Let’s Dive into Provocative Queer Art and Politics
Prism & Pen Weekly Digest, 22 September 2024
by James Finn
Queer art is one focus of Prism & Pen this week, from the enduring power of queer romance, to the musings of an artist who identifies as nonbinary and says you can too, to a discussion of “queerbaiting” in entertainment — and whether that term has evolved past usefulness. In a separate story, was Katy Perry queerbaiting at the VMAs? Also, how did falling in love with theatre as a boy cause James Patrick Nelson to be afraid of being gay? Isn’t the theatre world gay as?
Politics also dominate this week, from an interview inside a queer separatist commune in Mexico City to stealth transphobia in Canada’s Conservative Party. As always, we feature queer storytellers sharing their own lives and truths. The upcoming U.S. elections loom large in many of those stories, even when they are not the focus.
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* Discover P&P Diversity *
The Enduring Power and Importance of Queer Romance
… To put it plainly, this [queer romance book club] gives me life.
Our most recent novel was K.T. Hoffman’s debut novel The Prospects, which features a love story between two baseball players, one of whom, Gene, is gay and trans and the other of whom, Luis, is gay and cis and Latino. From the moment I started reading Gene’s story, I knew this was going to be one of those queer love stories that would set up shop in my heart and stay there.
Canada’s Conservatives Have Gone Suspiciously Silent on Trans Issues
Recently, I was with a few other [Canadian] trans women, and Trump came up in conversation. Our shared fear was palpable, though I took the chance to point out the then-only-a-week-old announcement of Biden bowing out for Harris as a sign of potential hope.
Undiscussed, amidst the nonetheless important state of American politics, were the politics of our home country. When I tried to jam a foot in and highlight potential issues, I hit a wall.
Unfortunate as it is to admit, this is a classic Canadianism.
Inside a ‘Queer Separatist’ House in Mexico City
I ring the doorbell of La Comuna Lencha Trans, an epicentre of Sapphicism and socialism in Mexico’s capital. The jet-black door swings open, and I’m greeted by a flurry of “holas” and “como estas?”, then whisked up a couple of flights of stairs lined with feminist art. Within minutes, I’m seated at a dinner table with a plate of roasted zucchinis and rice alongside two of La Comuna’s nine residents.
“Eat, eat,” they implore, “we are busy anyway.” One is drawing a flyer for an anti-carcelario (anti-prison) demonstration, the other taps away on her laptop — she’s writing an academic paper on feminist justice.
Why I’m Nonbinary and You Can Be, Too
I identify as nonbinary because what I’ve been told of women has never come close to containing all that I am…
I’ve tried for small and delicate, many times. It left me with jutting bones, visible veins, and a hunger that couldn’t be satisfied until I’d returned to a reasonable size. I was weak — so very feminine! — for a while there. Weak with hunger.
The stories in films and books told me that women craved the love and support of one man, to the exclusion of all others. I dutifully dreamed of finding a soulmate…
I really don’t know if my discomfort with my body is gender dysphoria or the constant tension between the shape I’ve been told a woman should be and the shape that I am.
The Appropriation of ‘Queerbaiting’: Where Do We Go From Here?
There is a building consensus among social critics that we shouldn’t use this phrase [queerbaiting] anymore, and I wanted to talk about how we have arrived at this point and what it means for our language more broadly.
Traditionally, queerbaiting has been a marketing tactic. It had to do with the creators and marketers of a text providing cues that are familiar to queer viewers but can be missed by everyone else.
A classic example is Teen Wolf characters Derek Hale (Tyler Hoechlin) and Stiles Stilinski (Dylan O’Brien), who had a “frenemies” dynamic that was read by many fans as homoerotic.
* From the Editors *
The Best of Prism & Pen? Calling All Readers and Writers: Help, Please!
