend fell hard and the girls went back to their boyfriends. That I have a problem with.

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]boyan_fraser
2007-12-26 10:07 pm UTC (link) Track This
LOL Come on, I'm sure there's plenty of men out there who'd be happy if a babe like you sucked their cock. ;)

I like your point about labels becoming 'shortcuts to meaning.' That's what I'm trying to get at. It's easy, sure, but so often it just means avoiding the more complicated stuff underneath (which has its advantages, sure, but in the next doesn't let things advance).

As for being 'bi'--I could write another rant on that term alone. I do prefer men most of the time, but ultimately I'm like Captain Jack: if it's intriguing, I'm intrigued, however it's packaged. :)

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]nocompromises
2007-12-26 10:08 pm UTC (link) Track This
Absolutely! Gentlemen, start your cocks!

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]boyan_fraser
2007-12-26 10:18 pm UTC (link) Track This
Right on! LOL

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]elouisa
2007-12-26 10:54 pm UTC (link) Track This
I think I've always lived my life with the philosophy of 'I'm just me.. I'm not a 'female', I'm not a 'girl', I'm not a 'girlfriend', I'm not an 'office worker', I'm not a 'student', I'm not a 'goth' - - I'm Pip, I'm me and if you don't like it, then you can go fuck yourself."

The label thing isn't just about sexuality - it's about how you define yourself in your own mind and what everyone else thinks means nothing to me. It took me a long time to get here but here I am. And it's a good place to be.

Will forever be thankful to my counsellor who taught me that this was an okay way to think about myself

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]boyan_fraser
2007-12-26 11:51 pm UTC (link) Track This
I think I like your philosophy. I am who I am, and screw the labels. ;)

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]nightshade_7976
2007-12-27 02:12 am UTC (link) Track This
Okay, then...I shall do so tonight. ;)

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]boyan_fraser
2007-12-27 02:51 am UTC (link) Track This
LOL Brava! Brava! I'm proud of you, babe. :D

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]nightshade_7976
2007-12-27 06:09 am UTC (link) Track This
I have been told that I'm rather good at it. ;)

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]boyan_fraser
2007-12-27 07:00 pm UTC (link) Track This
Well, that deserves a special commendation: I, Sir Bryan of Cocklovingia, hereby pronounce you, the Lady Nightshade, a Grand Mistress of Fellatio.

::applause::

(Reply to this)(Parent)

Bi? Wait, no....
(Anonymous)
2007-12-27 05:37 pm UTC (link) Track This
... I never had to *pay* for it. Sorry, old joke.

"I think we should all suck cock like it's a perfectly natural thing to do. So go on, get out there and suck some cock. Go blow some big hot stud in the name of oral and political freedom. Vive la revolution! A vos genoux! Blowjobs for everyone! Cock-suckers of the world unite!"

I think you should run for office on that platform. Laissez les bons gents rouler!

EW

(Reply to this)(Thread)

Re: Bi? Wait, no....
[info]boyan_fraser
2007-12-27 07:03 pm UTC (link) Track This
LOL God, I must be out of it today, since it took me about a minute to get the 'pay for it' part. Thanks for passing it along, babe. :)

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]miss_dazey
2007-12-28 01:09 am UTC (link) Track This
Labels are tricky things. Most of the time, I don't like them. They generalize and oversimplify....but sometimes it's just easier to slap a word on something to give someone the idea than go into a long drawn out explanation. I've found myself using labels just for that purpose - to give a one word answer to a question when I don't feel like going into long details. I don't really like to do it however, because everyone has their own preconceived notions of things and more often than not a label isn't really getting across what you're all about -- whether it's religion or sexuality or whatever.

It'd be nice if people weren't so concerned with labels at all.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

On labels:
[info]boyan_fraser
2007-12-28 02:48 am UTC (link) Track This
Yep, labels can be useful, a point I think I acknowledge in the original post. But they can also box us in strange and problematic places. The term "queer" is so highly contested right now because of its appropriation by groups that plenty of people don't consider queer, like the literary community, which often uses 'queer' in a context divorced from sexuality at all. Or "gay," which is considered in some circles, as you doubtless know, as a term equivalent to "colored" when it's still applied to people of color. So, yeah, terms can help, if you want to identify with a group--but the thing is, who is the group? It's arguably a false identification, since the group you think you're identifying with might not even want to include you, might not exist beyond your individual conception of that group, a conception you might not even realize that you've conceived, if you're able to follow that wonky logic. ;)

Basically, I agree with everything you said, especially with the last line.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]happywriter06
2007-12-28 06:10 pm UTC (link) Track This
I'm laughing at your post because it reminds me of a conversation I had last night.

