Thread: Triggering (Bullying): Teachers tell bullied kids to act less 'gay'
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Marguerite Offline
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Re: Teachers tell bullied kids to act less 'gay' - November 5th 2011, 04:23 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by BDF View Post
Let's clear this up with all the "stereotype" personalities, "you are who you are" etc etc....

Just look to the TV, or magazines, to get a gist of how gay people are portrayed. Too frequently, they behave in the "stereotype" way on TV. Other gay people watching TV, automatically and subconsciously in their mind identify with this stereotype. Why? Because they're gay themselves.

It's that simple. It's not their personality. It's a trait a lot of them pick up from watching stupid fucking stereotypes on TV, and they don't even realise it. Oh.. and this doesn't just happen to gay people. It happens to most of the population nowadays, especially during younger years... up to maybe 25?


All in all... I find it very difficult to believe that a lot of gay people act in this stereotypical way, because that's just how they are or happen to be purely by coincidence. Bullshit.

And the whole issue regarding gay stereotypes is made even more stupid. Being gay... as far as I understand it, isn't a state of mind, or belief, or anything like it usually. From what I've been told/heard, it's just what you are. Same way that some people are born black and some white, same way that I'm straight. Being "emo" on the other hand, for example, has deeper meaning, because you're actually embracing a sort of culture, of music, beliefs etc... . So embracing a gay stereotype seems totally stupid to me, because it's just a very shallow and naive attempt at trying to "be part of something" where there isn't really anything to be a part of anyway. The whole gay stereotype is just a very superficial masquerade, ultimately hiding... nothing, because there is nothing to hide. Completely pointless.
A couple of tv producers didn't decide a few decades ago that from then on they would start portraying gay people with all these kinds of personality traits and then gay people started adopting them. Stereotypes are just labels born of generalisations, simplifications and exaggerations, however, as much as we all hate to admit it, often times they do come with a grain of salt.

How many gay people you know personally? And how many come across as stereotypical?

I know a lot, and I only really know two (including the one I mentioned) that you would be able to tell was gay straight away. But the others, you'd never really know unless you asked them or they told you. So if you're looking around and saying "Huh, look at all these gay people liking X, X and X... they can't all like that, must be faking it" you're totally missing the point. If someone acts in a stereotypical way of course you're going to know they're gay, but you're ignoring all the people around you who are gay but you don't know because they're not stereotypical. So maybe you encounter 85% non stereotypical gay people and 15% stereotypical gay people... but because you don't notice the 85% you just think that the 15% is representive of the majority.

I agree we pick up things we watch from tv, but I don't agree that it's that severe, that someone who would otherwise hate musical theatre or fashion or assless chaps would suddenly decide to LOVE them because gay people are 'supposed' to act that way. You can't go around telling people that it isn't their personality just because you think it's stereotypical, even if it is 'learned' and not natural, it's still their personalityl That goes for everyone, not just homosexuals.

And yes, I realise that being gay only means being attracted to the same sex and nothing to do with personality and what not, but when the teachers told the kids to be less gay they didn't mean they should have less attraction to the same sex.


To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget

~Arundhati Roy
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