Queering the Virgin

Queer activists in Spain launched a calendar where transgender persons play the Virgin Mary. This personal discovery of the Spanish calendar comes after a long discussion with my PhD supervisor on religion, about how Orthodoxists claim Tarkovsky, about the easy way out of religion (the claim: “I am an atheist”), about the creepiness of the Christian right and a final agreement on the finest pose of Catholicism that we both enjoy (Father Ted).

Carla Antonelli explains the idea of this calendar:

“I posed myself the following scenario: Why is it that a transsexual woman can’t represent a religious icon given life by so many other actors and actresses throughout history? To not do it would be akin to internalizing the same discriminatory principles that people want to throw against us.”

Because telling who is allowed to act what role denies/recognizes the body of the performer. Transgender people’s bodies are constantly denied, ignored, non-recognized as “real bodies”. Because only ciswomen can play women, right? Otherwise we are looking for the comic effect.

Carla Antonelli’s comment made my day. I remembered my old time fascination with Marcela Althaus-Reid’s books indecent theology of qeering God. I discovered the queer Catholicism when I was in the Netherlands years ago and there was this image stuck in my mind: Jesus in a black latex Batman suit suffering on the cross. Besides the inherent iconoclasm of the calendar to Vatican I style Catholicism (still strong in Catholic countries and also in Greek Catholic communities as I remember from my years in Transylvania), we should not forget t

hat there are also “those who go to gay bars and salsa clubs with rosaries in their pockets, and who make camp chapels of their living rooms”. We are not talking only about the Marxist criticism on religion.

Back to the Virgin, I am impressed by the materiality of belief in these images, where the missing body of the Virgin returns. And this is a strong visual/conceptual statement. As Marcela Althaus-Reid wrote

“If theology has its own cowardice and fears, the horror of uncontrolled bodies and especially of the orgy made up of unrestricted bodies may be the stronger. There are bodies whose fluids overflow the metaphorical discourse of theology, but they have lost materiality and sensuousness. Theology can see blood in wine but not blood in blood. The Vatican can see tears in the eyes of the statues of the Virgin Mary, or sweat on her robes when considering the legitimacy of a claimed apparition, but cannot see a trace of semen on her skirts.”

The criticism of this calendar based on explicit sexuality is shallow: it is only your cissexism and transphobia speaks. You need a better argument than “trans women’s bodies are not fit to represent the Virgen”.

What I see as a valid critique on this project is Prof Susurro’s point of view that

“there is only one trans woman of color in the calendar. Modern day Spain is an international country with Middle Eastern, African, Asian, and Latin@s living within its borders as new comers or third and fourth generation Spaniards. It would have been fairly easy to include trans women of color under these circumstances. Neither the mainstream queer community nor the religious community imagines people of color as part of the Body. Even when correcting the transmisogyny of traditional Christian images, queer activists continue to make these dual exclusions, except for the month of April.”

What about the other months of the year?

Same-sex hand holding (Sshh!)

The first international Same-sex hand holding (Sshh!) Saturday starts on September 26:

On this day, same-sex couples and friends all over the world are encouraged to hold hands in public to support the visibility of Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans (LGBT) people. Sshh! Saturdays will occur on the last Saturday of every month, publicised by A Day In Hand. This is a revolutionary way of encouraging and inspiring LGBT people to take responsibility for their equality and live their lives without fear or restraint.

The campaign is asking people who take part to send their Sshh! photos to yourstories@adayinhand.com. The first Sshh! Saturday is held in memorium of the shooting at an LGBT youth centre in Tel Aviv “and the ongoing atrocities being committed to LGBT people in Iraq”. Queer politics are back! This is a silent revolution because nothing needs to be said: no war of words, no impassioned speeches, no organised rallies. Simply hold hands.
This is not a campaign for couples only. It's for anybody who has ever believed that love has no exceptions.

Straight people could be at the forefront in fighting for queer rights.

Straight people can support us by holding hands with someone of their same gender and uploading the pic.

Do you have to be black, to object to racism?

Do you have to be female, to object to sexism?

