Tara Spanglo
LGBTQ Studies
Final Exam
Part A: Essay
I did have somewhat of a hard time sincerely understanding what Parker was
saying when he spoke of the Crying Game. However, after reading it a couple times,
and thinking about it a bit more, it started to make more sense. I believe that Robert
Dale Parker making a point that even when these characters are supposedly
“breaking” the binary, they’re still not really “breaking” the binary. By this I mean
that they are still playing their correct gender roles. Robert Dale Parker mentions
that Dil talks about how she does what a girl has to do. Parker mentions that Dil’s
character is possibly pressured to do what a girl is supposed to do. That alone, is a
binary- a gender roles binary. Boys act like this, and do this. Girls act like this, and do
this. Parker also points out that aside from gender identity roles, they are within
their colonialist roles as well. Pointing out that Jody chose to enlist in the Army.
Although I understand Robert Dale Parker’s points, I don’t really feel that the
movie was aiming to focus on all constructed binaries and roles. Instead, I think the
movie mostly focused on “rules” or “guidelines” of what a homosexual or
heterosexual person is. Fergus was obviously confused and unsure what everything
meant. For example, it was clear that Fergus cared for and loved Dil. But when he
found out that Dil was a man, everything changed. Despite this discovery, Fergus
continued seeing Dil, as well as protecting her.
Despite the pretty obviously signs that Fergus still loved Dil, he was very
secretive of the relationship. He was scared to be open about it, it seemed as if he’d
rather ignore that whole part of the relationship. I believe this was because he had
felt this made him a homosexual man, rather than a heterosexual man. Which in my
opinion is a whole other type of binary. Fergus had never even had feelings or
attraction to other men; in this case, Dil wasn’t even really presented as a man. So
does his relationship with Dil make him gay? I’m going to go ahead and say no. This
takes me back to when we discussed the labeling of sexuality. Everyone is
something. So by those standards, does this mean Fergus is a bisexual? Probably not.
Fergus, to me, is just a man who met someone and fell in love. This person turns out
to actually be a transgendered man. That is the point that I felt strongest about
when watching this movie. The constructed titles which define your sexual
attraction. Rather than falling in love with someone based on what their gender is,
Fergus fell in love with someone based on who they are as a person. I felt that this
was hardest part for Fergus to grasp. He was so unfamiliar and scared that Dil was a
man, that he was too distracted to understand that he loved her for her.
I think that too many people focus on sex being love and love being sex,
which in this day and age makes perfect sense. There’s a lot of argument that
sexuality is constructed. However, while we fight for this to be recognized, we also
make more and more standards and labels of what you are if you’re not
heterosexual- which goes against the whole argument in the first place. By
eliminating the binary roles of heterosexual vs. homosexual, we have to eliminate all
titles that aimed towards anyone who does not fall within those binaries.
After watching the movie, this point seemed to stick out the most to me.
Because I feel that almost everything is binary to some extent, I feel it’s hard to focus
on one binary while not playing in to other binaries, which we have constructed. It’s
some sticky business that I believe is a gray area. When understanding that, I see
why Robert Dale Parker argues what he does. I just feel that the point is little more
isolated to one instance of binary consructions, rather than all.
Part B: Short answers on presentation
1) The first point Debra mentioned was that the LDS church has changed and
evolved. I think this is an important point because the LDS church seems to
get a bad rep regarding homosexuality, which is ironic when considering that
the LDS church is probably one of the most homosexual accepting religions.
Her second point being that each leader or bishop feels differently. This is
also important because it explains while even thought higher ups say to
accept every homosexual being as a person, there is still wrongful things said
or “therapy” given.
2) One of Michaels points was that there is still an active case- this means there
is still a chance DOMA will not be taken out of act. His second point was that
DOMA there will be state and federal rights for same sex marriages. This is
important for human rights.
3) Jennifer’s presentation was one of my favorites. She spoke on the importance
of accepting others, and that we are all human with feelings. Her second
point was to always be allies with one another.
4) Leia’s presentation was another one of my favorites. She talked on the kind of
discrimination within the LGBTQ community. Her first Point was that there is
indeed discrimination even within the LGBTQ community, and also that
there’s subgroups, which also have discrimination within.
5) Katie made a point that bisexual people CAN be monogamous, and all
bisexuality means is that someone is attracted to both sexes… Which only
implies that they have more options, really.
6) Samantha and Alyssa made points that we need to all be allies, humans are
legal, and people need to be educated before siding against something so
important. I found all these points important because I think that people
need to look at the big picture, which is- we are all human, and this is about
love and equality, not god or “norms”.
7) Miranda spoke about hate crimes. She made a point that it’s hard to convict
someone of a hate crime because its hard to prove, but also that theres 14
states who don’t consider homophobic driven crimes as hate crimes. These
are important points because any kind of crime driven by someone who
didn’t like who you are sexually attracted to is wrong, and people should be
protected against it, but also that I personally think there is usually a lot of
evidence in crimes that are hate crime driven.
8) Sarah talked about Girls Scouts and lesbianism. She made points that
discrimination is often based off of personal opinion, and also that most
people are not trained or educated the issue. This causes issues with girls
being accepted, but also results in girls being kicked out.
9) Sam made points on homosexuality in the media. Pointing out that its
typically gay men being represented, but also that things are improving as far
as homosexuality being in media. These are good points because it shows
that there are positive representations within media.
10) Ryan spoke about Queer Literature. Ryan made an important point that
LGBTQ literature helps shed light on the community and show that people
within the community are normal people, who have the same struggles as
everyone else. These 2 points are so important because it proves that despite
the binaries, we all have the same struggles within our pursuit of happiness.
11) Troy mentioned Biology and homosexuality. He made points that
homosexuality does appear to exist in other species, but also that more
research needs to be done. These points are important because this is one of
the biggest arguments coming from people who claim that only humans are
homosexual, which means it must be a choice.
12) Izzy spoke on Nature vs. Nurture. Her points were that homosexuality could
be genetic, and could also be environmental. These points I feel could tell us a
lot, not only about homosexuality, but also anyone with any sexual
preference. I think more research on this could be very telling.
13) Ramon spoke on how homosexuality is perceived, mostly in media. He
pointed that media is more accepting, even more accepting than 10 years
ago, but also that there’s more positive messages regarding homosexuality in
media. I think these points are important because media is capable of
reaching anyone. The more positive messages being released, the more
accepting people could become.