Well, time for the next controversy

[chess]

I think there ought to be at universities the equivalent of LesBiGay societies, which serve to bring 'feminine' men and 'masculine' women into contact with women and men who think they're homosexual...

(This will probably get people on opposite sides to me than they were last controversy...)

Comments

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I understand-- there ought to be societies for introducing people who don't conform to sexual stereotypes to those who believe such people to be gay?

Are the people getting introduced to these people necessarily in fact not gay? If they're not, is the reason for the introduction to show the fallacy of the other people's beliefs?

Let's think about this rationally ...

[passage.livejournal.com]

Practicallity =0 (actually, can you have a -ve praticality) (and please don't tell me any of you actually need me to point out why because I will make derogatory comments about your intelligence).

Hence they should not exist, being as they couldn't function and would therefore simply be wasteful.

Neil

[naath.livejournal.com]

She mean a society to convince ppl that not all ppl who act camp are gay don't you Chess.

And of course there shold be one. Everyone should have the right to stand up and say 'I am what I am' and expect not to be hated just because they are like that.

[master-sock.livejournal.com]

We had a gay/straight alliance club at my school. It made a splash in the papers with all sorts of stories about equal rights and such. But as far as I know it didn't actually do anything. It was the focus for many jokes, but that's about it. But I guess it might've been good for the people thta were in it. I didn't actually know any of them.

[pling.livejournal.com]

Assuming Chess means what you say she means (I can't work it out, I'm afraid, Chess):

I had a conversation with someone about this sort of thing a while ago - the question we were discussing was 'are the Pet Shop Boys camp?'. He said 'no, they're not gay' and I said 'and? they're still camp'. He just didn't get it ;)

[chess]

No, I mean so people who think they're gay can meet people of the opposite gender who have the qualities that they like in their own gender.

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

Doesn't that imply that homosexuality is in essence mainly an attraction to features stereotypically attributed to the same sex?

[phlebas.livejournal.com]

They're not??

[phlebas.livejournal.com]

No, to introduce people who don't conform to sexual stereotypes to people who are attracted to those who fit that stereotype, and thus assume themselves to be homosexual.

I'd have assumed this was gross oversimplification, but a while back I read the account of a transsexual friend of mine, and it sounds as though the main reason 'he' decided he was really 'she' was that 'he' didn't fit the masculine stereotype...

So it sounds like at least an interesting idea.

[pling.livejournal.com]

I dunno, tbh. The guy I was talking to may have been right in saying they are straight, dunno ... but it was still irrelevant ;)

[chess]

Yes.

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

And how do we know that it is?

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

A society for introducing people to those who are attracted by attributes exhibited by these people? It sounds like a dating agency.

[chess]

I'm not claiming that it *always* is. Not even than it is most of the time, although I must say in my very limited experience it appears to be kinda this way. But it most certainly sometimes is, okay? And it's *very* annoying that much of the short supply of people who don't conform to gender stereotypes end up being at least labelled 'gay' and therefore seeming inaccessible... wouldn't it be better if they could meet people who are, okay, 'mixed-up' perhaps...

I guess I'm not being very clear here, sorry. I just think that in today's society it's easy for ppl to think they're gay just 'cos they're attracted to more members of their own gender than the other gender when it's really just a characteristics thing, and the characteristics they're after happen to be more common in their gender than the other, but do occur in the other so they don't *have* to be gay... coming of course from the viewpoint that being gay is a Bad Thing, which Naath will no doubt disagree with vehemently...