crowdfunding | Poke a Censor in the Eye: Queer Art

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ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com posting in

I've written another "poke a censor in the eye" post, this one promoting queer art. It's my response to attacks on the Smithsonian's "Hide/Seek" exhibit.

Are you some flavor of queer? Does your crowdfunding project feature queer motifs? Are you a queer patron of the arts, or patron of queer arts? If so, here's an invitation to promote what some people would like to stamp out. Reply with a discussion and/or links, and boost the visibility of sexual diversity.

Current Mood: determined

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

aldersprig.livejournal.com

I'm bi, and my webserial, Addergoole (http://addergoole.com), as well as much of my writing on my LJ, features characters who are gay or bisexual.

Irkdesu, the author of The Peacock King (http://peacock-king.infernalshenanigans.com/node/187), once described it as (paraphrase):

"PK is more or less, 'okay, you're gay, no go kill things.' Addergoole is 'okay, you're gay, now go have babies.'"

Which is to say, gay/bi/lesbian/transgender themes show up in both serials as part of the background.

From:

irksnapple.livejournal.com

Yeah, in PK's world's several major societies, orientation isn't a social issue. Only in one of them is gender identity a social issue. For the most part the default assumption is that a person is bi, and otherwise people just don't care. The taboos in the societies more have to do with ethnicity and appearance and some other wonky things having to do with their own history and world. Since it's not Earth I don't expect them to have the same cultural predispositions.

The motivation behind the quote "you're gay, great, now go kill people" was my frustration regarding gay characters always having a subplot having to do with their gayness, instead of them just, well, being gay. Instead of just another character they end up being the author's platform regarding some issue or another, and I don't care about what a platform thinks or does or kicks in the kneecaps. I want to read *characters* doing things, and if there's a gay social issues subplot involved in that, it had better make for a good story instead of just being preachy fluff.

...Which is kind of an odd comment to leave considering the parent post, but basically what I mean is that if you're going to have a GBLT character then please please please do them justice instead of making them a template. There are gay and bi and whatever characters in PK that I am proud of and that I feel represent a lot of my feelings about being some sort of GBLT myself. But I'm most proud of them for being themselves.

From:

aldersprig.livejournal.com

As always, Irk is 1000 times more eloquent than I am. :-D

From:

irksnapple.livejournal.com

As Editor Char well knows, what some people can say in ten words, I can say in a hundred! :D

From:

aldersprig.livejournal.com

I've been thinking about this conversation a lot lately while writing Addergoole's next plot arch. :-)

From:

ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com

Yay! I have inspired thought. My vocation is fulfilled for the day.

From:

ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com

>>Yeah, in PK's world's several major societies, orientation isn't a social issue. Only in one of them is gender identity a social issue. For the most part the default assumption is that a person is bi, and otherwise people just don't care.<<

Fascinating!

>>The taboos in the societies more have to do with ethnicity and appearance and some other wonky things having to do with their own history and world. Since it's not Earth I don't expect them to have the same cultural predispositions.<<

Yeah, I've noticed that in my various worlds too. One of my favorite settings is the Whispering Sands desert, which is somewhat inspired by Middle Eastern cultures. But they aren't concerned about all the same things -- they'll bicker over territory, tribal affiliation, and gender; but they rarely if ever tangle over religion or skin color.

>>Instead of just another character they end up being the author's platform regarding some issue or another, and I don't care about what a platform thinks or does or kicks in the kneecaps. I want to read *characters* doing things, and if there's a gay social issues subplot involved in that, it had better make for a good story instead of just being preachy fluff.<<

That's called "background parity" -- when a facet of identity ceases to be a show-stealer and can be a random detail. We're starting to see some good examples of that. Yes, I've done it with some characters' sexual orientation or gender identity, where they happen to be queer and it's mentioned but doesn't affect the plot much if at all. I also do this with skin color, which has mightily baffled people: apparently it's almost unheard of to write a story with no white characters that is not "about race." But I do that when I'm writing about a culture that, well, doesn't have white people in it, and the stories have whatever plot caught my fancy at the time. "Peacock Hour" was basically a space race told with flying carpets.

Amusingly, one of my Torn World characters has a significant sexual issue, but not the obvious one. Tekura is homosexual by preference in a culture where that's perfectly okay; there are some practical challenges but he manages to overcome them. However, he also wants a permanent monogamous relationship, and that isn't typical there, so it's very hard for him to find a compatible partner. I was fascinated by the contrast between cultural norms.

>>Which is kind of an odd comment to leave considering the parent post, but basically what I mean is that if you're going to have a GBLT character then please please please do them justice instead of making them a template.<<

No, this is fine! You can advocate for whatever kind of story you want to read or write. It's okay if you want background parity, or high characterization. It's okay if some other folks are heavy into identity fiction. Anything in the general field is on topic!