In honor of "Gaypril," Harvey Mudd College's club PRISM is distributing a series of posters created by Australian artist Deborah Kelly with photographer Tina Fiveash in order to spread light on the uproar around the LGBTQ community. They remind people to look back at what they take for granted rather than the things that stand out to them. The posters provide a different viewpoint to look from.
The Hey Hetero! poster campaign aims to highlight and expose heterosexual privilege. Privilege is defined by the Free Dictionary as "a special advantage, immunity, permission, right, or benefit granted to or enjoyed by an individual, class, or caste." It is no one person's fault, and as such, these posters are not meant as an attack on individuals, but rather as a critique of an issue that is often not discussed or confronted. Confronting one’s privilege can be uncomfortable and confusing, but we urge you to be aware of it and talk about it.
We invite every member of the 5C community, regardless of their sexuality, gender identity, or opinions on these posters, to join in the discussion.
PRISM will be using this blog to begin discussions on the posters. We know some people may find them controversial, and we want to know what people have to say. Post back with your feedback.
Also, there will be an actual discussion occurring on Tuesday, April 19th at 5:30 PM in the Hoch-Shanahan Dining Hall's Aviation Room. Come by, eat food with us, and tell us what you think of the posters!
Dear PRISM,
ReplyDeleteAs a transgender and bisexual member of the queer community on the 5Cs, I find these posters incredibly offensive and aggressive. This is the sort of attitude that drives allies away from groups like PRISM. I know that you were trying to be controversial here, but you have gone way way too far. I am disgusted and distressed that you thought that this was a good idea, and I would quite frankly consider this to be a bias incident.
Instead of promoting understanding between different groups, this sort of campaign only promotes hatred and lack of understanding. These posters make people angry, and not because of what the queer community has had to face. If posters like this had been posted that had the slur "Hey homo" at the top, they would never have been given approval, and there would have been blood. Just because people who are straight are in the majority does not mean that they should be attacked with a slur that has clearly been designed to be parallel to an extremely negative slur towards the queer community.
Allies and people who are questioning have been repeatedly driven away by the attitudes expressed by PRISM, and to some extent the other queer groups on the 5Cs. Posters like these attempt to make people feel guilty over being straight. And guess what, if being queer isn't a choice, then neither is being straight, and you don't get to claim that it is without being incredibly hypocritical. I have had several very very good allies to the queer community tell me that they were made very uncomfortable by these posters in particular and by the attitudes of PRISM in general. Driving away your allies is not a good way to actually create support for the queer community. Many of the people who I have talked to on Mudd who were or are questioning have told me that they were afraid of PRISM. This is mostly because PRISM seems to express the belief that people who are straight, or who might be straight, are in some way inferior to people who are queer. This is why I distanced myself from PRISM while I was still attending Mudd.
Adrien,
An FtM and Bisexual Student, who is quite frankly disgusted by these posters.
I couldn't agree more with Adrien. It is frankly disheartening to see campaigns like this which, in their short-sighted efforts to catch the attention of non-queer individuals, choose to do so a manner which actively drives a wedge between communities.
ReplyDeleteI spend a significant portion of my time trying to help promote understanding and mutual respect, yet posters like these counteract that by coming off as sarcastic and caustic.
Are there times when I get fed up with people who are either apathetic or oblivious to the struggles of queer individuals? Yes. Do I think that taking it out on potential allies is helpful? No.
I'm disappointed that those involved in the creation of this poster campaign decided to go forward with the tone it embodies.
~Amber '10, who also happens to be trans.
I very much agree with Adrien's statement. There are ways to reach out to allies and raise awareness without fostering hate between queers and non-queers. I felt offended and insulted by these posters, both for myself and for my heterosexual allied friends.
ReplyDeleteI am currently in graduate school for Social Work, and I have been reaching out to my fellow students to raise awareness about the trans community. Many of my classmates have never met a trans person. Many did not realize that being trans was different than being gay, or they did not know that it was not a choice. However, they have been so open to learning about trans people and changing their preconceived notions when given a safe space to ask honest, well-intentioned questions. They ask their questions with open minds, and they are making a strong effort to understand a group that is new to them, and to become allies to that group. Allies learn and respect much more when they are treated with respect. Calling out to straight people using slurs and sarcasm will not win us any allies, and may threaten and push away current allies. Attacking people from a place of hate will not help us make any forward progress.
In addition to bashing heterosexuals, I feel that this poster campaign alienates bisexuals, pansexuals, and anyone else who does not identify as 100% gay. My partner and I are of different sexes. Are you lumping me in with those sneering couples on the "hey hetero" posters? I identify as queer, yet I feel targeted by these posters. What about my lesbian professor who has a wife and a baby? Are you targeting her as well when you say "hey hetero"? She is married and has a child, and the posters seem to be throwing a lot of hate in the direction of people with spouses and children.
I saw my first poster while visiting campus two days ago, and I felt so humiliated. I didn't feel pride, I didn't feel community, I just felt shame and hate. I feel that I am hated by the people who put up those posters, because I am marrying my partner. I feel embarrassed that allies may think that those posters depict how I see them, because I am queer and they are straight. I don't believe that deepening the divide is doing anybody any good. Those posters are creating separation, when I thought our goal was unity.