You can see a whole load of photos and stories on the A Day in Hand website, including the one on this post of Alice & Em at Charing Cross Station, by Mark Weeks:

Me and Em hold hands everywhere we go, I’m aware we get stared at, might even be
dangerous sometimes which scares me but I really believe it’s a basic human right to express my love for my girlfriend so I do it anyway. It’s funny not long after this photo was taken, we were walking in Islington (holding hands) when a teenage boy threw his drink over Em stating the obvious by calling us lesbians. We confirmed his suspicions and decided to educate him further by having a good old snog in front of him. He couldn’t believe our audacity and decided to coax his friends to follow us on the bus. By this point I was pooping my pants,thinking we may have gone a bit too far, but thankfully one of his friends saw sense (or noticed that a bus full of people might not tolerate any blatant homophobia quietly) and said “Leave em alone, they’re not hurting anyone, it’s up to them what they wanna do.” At which point they promptly got off the bus at the next stop and no doubt went on to harrass someone else. I was angry and scared, cautious about holding hands in public, but amazingly it also made me realise that their behaviour was because of ignorance, and the importance of A Day In Hand campaign.

via The F-Word

if even they can do it, why can't you?

backlash in US academia: no funds for queer theory classes

Republican Georgia state Representatives Charlice Byrd and Calvin Hill started a well-mediatized campaign to cut funds for professors who teach college-level courses on queer theory, reproduction, and sexuality. Hill, the Republican vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee in Georgia, said he alerted his constituents about some faculty whose research interests he considered questionable in hopes that they would voice any complaints to the state Board of Regents. He argued that in a time of budget cuts universities should not offer classes that do not help students get jobs.

“Do you know that your tax dollars are being used at our state universities to pay professors to teach your children classes like ‘Male Prostitution’ and ‘Queer Theory’? Yes, even in tight economic times like we are facing today, our Board of Regents is wasting your tax dollars to teach these totally unnecessary and ridiculous classes.” Hill says his only goal is to tell taxpayers how their dollars are being spent, and encourage them to contact the regents if they have concerns. Of course, the economic crisis is a good moment to promote some conservative discourses and to return to some good-old retun to „seriousness and sobriety” in terms of knowldge production. “I would assume someone that has those credentials can teach something else that is more worthwhile,” he said. What is that exactly? Charlice Byrd explains: "This is not considered higher education," Byrd said. "If legislators are going to dole out the dollars, we should have a say-so in where they go." Hill continues "Our job is to educate our people in sciences, business, math," and of course, professors aren't going to meet those needs "by teaching a class in queer theory."

The most quoted response is this: "Certainly the mission of higher education is to broaden the field of knowledge and research," said spokesman John Millsaps. "That covers a lot of topics. Some may be considered to some as controversial, but to others it could be considered needed." And another spokeperson ads: "Teaching courses in criminal justice, for example, does not mean that our students are being prepared to become criminals. Quite the opposite," said Jones. "Legitimate research and teaching are central to the development of relevant and effective policy."

Hill is quite radical in his obssession with queer theory courses: “Now that we need to cut the state budget, I think I know where we can eliminate a few highly paid professors and get rid of these classes.”

In most of the articles that I've read on the subject, it is shown that there are no classes titled “male prostitution” in Georgia, according to university officials. What the republicans found is a sociology professor at Georgia State University who is listed in a media guide as an expert on the subject of male prostitution. The professor in question, Kirk Elifson, studies risk factors involved in the spread of HIV/AIDS, among other public health issues. As for courses on queer theory, there is at least one offered at the University of Georgia, according to a Board of Regents spokesman.

Another area of cutting up the budget is environmental studies. In Alaska, at least one lawmaker has voiced a general objection to environmentalist faculty views at the University of Alaska. Fairclough, an Eagle River Republican, used a committee meeting last week to complain to Mark Hamilton, the university’s president, about soft faculty support for oil and mining industries in the state.

“If I ask university staff, the people who are educating our future leaders, if they support the Chukchi Sea development, the Red Dog Mine or the Pebble Mine or any type of industry along those lines, a stereotypical response is they are in opposition,” Fairclough said.

Carl Shepro, who heads a union that represents faculty members in Alaska, said Fairclough speaks about lawmakers looking for targets in tight budget times: “As long as you have legislators in other states that are making similar kinds of comments, it may be that it encourages or supports people in the Alaska Legislature. It’s kind of a shift in political culture, if you will.”

