(no subject)
If there’s one cultural meme I wish would be supplanted by something far more interesting, it’s the virginal, heteronormative, squeaky-clean ideal, especially as promoted by fundamentalist homeschool parents, certain sections of The Media™ and gloom-and-doom pastors. It is such a restricted view of humanity, and it doesn’t account for the tremendous variation that occurs within human beings. It’s just simply inadequate, but...it’s still so fucking popular amongst certain people.
There are no gay people; everyone is a conservative fundamentalist Christian; there are only two opposite genders (and never shall the twain meet, be transgressed against, or be repudiated, or be blended into an interesting mess); little girls become housewives or work as secretaries; little boys become businessmen; the word ‘sex’ is a dirty word and is to be reserved for straight married couples only; everyone votes for God’s Own Party and the Tories; the only real human beings are white; there’s no such thing as self-determination...
It’s such a boring, limited world, and it really baffles me that so many people think that it’s the only one that should exist. I’m sort of bitter that I had that ideal foisted on me. (Not for that long, only about five years of my life, thank god.) Not that I was ever really good at adhering to it, even before I came out; I was always a bit too queer and offbeat for that sort of lifestyle. (Sceptical, too; I’m not inclined to literally believe in evil apples or talking snakes.)
My biggest problem with that mindset is that there just isn’t any room for anyone else to exist. It’s explained away as demons, or symptoms of a fallen world, rather than just what it is, human variation. Blur gender lines? You’re a sinner; you don’t fit into the neat little pink and blue boxes that God has set up for eternity. Attracted to someone of the same gender? You’re evil, because you aren’t attracted to the people that you’re ‘supposed’ to be attracted to. Your brain’s wired differently from most? A bug, not a feature. You’d think that God would get bored with the squeaky-clean archetype, especially since he’s supposed to be far BIGGER than human beings, but the mindset that the fundamentalists claim is ‘God’s’ is pretty fucking small-minded for a being that transcends human thought. If schools of HUMAN THOUGHT can transcend fundamentalist small-mindedness, you can bet God would transcend it too, if he existed. (I don’t believe in God, but your mileage may vary.)
There are no gay people; everyone is a conservative fundamentalist Christian; there are only two opposite genders (and never shall the twain meet, be transgressed against, or be repudiated, or be blended into an interesting mess); little girls become housewives or work as secretaries; little boys become businessmen; the word ‘sex’ is a dirty word and is to be reserved for straight married couples only; everyone votes for God’s Own Party and the Tories; the only real human beings are white; there’s no such thing as self-determination...
It’s such a boring, limited world, and it really baffles me that so many people think that it’s the only one that should exist. I’m sort of bitter that I had that ideal foisted on me. (Not for that long, only about five years of my life, thank god.) Not that I was ever really good at adhering to it, even before I came out; I was always a bit too queer and offbeat for that sort of lifestyle. (Sceptical, too; I’m not inclined to literally believe in evil apples or talking snakes.)
My biggest problem with that mindset is that there just isn’t any room for anyone else to exist. It’s explained away as demons, or symptoms of a fallen world, rather than just what it is, human variation. Blur gender lines? You’re a sinner; you don’t fit into the neat little pink and blue boxes that God has set up for eternity. Attracted to someone of the same gender? You’re evil, because you aren’t attracted to the people that you’re ‘supposed’ to be attracted to. Your brain’s wired differently from most? A bug, not a feature. You’d think that God would get bored with the squeaky-clean archetype, especially since he’s supposed to be far BIGGER than human beings, but the mindset that the fundamentalists claim is ‘God’s’ is pretty fucking small-minded for a being that transcends human thought. If schools of HUMAN THOUGHT can transcend fundamentalist small-mindedness, you can bet God would transcend it too, if he existed. (I don’t believe in God, but your mileage may vary.)