2. What is your opinion of the mainstream LGBT (Gay Inc.)?
Gay Shame is in part a critique of wealthy white gay male privilege and a timely reminder that our social relationships are "infused by the norms of the global marketplace".* The broad acceptance that the Pink Pound is one of our greatest assets -when negotiating our position in social hierarchy- and the overreaching predominance + influence of gay male DINKies (Double Income No Kids) in the gay commercial scene, Gay Pride + in the role of 'representatives of the gay community', has helped create an ethos, politics + culture that is as "totalizing and tyrannical"* as the very orthodoxy + heteronomy we have arguably been challenging and opposing.
The success of most Pride events is judged today by the amount of money spent hosting the event, the amount of money spent by participants at the event, and the overall number of consumers attending the event. And Pride is very much about consumption - a vanity competition where competing egos are encouraged to eat more, drink more + strike a pose more than the other players in this ostentatious carnival of consumerism.
And the socialisation of our lesbian + gay communities into the mainstream and of our acceptance + assimilation into 'normal' society, is very often measured by how strong the Pink Pound is and how influential we are as global consumers.
In short, Gay Inc. is a global brand to which we appear happy to subscribe and a badge of identity which we are encouraged to wear with pride.
[* Barry Adams - as quoted by David M Halperin + Valerie Traub in 'Beyond Gay Pride' - University of Chicago Press 2009]
Gay Shame is in part a critique of wealthy white gay male privilege and a timely reminder that our social relationships are "infused by the norms of the global marketplace".* The broad acceptance that the Pink Pound is one of our greatest assets -when negotiating our position in social hierarchy- and the overreaching predominance + influence of gay male DINKies (Double Income No Kids) in the gay commercial scene, Gay Pride + in the role of 'representatives of the gay community', has helped create an ethos, politics + culture that is as "totalizing and tyrannical"* as the very orthodoxy + heteronomy we have arguably been challenging and opposing.
The success of most Pride events is judged today by the amount of money spent hosting the event, the amount of money spent by participants at the event, and the overall number of consumers attending the event. And Pride is very much about consumption - a vanity competition where competing egos are encouraged to eat more, drink more + strike a pose more than the other players in this ostentatious carnival of consumerism.
And the socialisation of our lesbian + gay communities into the mainstream and of our acceptance + assimilation into 'normal' society, is very often measured by how strong the Pink Pound is and how influential we are as global consumers.
In short, Gay Inc. is a global brand to which we appear happy to subscribe and a badge of identity which we are encouraged to wear with pride.
[* Barry Adams - as quoted by David M Halperin + Valerie Traub in 'Beyond Gay Pride' - University of Chicago Press 2009]
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