The academic backlash is US just started: in relation to the economic crisis, the bigger concern from conservatives is that public universities do not present ‘all viewpoints.’ Hill, who was present but did not question the experts from Georgia State University, said “We’re not backing off.” Byrd said there will be a hearing on the issue next week in the Senate Higher Education Committee. Hill and Byrd will continue to look for university courses that are a questionable use of taxpayer money, Hill said.

“Those are the ones we first found,” he said of the sex- and gender-related experts and courses the two legislators criticized.

Keep your eyes open, the storm just started in US. How are things in Europe?

Sex education from feminists

after reading an old post on All About My Vagina, little sparkles started to light in my mind: who can better teach sexuality to children if not feminists and queers? Let me explain: nowadays sex education is in the hands of high but limited-in-understanding authorities like parents, teachers, doctors, priests, eugenists (see Marie Stopes for example), media and celebrities. We should pay attention where Western anti-authoritarian and anti-oppressive sexuality information comes from: anti-oppression movements like feminism, civil rights and LGBTQ. But on the other hand, who controls sexuality controls the whole game - why should sexuality be empowering, why should someone not think for you and tell you what to do exactly? And this a-la-Foucault control is the key element in spreading bigotism. Anti-oppression movements were not so good in dealing with children in the sense that the topic was avoided in practical terms not to mention the fundamentalist attack based on slogans like protecting our children from perverts and Marxist feminists. I think that sex education for children can be a nice start for spreading some valuable and useful information that was kept secret. The image of the child has to be transformed because so far it is manipulated by bigots at their own will. I am glad to see that there are people working on it and there are methods involved: a collection of tools for learning about sexuality, drawn from do-it-yourself philosophies, unschooling, anti-oppression and pro-equality movements, nonviolence, a lot of sex activism and education, and some network mathematics for good measure.

Insecurities Increase

by Antonette*

Insecurities increase,

with daily verbal abuse

and death threats,

All because of the way I dress.

Aging tranny bitch queen,

tattooed masculine lines,

some ‘bull-dyke’ on steroids.

Nice figure,

but face like Freddie Krueger,

the serial killer.

Why can’t people let me be?

Constantly judging

by first appearances.

You can’t judge

by looking at the wrapping.

The woman in me,

dying to be accepted.

The public forces the Queen

to put the dresses away

after a certain age.

The abuse and constant danger,

Forces the she-male

to only come out at night,

if at all.

Imprisoned by letting the forces

of the shallow general public,

To intimidate the feminine side,

so she must fade away

and hide.

The tranny bitch submissive Queen,

Too old to be seen as anything other

than a sexual deviant,

Fallen so far.

Starting over again

at the bottom,

Can’t get much lower

than a tranny working the stroll.

Shit on from all sides,

an abnormality.

Can I keep going,

dressing daily for my femininity?

Old memories,

sadden the heart,

vacant loneliness,

Stress upon stress.

Afraid I might kill

some ignorant young fuck,

For his ill timed,

homophobic foul mouth.

Don’t look 30,

but awesome for 50-something.

Strong masculine lines

and tattoos,

Constantly reinforce

the fitting handle

of,

Miss Understood.

* I found this wonderful poem at the Queer History Project website. You can find the story of the poem and other amazing queer stories there.

Camping in Bucharest

Selling carpets in Bucharest, around 1925

Camp has to do with posing. Maybe it is about the French origin of the word, maybe it is about the theatrical element of posing for an old photo or for a painting. Camp bodies express excess, dolce far niente, non-productivity, they escape the capitalist logic of production, of efficiency, of giving all you got, of dying on stage. It is always about something more, something in excess, something that goes beyond the expectations. I remember the perfect example: Odin actors were studying not photos but paintings to increase the theatricality of their movement on stage, to go beyond the every-day-life energy, to dilate their bodies. The reason was that there is an inherent excess there, the painted models have to stay for a long time in one position that cannot be efficient in a daily situation. A Camp situation. The same situation with our two characters from above: posing for a nice photo, they are acting excessive and they produce a nonchalant theatricality. A beautiful example of Camp. Bucharest style.

