Sex and Sexuality

Sexual Inadequacy: The FAIR Education Act

Sex and Sexuality post by GarlandGrey on July 18, 2011 - 10:49am; tagged California, Jerry Brown, LGBT, queer, Traditional Values Coalition.

One of the first squares I always fill in "Hateful Conservative Press Release Bingo" is the one devoted to references to child abuse or to the claim that queers are more likely to abuse children. This perpetually debunked claim is almost always trotted out in national debates about providing queer-inclusive sex education. It is a disgusting lie that puts children in danger by preparing them to be wary of a mincing stereotype instead of real sexual predators, most of whom identify as heterosexuals. It is unclear at what age the Traditional Values Coalition would think mentioning that queer people exist would be appropriate, but my guess is their answer would be "never" and "shut up about it."

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Sexual Inadequacy: #MarcusBachmannIsSoGay

Sex and Sexuality post by GarlandGrey on July 12, 2011 - 11:27am; tagged Marcus Bachmann, Michele Bachmann.

Last Thursday Twitter exploded with the news that House Republican Michele Bachmann, future failed Presidential hopeful, had signed "The Marriage Vow." The 14-point pledge was designed by Bob Vander Plaats of The Family Leader, a conservative Iowa hate tank that was responsible for recalling state supreme court justices who had ruled in favor of marriage equality. It includes several disturbing portions, not least of which is the racist preamble that waxes nostalgic about slavery. Candidates who sign the pledge promise to take certain steps to strengthen "traditional marriage"—banning pornography, ending abortion, and denying the legitimacy of all marriages except those between two heterosexuals of the opposite sex. Which is pretty funny, since the Internet has decided her husband is gay.

Screenshot of a tweet from Dave Foley's Twitter account, stating When he goes swimming, people mistake him for Fire Island with the hashtag Marcus Bachmann is So Gay, all one word. It was sent on June 30th on Twitter for Ipad.

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Sexual Inadequacy: Taking Aim at Archer

Sex and Sexuality post by GarlandGrey on July 5, 2011 - 11:32am; tagged Archer, fx network.

Ray Gilette, with blonde hair, a blonde trimmed mustache, black eyebrows, teal goggles, a matching teal scarf, and a burnt orange jumper, sitting on a ski lift. The shot frames his head and shoulders, and there is snow in the background. He looks resigned, tired, and pensive.

Ray Gilette was one of my favorite characters on Archer. Why did Adam Reed make him a rapist?

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Sexual Inadequacy: The Rawhide Kid

Sex and Sexuality post by GarlandGrey on June 27, 2011 - 12:01pm; tagged comics, queer, Rawhide Kid.

The message of The Rawhide Kid reboot—that there is nothing inherently straight or male about being able to defend oneself or attaining mastery of the "manly arts"—is one I never tire of seeing. But why the explicit content warning?

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Political InQueery: Reinventing the Constitution

Sex and Sexuality post by EvMaroon on June 17, 2011 - 10:35am;

"Pull out a map of Virginia and look where the abortion clinics are. That doesn't make you mad?" Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was speaking to roughly two dozen pastors in the state as he showed them how to be more political without infringing on the state constitution.

Away from the bright lights and snazzy set decoration of CNN's debate stage, far from the on-camera smiles and carefully groomed candidates for President, there is a real battle going on at the state level, across the nation. I'm not talking about the so-called culture wars, a clumsy and passé term if ever there were one, I'm pointing to the unraveling of decades of bipartisan agreement and colleagueship in state government. If the Bush Administration signaled the end of cooperation in Washington, DC, then what 2011 has given us so far is evidence that the war has spread to state houses in every region of the country.

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Sexual Inadequacy: Body Shaming is Not Sexy

Sex and Sexuality post by GarlandGrey on June 16, 2011 - 12:14pm; tagged fat shaming, queer, Tourism, travel.

