Recent Posts
"No man can turn down this pussy!"
Azzam
Friday, Mar 02, 2018 - 11:58:44 pmGrace Jones is one of the most influential gay icons of all time. An actor, model and singer, she continually challenges societal gender norms. Her androgynous appearance is one of the most obvious indications of her gender deviance. In movies, she was usually typecasted to specific roles that portrayed her as someone who defied all Read more →
Hiding behind the rainbow: Protection for gay in rape culture
Simin
Friday, Mar 02, 2018 - 10:00:08 pmReview on The New Yorker
In light of the allegations of sexual harassment against Harvey Weinstein, recent #metoo movement came into play when Alyssa Milano used it in support of her friend’s Rose McGowan. Following the allegations about Weinstein, many others from both men and women, slowly unfolded. One interesting switch of event, was on Kevin Spacey. After Read more →
Do I fit?
Min Jun
Friday, Mar 02, 2018 - 01:00:04 pmHave you ever walked past someone and wondered just what in the world was he thinking when he bought that hideous jacket? Or have you ever saw two girls holding hands, and wondered to yourself whether they’re lesbians or just good friends?
As humans, we tend to judge and label everybody that we meet in our daily lives – no matter Read more →
I think Min Jun has showed interesting examples of how people are judgmental and quick into labelling through these two video clips. Humans usually learn through visuals and audios. Hence, using what we observe and what we listen, we construct an idea. This is like how we judge people. As seen from the videos, we do so based on how they look, dress, sound and behave. I agree with one of the queers from the video, Xandrie, that it is an unfortunate nature of humans to judge quickly based on these external factors. It is unfair to a person to be immediately labelled, without seeing internally who they really are. Yet, this is a practice that is hard to change since animals, not just humans, would always discriminate “others” who are different from “us”.
The videos also highlighted the fact that labels are technically limiting. Common words used in our various languages are official and have a standard definition in dictionaries. However, labels are not official terms and people do not get educated on them in general together. Thus, it is unavoidable that different people would have different understanding of how these labels are defined. Yet, sometimes I wonder if creating so many labels for various communities to identify with would be helpful. Or would it be better to just use a uniform and neutral word such as “humans” to label all of us?
"The garden's looking very homosexual this morning"
Tan Jun Yi
Thursday, Feb 15, 2018 - 02:41:53 amFry – When was the last time you could say homosexual in the proper context?
Laurie – And it’s such a lovely word!
Fry – Oh, it’s one of the great words –
Laurie – “My word, Jane,” I used to say to my wife, “the garden is looking very homosexual this morning”
– Pilot, A bit of Fry and Laurie
Opening Read more →
your body. your life. your choices.
Azida Mohamed
Monday, Feb 05, 2018 - 06:17:00 am“If you haven’t, you’re a prude. If you have, you’re a slut. It’s a trap.”
The Breakfast Club came out in 1985 and surprise, what Allison Reynolds said then is still alive and well 30 years later.
Slut-shaming or prude-shaming is both a phenomenon that polices how women choose or don’t choose, to express themselves sexually. And they are both problematic as Read more →
I think Azzam has provided an interesting video clip that shows the swap in stereotypical gender roles. This clip shows how the character that Grace Jones was acting did not conform to the typical feminine way of speaking where it is subtle. Instead, she was straightforward and daring in expressing her thoughts and desires. On the other hand, the character that Eddie Murphy plays changed from a dominative speech to a subtle speech when facing a strong-headed lady. This shows how speeches can be adopted and changed in different situations. A male does not only have to speak to establish dominance, likewise a female should not speak to express compliance only. In fact, speeches should not even be categorized using genders. Instead, it is more related to who has more authority. However, in most cases, males would have more speaking authority. Thus, their speech would be more of the dominating kind.
It is also interesting to see how a word has very different meanings in this clip. Jones’ character has repeatedly said the word “pussy” to imply different things in the clip. Initially, she was referring to her own female private part, which is the vagina. Then, she used it to call Murphy a coward instead. This change in meaning is more significant since Jones considered her “pussy” to be amazing, that no one could ever turn down. Yet, Murphy turned it down and that makes him a coward.