[USA] three new thought-provoking articles on current ideas of gender, sexuality and identity
Young Adults 'Don't Want to be Defined by Gender, Orientation'
by Sharon Jayson in USA Today 19 April 2009
Sexual orientation and sexual labels. Gender crossing and gender bending. These aren't X-rated or adults-only topics but rather subjects that young people talk about as they figure out where they fit in, said a panel of experts at a weekend conference of the Council on Contemporary Families here . . . He says the terms created in the early days, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, are giving way to other descriptions, such as polygender or multisex . . . "Today, girls are free to do sports and be competitive. No one thought they had to play dumb to get a boyfriend. The women's movement has done great things for middle school girls," she says. "It's another story with boys. I feel like we're in a time warp. We have not dealt with men and masculinity in a serious enough way," she says. "Boys police each other. There's no room not to do anything not traditionally masculine."
Please click here to read the full story.
[BiNet USA] We are all somewhere between straight and gay . . . .
by Estraven in BiNet USA News and Opinions (binetusa) 20 April 2009
We have been told we do not exist, we have been told we must fit ourselves into either the “straight” or “gay/lesbian” boxes, during those bewildering moments when the culture suddenly decides to find us "chic" we are then told that our life-long sexual orientation is something we are doing to be cool . . . We are all somewhere between straight and gay. If the pansexuals judge the bisexuals, and the stable people judge the fluid people, and/or vice versa, our community will fall apart before it even has a chance to come together . . .
Please click here to read the full story.
How Male Bisexuality Got Cool
by Rachel Kramer Bussell in The Daily Beast 21 April 2009
. . . . whereas bisexual women had their fling with pop culture in the 1990s -when everyone from Drew Barrymore to Madonna messed around with women, not to mention the famous Vanity Fair cover showing Cindy Crawford shaving k.d. lang-“bromances” are now the driving force behind Hollywood comedies and Style section features, as men find more ways to play for both teams, or at least act like they do . . . . The celebrities who engage in it take pains to make it clear they’re straight-half-ironically goofing around, often as a blatant grab for attention. But the fact that they’re even taking it that far is something new . . . Five years ago, few male celebrities went there, and the ones who did were often already branded as outsiders, like Michael Stipe. Now, the most mainstream of leading men clamor to act bi for the camera . . . It’s not just about being seduced into a same-sex encounter, but about men claiming bisexuality or bicuriosity on their own terms.
Please click here to read the full story.
by Sharon Jayson in USA Today 19 April 2009
Sexual orientation and sexual labels. Gender crossing and gender bending. These aren't X-rated or adults-only topics but rather subjects that young people talk about as they figure out where they fit in, said a panel of experts at a weekend conference of the Council on Contemporary Families here . . . He says the terms created in the early days, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, are giving way to other descriptions, such as polygender or multisex . . . "Today, girls are free to do sports and be competitive. No one thought they had to play dumb to get a boyfriend. The women's movement has done great things for middle school girls," she says. "It's another story with boys. I feel like we're in a time warp. We have not dealt with men and masculinity in a serious enough way," she says. "Boys police each other. There's no room not to do anything not traditionally masculine."
Please click here to read the full story.
[BiNet USA] We are all somewhere between straight and gay . . . .
by Estraven in BiNet USA News and Opinions (binetusa) 20 April 2009
We have been told we do not exist, we have been told we must fit ourselves into either the “straight” or “gay/lesbian” boxes, during those bewildering moments when the culture suddenly decides to find us "chic" we are then told that our life-long sexual orientation is something we are doing to be cool . . . We are all somewhere between straight and gay. If the pansexuals judge the bisexuals, and the stable people judge the fluid people, and/or vice versa, our community will fall apart before it even has a chance to come together . . .
Please click here to read the full story.
How Male Bisexuality Got Cool
by Rachel Kramer Bussell in The Daily Beast 21 April 2009
. . . . whereas bisexual women had their fling with pop culture in the 1990s -when everyone from Drew Barrymore to Madonna messed around with women, not to mention the famous Vanity Fair cover showing Cindy Crawford shaving k.d. lang-“bromances” are now the driving force behind Hollywood comedies and Style section features, as men find more ways to play for both teams, or at least act like they do . . . . The celebrities who engage in it take pains to make it clear they’re straight-half-ironically goofing around, often as a blatant grab for attention. But the fact that they’re even taking it that far is something new . . . Five years ago, few male celebrities went there, and the ones who did were often already branded as outsiders, like Michael Stipe. Now, the most mainstream of leading men clamor to act bi for the camera . . . It’s not just about being seduced into a same-sex encounter, but about men claiming bisexuality or bicuriosity on their own terms.
Please click here to read the full story.