Sunday Bitter Sunday #10

I’m currently fighting off a cold, but I’ve got irish coffees and Bitter Batman to help me.

He fights crime... and colds!

Tonight’s topic is massive enough to write several books about, but I’m going to focus on a recent example I came across.

Sunday Bitter Sunday #10: Blackface

I like Of Montreal. Sure, their song titles are pretentious as fuck (“Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games” anyone?) but the music is poppy, psychedelic fun.

I was listening to the album Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?“ again last week and got curious about the inspiration behind the music, so I did a little digging on Kevin Barnes, the brains behind the outfit.

Turns out Hissing Fauna… is all about Barnes dealing with depression and a near nervous breakdown by “transforming” into Georgie Fruit, a black transsexual:

Barnes as Georgie Fruit. Hate crime?

Now I’m sensitive to the pain that comes from depression. I’ve been there more times than I’d like to remember and I know what a terrible place it is to be. But goddammit I am sick of white people appropriating blackness to work out their shit. I know that songwriters sometimes adopt other personas to help with their creativity (with Garth Brooks as Chris Gaines being the epitome of failure at this strategy). But from what I’ve read, Barnes seems unwilling or unable to question what it means for him to adopt the Georgie Fruit persona. And this is a problem, particularly in the context of the ways in which race and gender play out in our society. In an interview here Barnes says that “If I’m Georgie Fruit, I can say whatever I want — I can be raunchy and rude and insensitive, but it’s not me.” Blackness is a chance to be loud and to be sexual. It plays into all the old tired stereotypes.

Earlier this year, I remember looking at the website for Transgender Day of Remembrance and being incredibly disheartened by the fact that a) the violence is at a level where we need a Trans Day of Remembrance and b) so many of the transfolks we’ve lost this year seem to be black and brown people.

So. A straight, white man takes on a black trans persona while actual black transpeople are beaten and murdered, just for being who they are.

This is not a fucking game.

Sunday Bitter Sunday #9

This was supposed to be posted last week, but me and Bitter B were too bitter to even finish writing it.

Sunday Bitter Sunday #9: The Advocate

Although I will give The Advocate props for being the oldest running gay magazine, that’s about all I’m willing to give it props for. Much like Human Rights Campaign and other assimilationist queer groups, it’s not for the whole queer community, but is geared towards white gay men and lesbians. For that reason, it’s been awhile since I’ve picked up a copy, and it’s generally been “out of sight, out of mind” for me. Until I saw the cover for the most recent issue:

Fail. Complete and utter fail.

For so many reasons.

First of all, the work of the Civil Rights movement is not finished. Racism is still a reality in the lives of black people in this country (and of people of color in general). The passage of the Civil Rights Act didn’t change that. To suggest that the struggle for racial equality is over (or is antiquated) is doing a huge disservice to people of color in this country. It is denying and bellitting our experiences, as well as completely ignoring the fact that some people are both gay and black (wow, what a concept).

Secondly, there are far too many other social movements and struggles happening now to suggest that gay rights (and notice how the terminology used is “gay rights”, not queer or LGBTQ or anything more inclusive) is “the last great civil rights struggle”. That whole language is just buying into “oppression olympics” bullshit. What about transfolks, intersex people, immigrants, fat people, and atheists/non-believers? What about all the complex intersections of identities that people have. What about all the other issues facing the queer community? Although I think queers should have the right to get married if we want to, I’m sick of the idea that that’s the most important issue facing the community. In some ways, I feel like the marriage movement is about white gays and lesbians wanting to gain access to the same privileges as their straight counterparts. I worry that once we achieve marriage equality, all the trannies, and the brown people, and the freaks, and the outlaws in the community will be left in the dust and forgotten.

When I look at that Advocate cover, I can’t help but think about all these problems. It’s like a visual representation of the failures of the mainstream gay and lesbian movement.

Awesome.

At a press conference earlier today an Iraqi journalist threw their shoes at President Bush.

Thank you sir for doing what almost everyone in the world has been wanting to do for years.

Flashback Friday: 90s Toys

I never actually had this game, but I always wanted one because the commercial was so intense. But I’m betting that the actual gameplay didn’t really live up to the hype:

Plus there’s this, which makes me wish it were summer again:

And my favorite:

Let me know if you find the one for Ribbon Dancer. I couldn’t find it and I’m dying to hear that cheesy ass song again.

Yes, I’m still alive

Wow, sorry I’ve been so MIA with the blog recently. I had actually even written a draft of an SBS for Sunday about the latest cover of the Advocate and how much it sucks and just didn’t have the energy to finish it. Plus, I think Jamilah broke it down pretty well already.

Things have been going pretty well. Living in Berkeley, going to cafes and dinner parties, hanging out, going on dates, playing a little music and doing as little as possible at work. It’s almost like I’m a real person or something.

Anyway, hopefully two more posts today (oooh!). A Flashback Friday and the first post in a new semi-regular thing called “The Best Shows You’re Not Watching”, because there’s nothing I love more than geeking out and then getting other people into my obsessions.