I was thinking about the dichotomy of culture and biology in terms of homosexuality. A friend in
In order for this to work we have to apply the lovely neat scientific notion of a double dissociation, which for d/Deaf people would look something like this:
| | deaf | hearing |
| Deaf | X | X |
| Hearing | X | X |
This table works pretty well. All combinations can and do exist. It might appear a little odd at first but it doesn’t take too much thought to figure out how each one could arise. The g/Gay table requires a little step outside of the box.
| | gay | straight |
| Gay | X | ? |
| Straight | ? | X |
Can you be a culturally gay heterosexual? Or a culturally straight homosexual?
I don’t really know where I’m going with this. I’ve been trying to finish this with a profound point for the last 2 weeks to no avail but due to the need to post something before the blog police come along and arrest me I’m simply going to say: Discuss.
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5 comments:
hmm. I like it. Surely culturally heterosexual gay people are those firmly in the closet, denying anything to the public but feeling dem feelings all the same.
The flip side is rather harder. I have at least one friend whom *everyone* at first assums is gay, from his behaviour, but who is in fact straight. But that ain't quite the same as he wouldn't identify as culturaly Gay! rather closer to the old fashioned meanings of gay, in fact- he's a dandy and an artist, I suppose!
maybe you get culturally homosexual frustrated artists, who are Gay Gay Gay cos that's the cool thing to do, but just don't like to admit to their pals that actually they bat for yon other team.
Closer, but still not quite right as there is a degree of subterfuge implicit in my line of thinking which doesn't really feature in d/Deaf.
If in doubt, take a wander in the rain. It focuses the mind. Clearly you're not getting enough driving rain where you are, so I did the decent thing and went out for a walk in our quality Scottish rain here. And this is what I came up with.
Consider the combination of hearing child of deaf parents --- the child is culturally deaf, whether or not they are actually deaf. On the other hand, a deaf child of hearing family is culturally hearing, without further changes in environment.
So to continue the analogy to sexuality: a culturally gay person is one who grew up in a gay family, regardless of their own sexuality. Obviously this puts the actual number of Gay children at a tiny fraction, since gay families are a minority in themselves.
The one interesting offshoot of this setup is that the vast majority of gay children (for want of a better term) are culturally straight, in the same way that deaf children from hearing families are culturally hearing. The Deafness/Gayness must be learned through meeting that culture.
So, to end in the most relevant place possible:
There's a time and a place for everything, and it's called college. -- Chef, South Park
What about bisexuality? I have problems with the ONE OR THE OTHERness of it all.
We've talked about this a lot so I don't want to be a bore, but it interests me and I'm a wee bittie drunk. Like what Helen said, people tend to assume I'm straight and expect me to have a big COMING OUT story, but I don't remember ever being 'in' even when I had only had relationships with men! And not in a oh-woe-is-me-I-was-the-perennial-outcast way. Blah.
I wonder if kids of gay parents could be described as Gay kids whatever their ultimate sexuality. I mean, society's hetronormative, and it's not like gay people have an independent language or are immediately recognisable as such. I don't know. Interesting.
Oh how happy I am that I felt the need to put my tuppence worth in. Definitely worth it.
James Whyte = culturally straight homosexual
I'm watching you, Aiken.
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