LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
Student CAMP: Gaytopia |
by Kristen Minor |
Northampton, Massachusetts, like my friend Elizabeth, is terribly terribly gay. It is therefore fortunate that she lives there in the course of attending Smith College. I recently visited her for a weekend of folk concerts and general mayhem, and I must say that for the first few hours I was in a state of shell shock.
It really was quite extraordinary. There were these women, and they were lesbianslesbians of every sort, to be sure, but their common factor was that they were very clear in their lesbianism. It was like walking into a very low-key pride parade. While visiting Smith was an amazing experience, I have serious doubts as to my ability to stomach the place for long periods of time. Perhaps I'm too used to enormously uptight Ivy League frat boys who adore George Bush, but I feel like entering a big gay bubble is not conducive to the health of the gay community at large. There's a long list of gay ghettos. Castro, Chelsea, Boystown, Northampton, DuPont Circle, P-town, Rehoboth... they are our in-jokes and theoretical safe havens. They are the places that closeted midwesterners with strict Baptist parents imagine escaping to. They are our dream vacations that have somewhat provocative ads on the back of our magazines. Are they healthy, though? Mostly gay, mostly white, mostly safe, upper middle class, and comfortable. It's like heterosexuality set to a soft disco beat. I'll be the first to admit that comfort is a glorious thing and that I am a representative of that which I criticize. Be that as it may, it seems fairly obvious when walking around a very gay area that many of its citizens have lost the idea that they are an "other." Is this a bad thing? I'm not sure. In many cases those who are in a position to live in a bubble have paid their dues and are no strangers to violent oppression and homophobia. At the same time, though, there is a pervasive idea of "leaving it all behind"as if when someone comes out of the closet and is independent and secure their past can be shoved into the very closet that they vacated. At this point in my life I've only been to a few pride events. The biggest was undoubtably the Millennium March. My biggest impression of the event was that it was a place where even the socially awkward and unconventionally attractive could find great sexin short, like a more inclusive circuit party. Who cares about issues when the alcohol runs and a percentage of the proceeds go to charity? It is, after all, noble to donate to benefits. It's a way to help out and have someone else do the grunt work. The biggest complaint about places like Smith that I hear are that they are not reflections of realitynothing's quite so awkward as being shoved back into the closet by virtue of taking a car ride to a few towns overand that they often breed complacency. Who really needs an organized lesbian group when a third of the campus is lesbian? If you get more than three lesbians in a room they generally can't agree on a good pizza topping, let alone which social issues to pursue. And it's easy to ignore said social issues when they can be distanced by a mere changing of a channel. (It should be noted that the "pepperoni vs. extra cheese vs. pineapple debate is not at all contained to lesbians, although those women sapphically inclined tend to bring up soy-based products as an option far more frequently.) Ghettoization has bled over into both queer and straight popular culture, or possibly vice versa. Our films and magazines are largely whitewashed and treatment of "other minorities" often smacks of tokenism. And when a form of media does go so far as to cover those issuesfor example, if a black lesbian is featured in a magazine articlethe reaction is one of gratitude. "Why yes, thank you for noticing that not all gay people are like Ellen Degeneres and Rupert Everett." And to those critics who claim that the whitewashing is patently ridiculous"But we just did an article on transsexual youth three issues ago! What more do you people possibly want?" I love Northampton. It's a wonderful place to spend a weekend and not be concerned about holding another woman's hand. It's a place that I wish the world at large were a little more like. But live there? It would be too easy to let politics slip away. What's the point in fighting for rights when you're in a position where you seem to have them? Kristen Minor is a member of the class of 2004 at Dartmouth College. Contrary to popular belief, she does not have a martyr complex and can be reached at kristen@youth-guard.org. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 11, No. 15, November 21, 2001. |