Yes, I know there has already been a lot of dialogue about the chalkings

[pygmywombat]

I've heard a lot of comments trying to justify the nature of Coming Out Week chalkings, none of which actually make sense to me. The justification that bothers me the most is the statement that it's important to draw explicit sexual pictures all over the ground because homosexuality is all about sex and our society can't be comfortable with

Comments

[mere_bagatelle]

yes indeed.
I have said (and probably already to you) a few times since the chalkings appeared, that if I decided to date a girl I wouldn't suddenly want to shout my sex life to the rooftops. It definitely seems like some of the chalkings miss what I perceive as the point of coming out week; it's a shame since I think some of the others are fine or even thought-provoking and enjoyable.

[pygmywombat]

I agree that the prominence of the nasty chalkings takes away from the potentially thought-provoking ones. I like the ones that ask "when did you come out as straight?" Though I'm sadly disappointed by the small role the truly unity-acceptance-questioning themed chalkings play. I'm also disappointed by the reactions of the chalkers to people's comments. Instead of taking the reactions as a cue that they aren't actually working towards an atmosphere conducive to coming out, they become really really defensive. It's not a conversation if no one's listening. Sometimes I get really frustrated with Swatties and their static stances.

[duckrabbit]

I feel really ambivalent about the "it's not a conversation if no one's listening" argument. I think in circumstances of serious oppression [do those circumstances obtain at Swat? debatable!], sometimes doing something huge and public and taboo can be so therapeutic to the oppressed that it more than makes up for the offense that others take and even for the bad PR that the minority suffers from. Harris argued in that direction last year, when the chalkings controversy came up. And I think there is a good point to make in that respect.

I do find the general-sex-positive chalkings problematic, though. Coming Out week should not turn into Sex-Positiveness week. That wouldn't be fair.

[pygmywombat]

aha. I seriously didn't understand the "chalkings are for me, not for you" bit. But his article does make a lot of sense and made me look at the issue in a different way. I couldn't get my head around how a public display could possibly NOT be for the public, but I can understand how it can be therapeutic. I only wish it wasn't so gross. I suppose my question now, for the chalkers, is how they perceive the role of Coming Out week: a time to get all this frustration off their chests? A time to unite the queer community and welcome newcomers? I'm sure there's a way to do both, but I feel that both can't happen the way it is now. If the public therapy is offensive to the public and the public includes people who would potentially come out... But of course I heartily support a lot of the chalkings, but I wonder if it's possible that individual therapy can harm a community? Erm. it could of course be just a Swat thing. And it is only for one week.