Even to this day, shame about one’s sexual orientation remains a prominent topic. Whether one identified themselves as gay, lesbian, and transgender, society viewed them and their actions as a sin, a crime, and a disease, which only increased the amount of shame–a painful feeling of distress or humiliation caused by the consciousness of wrong or fooling behavior–they saw within themselves. Then changes began to occur as a group of gays, lesbians, and transgender people confronted police in an event known as the Stonewall Riots or the Stonewall Uprising, which became a turning point for gay liberation. Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home is a 1980s, family tragicomic-graphic memoir that addresses this perspective turning point through the use of the labyrinth
In her article, “A Scar is More than a Wound: Rethinking Community and Intimacy through Queer and Disability Theory”, Karen Hammer examines how Jess’ traumatic experiences in Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues becomes the foundation for her and other transgenders to find “community and intimacy” (160). In doing so, Hammer expertly highlights Jess’ constant need to establish a home of acceptance to combat the violence she faces throughout the novel. Therefore, Jess uses her traumas to form connections with other transgenders to provide a sense of community. However, Hammer fails to acknowledge the consequences of forming a community based on shared experiences of violence. Jess expresses these consequences in her willingness to give up on the
Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera is a captivating story that follows a young Latina lesbian’s journey of self-discovery and acceptance. While Juliet grows to find comfort in her cultural identity and sexual orientation, Harlowe contradicts Juliet's image during her book reading by reducing Juliet to a stereotype. Following this racially aggressive moment, Maxine, another person of color, calls out Juliet for walking away and not standing up for herself in Chapter 25. Through the intersectional identities and stress response of flight, I seek to examine how Rivera explores the notion of blame and ownership through Maxine’s conversation with Juliet about Harlowe’s reading.
What would you do if your dreams were shattered by the weight of societal expectations? Within the pages of the captivating novel, “Love Hate and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed”, a profound exploration of identity, love, and personal agency unfolds. At the heart of this novel stand two interesting characters, Maya Aziz and Phil Hernandez. Maya is a courageous Muslim girl, with Indian heritage, who finds herself residing in a predominately white community, where her parent's traditional values clash with her inside-burning desire for self-independence and self-expression. Similarly, Phil Hernandez, a young man of white descent has his own internal struggles, attempting to do his personal ambitions without publicity, to avoid humiliation or embarrassment.
Although miscegenation is not a new topic, the effects that this phenomenon has on people’s lives has been the source of inspiration for many literary works. “Miscegenation” by Natasha Trethewey is an autobiographical poem that expresses the difficulty that mixed-race people face in accepting their identity in a society that discriminates people who are different. That is, this poem expresses how racial discrimination can affect the identity of those people who do not identify as white or black. Besides, in this poem, Trethewey narrates her origin, as well as how her parents were victims of a society that did not accept their relationship. Therefore, the speaker starts by saying “In 1965 my parents broke two laws of Mississippi” (Trethewey 1); those two laws that broke the Trethewey’s parents were that they were married and had a daughter.
As someone who feels as though they are well versed in issues of LGBT discrimination and history, I felt so taken aback by this history of violence and systemic homophobia, and that I wasn’t even fully aware of it’s extent. Feinberg’s writing provided me with a lot of insight relating to current issues and the history of the LGBT movement. The most important thing I think to take away from this novel is to think outside of the binary in terms of gender expression or sexual orientation. Humans are not black and white and neither are their psychological makeups, trying to fit all of humanity into two neat, strict boxes does not work for a vast majority of the population. Realizing that even within the gay and lesbian community pressure to identify as “the man” or “the woman” in a relationship is very real.