I hate labels myself as well. I feel like I've spent a good deal of my life falling neatly in categories and then just as easily falling out of them.

I specifically hate labels when it comes to race and sexuality. All they seem to do is make you feel bad.

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]boyan_fraser
2007-12-29 02:10 am UTC (link) Track This
I feel like I've spent a good deal of my life falling neatly in categories and then just as easily falling out of them.

Exactly the same here. That's why this sentence tastes like poetry to me.

I can't stand racism, sexism, homophobia and any other form of discrimination. Society has tried to sucker people's minds into believing we have to fit ourselves into boxes. Screw gender roles, stereotypes, standards, negative labels and expectations! Be who you are no matter what anyone else thinks, because labels don't make people... people make the labels.

P.S. What do you say we add each other to our flists?

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]happywriter06
2007-12-31 05:03 pm UTC (link) Track This
That's why this sentence tastes like poetry to me.
Thanks.

P.S. What do you say we add each other to our flists?
Sure.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

WitchQueen: Exclusion or inclusion?
(Anonymous)
2007-12-31 12:10 am UTC (link) Track This
This is a fascinating topic for discussion. However, I'm going to disagree with you, because I merely have a different - and, I hope, equally valid - opinion on this subject.

I don't think labels are a bad thing. Frankly, I don't have space in my head to keep track of the minute permutations of likes, dislikes, hobbies, political alliances, etc. of everyone I want to keep track of, and I certainly don't have the patience to explain such to other people about these people I know, if it comes up. I say I'm a lesbian because, all else being equal, I'd rather eat pussy than cock and my worldview tends toward the gynocentric. Lesbian gives me a passcard into certain restricted areas of the population, certain cultural artifacts people are eager to show me, there are things associated with lesbian that I find valuable that would disappear if lesbians were assimilated.

My minor in college was women's studies; I focused on this cultural history of lesbians in the 20th century. There is an incredibly rich cultural history there to be studied. I don't want to give that up. Maybe I have a little of the separatist in me, or maybe I've just hit my limit on the great american melting pot. I want to carry on that history in my fiction, or at least that part of it that applies to men. (I also enjoy the chance to actually use some of that knowledge I spent so many years gathering!) I don't want to perpetuate the stereotypes that the labels convey, but I choose to do that by using the words on the labels and then having my characters go on doing what they're doing anyway. There are characters whose stance would be to reject labelling anyway, but there are others who might enjoy a little seduction to the queer side of the force - and others who I can't help but see already standing on that side of the fence. I want to write that part of me, that queer part, into the characters - for me, that's what slash is.

How about exploring bisexuality above and beyond "oh, I date women but you're a guy and you're hot too"? What about the factions in the gay community which disbelieve in bisexuality altogether? What about the people who think drag queens and leathermen are "bad for our image" - where do our favorite characters stand on that question? There's a political stance that says monogamy is just a tool of the patriarchy - how does that affect the "true love" theme of most slash romance? Do our characters have politics? How do they deal with butch and femme issues, with androgyny and queer punk and "straight-acting straight-appearing" queers? Really, dealing with the heterosexuals in their lives is only one small part of it all.

Still and all, one too many more "but if they know we're gay they'll all hate us and beat us up!" stories might convert me to your viewpoint. :)

(Reply to this)(Thread)

Re: WitchQueen: Exclusion or inclusion?
[info]boyan_fraser
2007-12-31 01:11 am UTC (link) Track This
Hiya WitchQueen. I'm not sure that I'm up for a discussion of this right now, but I'll try. Okay. I'm not saying that stories shouldn't deal with issues of homophobia and the (culturally-produced) strangeness of fucking someone of your own sex. But I'm not looking forward to big, excrutiating *Explorations* of what it means to be queer. I just don't like issue!fic. It doesn't matter what the issue is; it doesn't interest me, unless the issue is well-handled. IME, usually, it's not. Usually the subject of sexual orientation is used for cheap, emotional exploitation.

I don't want to suggest that issues, including queer ones, shouldn't enter slash. Of course they should. It's the single-message stories, regardless of the message, that turn me off. If it's part of the story as a whole, then great.

I'd never suggest that the subject of queerness isn't profound, fascinating and problematic. It is. I'm particularly interested in the construction of sexual discourses, especially queer ones, and so have read and loved the work by such diverse scholars as Foucault, Kosofsky Sedgwick, Dover, Dollimore, de Lauretis, Bray, Boswell, etc.

But going from Dollimore's Sexual Dissidence to Crappy Fanwriter's "X felt very saddened by the lack of love the world showed him because he was gay" makes me cringe.

I think slash *can* be smart and political and fun, and, yes, I applaud and encourage writers, myself included, to pursue fic that does this.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


(Post a new comment)