Prism & Pen is considering launching a new publishing project to amplify queer stories and voices. To succeed, we need YOUR help, whether you’re a regular reader or a writer. To help get get this effort off the ground:
* This Week’s Essays & Creative Non Fiction *
Roaring Rhythms: Pride in Pop
Based on requests, it is time to finish off my Roaring Rhythms articles with Pop. After articles on metal, country, and electronic beats, it’s time to dive into the dazzling world of pop and beartistry. And let’s be real: the genre has been always had fabulous influence of gay artists, producers and songwriters who boldly challenged norms and redefined stardom. From Sylvester’s glittering disco reign in the ’70s to Erasure’s synth-pop mastery in the ’80s, queer artists have consistently pushed the envelope.
A Normal Life? Where Does a Trans Woman Apply?
… Fortunately that thread was shut down quickly. I resisted the urge to post a response and engage with an unpleasant person and thus continue the negativity.
But yeah, I really want a normal life. I want to wake up, have breakfast, go to work, eat, sleep, hang out with friends, cook or take my partner to dinner, travel occasionally. Normal life stuff. What I don’t want is to justify my existence …
The House Of Gay Debauchery
I’d never been to an orgy before.
I approached the house with trepidation.
It was on a corner lot surrounded by a six-foot fence that stood to the sidewalk’s edge.
“Doesn’t that go against the code?” I thought.
Eventually, I found the gate to enter. Surrounding the house were lounging areas with tables and chairs. It was a cool October evening, so I figured everyone was inside. Arrows pointed me to the front door.
How a Gay Rumor Changed Everything, Left Me Questioning It All
Not long after my grad-school year began, I developed feelings for my classmate Xie, and my affection for him started because of a rumor…
Then one day, in a crowded little dive restaurant, we were eating and chatting as usual. He sat across from me, his face glowing with happiness. I couldn’t help but stare at him, and suddenly, the food in my mouth became hard to swallow. Even the water tasted off after a few sips. From my angle, he seemed like a red balloon floating up, about to bump against my face, and I had an overwhelming urge to grab him, to kiss the lips that were trembling slightly from excitement.
Why Drag Is So Important To Me! Celebrating the Late Chilli Pepper.
Today, when I heard of the passing of Chicago’s Miss Chilli Pepper, the early part of my gay life history rolled past as if in a movie. Those were the days my friend, we thought they would never end. I was young, impressionable, out to the bars three or four times a week, up all hours drinking, doing drugs and poppers, watching drag shows.
I privately fell in love, unbeknownst to them, with several drag performers, handed them uncounted dollar bills as is done to recognize their talent, and I even had a little drag-performance experience myself.
Olympics Gender Controversy: An Intimate Perspective of the (Real) Male Gaze
… Where does Toulouse-Lautrec fit? In my recent deep dive into the art of the famed 19th-century French illustrator, I came across a series of his paintings that turn around the concept of the male gaze — at least the more contemporary one used in feminist critique.
And I say that especially if you’re also used to the way lesbian and bisexual women are presented in media.
It’s still a part of the canon of how these characters are represented to have them shown as a titillating device, usually for men, …
Queer Friendships Are a Lifeline
We live in two different worlds that I wish could overlap in a healthy, empathetic manner more often.
Genuine friendships require trust, understanding, respect, love, and acceptance. When we add the extra layer of a queer identity into the mix, sometimes acceptance goes out the window.
They claim to love us, but not our “lifestyle choices.” They “love the sinner, but hate the sins.”
If your love is conditional, I’d much rather you not bother loving me at all.
Am I Aromantic or Just Afraid?
I think it wasn’t until my first year of college that I really began to question what romance and love meant to me. For the longest time, I had watched friends dive headfirst into crushes and flings while I hung back.
Was I afraid of relationships? Or rather, was there something more, something I couldn’t quite comprehend yet?
If the LGBTQ+ Community Is a Team, What Kind of Team Are We?
A quick peek behind the rainbow curtain reveals fractures, competing factions within the LGBTQ+ community. And, although we may say we’re all on the same team, we often don’t act like it.
I’ve written about how many gay men resent or disdain bi men.
However, only recently has it come to my attention that attitudes and biases of this sort are not the exclusive province of gay vs bi men. Comments responding to recent articles have provided anecdotal evidence that bi, demi, pan, and ace women have also been met with derision and ostracization… from cis lesbian women, in particular.
Katy Perry’s Controversial VMAs Performance: Queerbaiting?