A lesbian is a woman- indentified woman and Adrienne Rich calls it ‘Lesbian continuum’ she explains lesbian continuum is “Include is a range through each woman’s life and throughout history of woman indentified experience no simply the fact that a woman has had consciously desired genital sexual experience with another woman (25)”. Rich argues to embrace many more forms of primary intensity between and among women including the sharing of a rich inner life. Their Eyes were watching God is overwhelmingly centered on Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake. Whereas certain critics recognize the female search for self and need for community as key issues in the novel, most still give priority to heterosexual love and experience as the sole informers of Janie’s existence.
The article reveals the racism that gay men and women deal with within the black culture. It speaks on, an unspoken action that is ignored in the African American community. Lorde (1984) speaks about the African American women smuggles as a lesbian, Icard (1986) speaks no how the African American male is seen an inferior. Loiacano
The tragic mulatto can never, and will never, experience life in the eyes of a pure white woman or a pure black woman. Nella Larsen’s novel, Passing, perpetuates the “Tragic Mulatto” stereotype - the idea that light-skinned biracial women lead depressing lives and only find peace in death. Larsen exemplifies this stereotype through Clare Kendry, a mulatto woman who “passes” for white, marries a white bigoted man, and lives a life of secrecy concealing her African American lineage. Clare Kendry manifests the “Tragic Mulatto” stereotype because she is portrayed as a sexual seductress, associates only with the white race, and finds liberation from her troubles through death, essentially suggesting that the tragic mulatto is neither accepted nor
The queer historical past has been characterized positively, with aspects such as identification, desire, longing, and love highlighted (31). In contrast, Heather Love seeks to focus on the negative aspects that characterize the relationship of queer history amid the past and present, in her work, “Emotional Rescue: The demands of Queer History,” the first chapter in her book, “Feeling Backward: Loss and the Politics of Queer History” (31-32). According to Love, some queer critics have failed to include the harsher accounts when studying queer cross-historical relations. The negative aspects of the past that queer figures can relate to makes it relevant. In her article, Love critiques various works to identify the negative aspects present within the queer history.
Christianity and Islam are the two largest religions in the world, with 2.1 Billion and 1.3 Billion followers respectively. Each had their own rise, golden age, and eventual large-scale split. However, each religion spread in different regions of the world in different ways and developed their own traditions and structures. Christianity and Islam have similarities such as a large-scale split and a history of spreading through popular trade routes, while simultaneously having many differences such as where the two religions spread, the methods in which they spread, and the structure of their religious leaderships. One of the primary differences between the spread of Islam and Christianity is the directions in which they spread.
Listen, reflect, then react. I have listened, and now as I reflect I can’t help but ask what the appropriate reaction would be (if any), and if any would these reactions be different for each individual article? Throughout Sexuality, Class, and Conflict in a Lesbian Workplace there is a reoccurring theme of public versus private and how these should be integrated into the workplace. This particular group of women began united in the search for social justice together, they wanted to escape the harsh reality of ‘traditional capitalism’ by creating an alternative workplace. In this case this means a place where they felt free to voice their personal life.
Christianity and Islam share many similarities with a few fundamental differences. Both religions follow monotheism, though in Islam it is much stricter. Jesus and Gabriel are focal points for Christianity and Islam respectively. God and Allah stand for the same higher power and basis for religion. In Islam, the five pillars are the main difference just as Mary is the mother of Jesus and the beginning of the Christian religions teachings.
This novel follows the life of a recent college graduate, Marian MacAlpin, through her career and emotional maturation in a somewhat unnatural, if not threatening world. The queer concept of this world is branded by a spectrum of moral viewpoints of gender politics that manifest themselves and surround Marian. The political and cultural values and practices of a male dominated and sex driven society depicted in the novel are so strong that they seem to devour Marian physically and emotionally. She rebels against this cannibalistic, patriarchal society through a comestible mode and the end, reclaims her identity crisis by restoring her relationship with
This novel is also autobiographical. Throughout history, women have been locked in a struggle to free themselves from the borderline that separates and differentiate themselves from men. In many circles, it is agreed that the battleground for this struggle and fight exists in literature. In a