Thanksgiving Prayer - William S. Burroughs

Always good to remember Ol'Bill's words of advise. Not as good as the Gus van Sant classic version, but with some interesting footage.

"Thanks for the wild turkey and
the passenger pigeons, destined
to be shit out through wholesome
American guts.


Thanks for a continent to despoil
and poison.

Thanks for Indians to provide a
modicum of challenge and
danger.

Thanks for vast herds of bison to
kill and skin leaving the
carcasses to rot.

Thanks for bounties on wolves
and coyotes.

Thanks for the American dream,
To vulgarize and to falsify until
the bare lies shine through.

Thanks for the KKK.

For nigger-killin' lawmen,
feelin' their notches.

For decent church-goin' women,
with their mean, pinched, bitter,
evil faces.

Thanks for "Kill a Queer for
Christ" stickers.

Thanks for laboratory AIDS.

Thanks for Prohibition and the
war against drugs.

Thanks for a country where
nobody's allowed to mind the
own business.

Thanks for a nation of finks.

Yes, thanks for all the
memories-- all right let's see
your arms!

You always were a headache and
you always were a bore.

Thanks for the last and greatest
betrayal of the last and greatest
of human dreams."

/wrists : the emo danger

I had enough. Every day I read or hear negative news about emos, these kids between 11 and 17, always crying, always sad, extreme posers and suicidal. Everyone agrees that they are completely ridiculous, dangerous for themselves and others and they need some good therapy.
Young girls accused of being emo deny it with a lot of anger. Same situation with the bands. At some point you wonder if there is such a thing as emo. But what is behind this entire mainstream story that I apparently cannot escape?
In Eastern Europe reactions to this subculture take a classical expression: another dangerous Western import that destroys our children. Jokes on emos’ expense got here in poor translations from English, other local jokes are adapted and all of them create a new category to make fun of. But in relation to them, another-dangerous-alienating-element-that-we-should-beware comes in discussion: internet and its destructions, how massively it influenced emo subculture.
Parents are affected also by this media interest in emos, they are scared that their child can become emo and kill themselves. Clinical discourse intervenes here: from the first signals that parents or teachers are dealing with an emo, they should send the sick person to a therapist.
In 2008 in Mexico reactions against emos started to get organized. Various anti-emo groups attacked teenagers in Mexico City, Querétaro, and Tijuana as an opened reaction to their queerness. This aspect is highly emphasized by their critics everywhere, they are directly accused of being queer or gay, in relation to their display of emotions and tenderness together with their fashion statement where differences between emo girls and boys are missing. Queerness is often associated with the theatricality of their display, a hysterical symptom of grabbing attention.
In Russia, a law is about to be voted by Duma to ban emo websites and emo fashion at schools or state buildings, based on the assumption that emo is a dangerous teen trend promoting anti-social behaviour and suicide.
In Romania, Timisoara Police created a collective to prevent events where emo kids are involved. They go in schools to talk to parents about emos. On the other hand, Romanian Orthodox Church reacted also on several times on the emo danger, considered framed by a bigger move away from traditional values and morality. Priests spoke freely about the involved manipulation, corruption and destruction of contemporary Western subject. Romanian newspapers signal that in every school there are at lest 2-3 kids that are emo, especially fifth and sixth grade and are complaining about lack of statistics regarding emo kids.
Emos are attacked on music and fashion grounds as lacking authenticity and being lame copies of Goths, punks or Japanese manga characters. Attention-grabbing effect, posing and histrionic behaviour are generating a whole subculture bashing. Journalists share a charming optimism: soon enough this fashion will die like all the others. Soon enough they hope. What can I say, things haven’t changed much: it was the same reaction towards women in the nineteenth century, as soon as they became visible, having a voice, hysteria came into place to put into mental institutions the most active ones. These teenagers have a voice now, quite a strong one, and with similar tactics are put down exactly like hysterical women a while ago. Besides the hysterical elements of emo culture that I mentioned here and are constantly under attack, there is one more “dangerous” in its subversiveness: their struggle against sexual difference. Many of the jokes are making fun of boys’ lack of masculinity and their queerness. I wonder how a 12 years old can act more masculine…but the main issue here is the heard voice of this generation that has clearly something to say. The response to teenagers’ demand for agency is a typical one: institutionalizing and silencing.