On stage, Katy Perry performed a medley of her most famous songs, as well as her new single “I’m his, he’s mine” alongside Doechii, a woman artist featured in this song.
Now, the song itself is fine. It’s basically about Perry wanting her man all for herself, which is definitely not original, but I’d sing that too if my husband was literally Orlando Bloom. I’ll give her that.
The problem is that in this performance, Katy and Doechii engage in what looks like “scissoring”, a term that is used to describe a reportedly popular sexual practice among lesbians.
When I Fell in Love With Theatre, I Was Afraid of Being Gay
The first time I knew for certain I wanted to spend my life in the theatre, I was 14 years old watching Brian Dennehy in Death of a Salesman at Center Theatre Group. I sat frozen in my seat long after the audience had left and the ushers were collecting the playbills. It felt like I’d been smacked in the solar-plexus by a freight train. It was such a colossal, visceral performance.
But without diminishing the play’s impact on me at all, it strikes me that so many powerful, commanding performances back then were synonymous with a kind of brutish, “masculine” energy that we all held in high esteem.
I’d just begun to study acting and theatre history at an arts high school, and contrary to the assumptions about theatre kids, my classmates were mostly little straight boys, obsessed with David Mamet.
Can’t Wait To Get Rid of My Penis
When you are raised as a guy for decades and finally come to terms with being transgender, at least for me, it is a struggle to fight through the dense jungle of binary socialization associated with how you look. For most of my life, if you look like a guy, you are a guy…
From the slap on my ass by the doctor who delivered me, to a few short years ago when I realized I was wired female, my penis governed my gender. I go to the Men’s Room. I use urinals. I can write my name in the snow. (It’s a short name …)
The Slowness and Difficulty of Change for the LGBTQIA+ Community
In the not too distant past, I realized that even though I am a gay man, I hold prejudices, biases against my own gay community; in effect in some ways I am a homophobe. If I look very closely, I can see that parts of me are still also racist, ageist, sexist, and more!
One reason change in societal/cultural beliefs is so difficult is that from the beginning of life, we grow up as children who do not realize that we have the power to choose to believe or not believe what we hear and see.
* Fiction Shorts*
The Gay Detective: The Man in the Grey Flannel Shroud
If only I’d known… Famous last words. But the signs were there. And I’d missed them — no-one to blame but myself.
“You wouldn’t play to save my life — maybe you’ll play to save theirs.” The whisper from Harry’s tablet echoed in the eerie silence of the shuttered room. Slanted rays of the late afternoon sun filtered though chinks in the louvers, casting the corners into deeper shadow.
Something underlay the musty, closed-up smell — a familiar scent I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
* Fiction Series*
Her Witch, Her Demon
In this high-fantasy serial, the protagonist and many supporting characters are explicitly queer. Queerness is not the conflict in Torshie’s universe. Nevertheless, in my opinion, she has produced a novel that can and perhaps should be read as queer allegory.
She shut her eyes, concentrating on the magnetic pull of her demoncraft. Her mind whirred to life like waves in the ocean, seeking to latch on to the spell she’d marked on Krazord. Then the gray face of the greater demon appeared in Nyx’s mind. They were in bed with a heap of naked bodies. Some humans. Many demons.
Nyx’s eyes peeled open.
“Did you find them?” asked Rexadan, watching her intently.
Read Episode 22 & Episode 23
* Poetry Picks *
Can I be your sister? (A Poem from a Trans Woman to Her Brother)
How did this break us … of all things, how was it this?
You have been there all my life, I thought we loved each other
Was it always conditional? Dependent on fitting your plans
Your idea of the perfect family portrait …
Now I don’t seem to fit in, is it one to many aunts now?Was it really so wrong of me to want to be happy?
Look back at the family snaps you hold so dear
The ones you have decided show the truth …
That’s it for this week!
And writers? We’ve got a timely prompt running. New prompt coming as early as tomorrow, but (especially) with elections looming in the U.S., today is always the right day for queer people to talk politics!
Happy reading! Keep shining the love, and send your stories to Prism & Pen.
We need you all!