I understand being firmly rooted in your own sexuality and there is certainly a limit to how comfortable I am being touched by people I’m not having sex with. But that isn’t what this is about. This is about making a joke at the expense of a real group of people. They could have just stopped at the erotic showering and I would have been convinced of the worthwhileness of their product, even if I don’t have the resources to even have time to go to the website, such is the non-existence of my "World Travel Discretionary Spending Fund" for the third quarter of 2011. But instead they chose body shaming. Which is important to me, since I am a fat dude and my days of body shame are behind me. I’m not willing to be told I’m less and then shell out money to prove anyone wrong about that.

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Sexual Inadequacy: If You Can Take a Tracy Morgan...

Sex and Sexuality post by GarlandGrey on June 13, 2011 - 10:28am; tagged 30 Rock, Nashville, Queer Rights, Tracy Morgan.

Near the end of this tirade, Morgan included an old chestnut for the queers in the audience, something I’ve grown used to hearing from every "edgy" comedian who wants to get a few yucks doing material about sissy men or butch ladies or epicene androgynes or whoever is filling the straight male id with abject terror this week: "If you can take a dick, you can take a joke." The implication being that anal sex is some sort of great feat, like the Iron Man Competition or a Triathlon, that straight men couldn't possibly endure, because they're so strong and manly? Obviously a person who has passed through such a terrible ordeal will be so hardened by the experience that they will lose all ability to be angry that they paid almost 90 dollars to be told their sexuality is a choice. The statement sometimes carries with it a note of begrudging respect, but that respect is in the context of the speaker acknowledging that "taking a dick" would be impossible for them. They use queer sexuality to have something to define themselves against in order to underscore and highlight their own bland heteronormativity, and expect to get a pass for vile shit they've said about queer lives? Fuck that.

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Sexual Inadequacy: The Lonely Island's "3-Way"

Sex and Sexuality post by GarlandGrey on June 6, 2011 - 10:10am; tagged Lady Gaga, The Lonely Island, Three's Company, threesomes.

Last month Saturday Night Live released aired a video by the television skit/musical act The Lonely Island called "3-Way." It starred Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg from such other digital shorts "Dick in a Box," "Jizz in My Pants," and "Mother Lover." The two men play flashy, ridiculous men who consider themselves sexual dynamos and most of their songs revolve around their sex lives. In this new video, the pair are seen leaving each other’s houses, having the night before slept with each other’s mothers, Susan Sarandon and Patricia Clarkson. They run through their plans for the day while wearing matching day-glo jumpsuits and decide to each go visit the lady they’ve had their eye on.

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Sexual Inadequacy: t.A.T.u. and Synthetic Queerness

Sex and Sexuality post by GarlandGrey on June 2, 2011 - 10:07am; tagged Eurovision, queer, Queer Sexuality, t.A.T.u..

Image is a close up of Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova engaged in a kiss in the rain, taken from t.A.T.u’s

It is the same as when we acknowledge that the Spice Girls were a marketing tool to sell watered-down empowerment to teens that may have accidentally caused some people to believe in "Girl Power" as a personal concept and might have positively impacted their lives. I will be forever grateful for the slow sex jam "2 become 1" for reminding me to "be a little bit wiser" and "put it on, put it on"—if the Spice Girls used protection, so could I. Even things that are created for completely cynical reasons can have a positive impact.

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Sexual Inadequacy: But What About the Footman?

Sex and Sexuality post by GarlandGrey on May 26, 2011 - 12:29pm; tagged Downton Abbey, Edwardian England, Gosford Park, queer.

Thomas from Downton Abbey, a white man with dark hair, wears a tuxedo and a smug look on his face

Downton Abbey, a period piece about a family and their servants, living on an estate after the sinking of the Titanic but before the first World War. The patriarch of the family has no male heir and must surrender the estate to an obscure relation, the three daughters are being wooed by suitors, and their daily lives are mirrored in the power struggles that go on in the kitchen and the servant’s quarters. It is a high-quality show, full of intrigue and interest, and I found myself getting wrapped up in the drama of each episode. Sadly, we burned through them in a week, and new episodes don’t air until Winter 2012. When we next see the Crawley family, it will be without their first footman, Thomas.

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