One of the most popular professors at my current school told our class on the second week of school that she was a lesbian. She is an outspoken woman who has done so much to include LGBTQ issues in the Social Work curriculum, creating safe spaces for queer students and facilitating understanding for others. Last week at our LGBTQ Faculty Awards luncheon, she told us something very interesting in her speech. "I no longer identify as gay. I no longer see myself as a lesbian. My behaviors haven't changed, my preferences haven't changed, nothing has changed. I identify as a human. We're all human, and we all deserve to be treated with respect." Say what you will about the importance of labeling or not labeling, but she made an excellent point. Everyone deserves respect, and nobody should be made to feel inferior because of who they are.
I am so angered and ashamed for the way PRISM has chosen to raise awareness. I hope that in the future, you decide to show more respect to our community and our allies.
-Ariana '10
Comment posting attempt, take 2.
ReplyDeleteI feel like this project was overly confrontational. Especially given that this is overall a very queer-friendly place. I feel like it is yelling at the wrong people. I understand that it's meant to bring attention to heterosexual privilege, but I feel like that could have been done in a much better way.
I'm also sad that I have really awesome straight, super queer-friendly friends who feel like they're being attacked for being straight. To be honest, it makes ~me~ want to rip down the posters they have to see whenever they go to their dorm just so they don't have to deal with them. Because they are awesome people who haven't done anything wrong, and they don't deserve to feel like that.
Also, weren't there originally supposed to be signs going along with the Hey Hetero posters with some kind of explanation attached? I haven't seen any of those...
Hi Adrien, Amber, Ariana, and Emily,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the honest comments. The posters are meant to call out straight people for privilege, which they have whether they are allies or not. Yes, the posters can be seen as confrontational, aggressive, offensive, sarcastic, ironic, among other things. Perhaps there are better ways to bring attention to heterosexual privilege (and other privilege), but these posters seemed like a really great opportunity to bring angry queer art to the colleges.
Ariana, I agree with what you're saying regarding allies and how to make them feel welcomed. I have strong opinions on how to create those safe spaces, as well as strong critiques for how the 5C queer spaces could be doing a better job at that. However, these posters were never trying to be a project to bring allies in, at least that's not how I interpreted the project. They are an attempt to highlight straight privilege. And yes, many straight people, whether or not they are allies, are already aware of their privilege. And for those people, they can hopefully enjoy the posters for their humor and sarcasm and irony.
Emily, I do think there were supposed to be supplemental posters, but I'm not sure if those are still in the works or not.
Lowell
Relevant links regarding privilege:
http://blog.shrub.com/archives/tekanji/2006-03-08_146
http://takesupspace.wordpress.com/cis-privilege-checklist/
Lowell, I can understand the desire to "bring angry queer art to the colleges" but I think that there is an inherent problem with the lack of context in this case. To be specific:
ReplyDelete* Individuals who are not aware of privilege aren't provided with any means of educating themselves by the posters; they're simply addressed by slur-ish phrasing and called out on a particular item in a sarcastic tone.
* Individuals who /are/ aware of privilege aren't really the target of the campaign, but have the context to theoretically appreciate sarcastic humor.
Thus the overall feel of the campaign is that it provides a "feel good" effect to those who are already in the know, and an alienating effect to those who are not. I'm worried that the campaign went forward primarily due to the appeal of that "feel good" effect rather than as a well-thought-out effort to increase awareness.
Lowell, thank you for your thoughtful response. I see that there is a lot of disconnect in the Mudd community about the purpose of the posters around campus.
ReplyDeleteI consider myself more aware of privilege than not, and it is something I am happy to discuss and give thought to. I think it is very important to raise awareness and honest discourse. However, with the aggressive nature of the posters, I found myself overwhelmed with emotion rather than rational thought. I interpreted the message as hateful, which made it very difficult for me to get past my feelings and give some serious thought to the root issue that the posters are trying to address.
Emily mentioned that there may have been some explanatory posters that would have accompanied the ones currently on the walls. I think the explanation in addition to the posters is a very important part of the project. I saw only what was on the posters, and I came away feeling attacked and upset. I think that a poster explaining the purpose of the project would have left me feeling more open and thoughtful. Even if I disagree with the posters, I can appreciate rational and respectful dialogue, like the kind that is taking place in this forum. I feel that it would also be beneficial to mention appreciation for allies in the explanation. A simple "we appreciate and thank our straight allies who are working with us to bridge these gaps" would be very welcome. Without the explanation, though, it seems like it's harder for the posters to achieve their true purpose.
-Ariana
Yes, the original proposal did mention having an accompanying blurb that would have provided the context that Amber mentioned, and some explanation as to the motivations for the posters, as Ariana mentioned. It may not be possible at this point, but maybe those blurbs can still be put up with the posters...
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the posters on display myself, since I am not on campus, but I imagine that the impact of seeing them on walls would be quite different than seeing them on a computer screen. Perhaps they are overly confrontational, to the extent that it's impossible to be critical of them because people are too emotionally impacted by them.
The thing that bothers me about these posters is that they are inherently disrespectful of the heterosexual lifestyle. Satire or not, I feel these are wholly inappropriate for a club called "People Respecting Individuals Sexualities" to be posting. It would still be an edgy issue if they were put up by a gay activist group, but the fact that PRISM put these up is a distortion of the club's purpose and an affront to heterosexual students whose student dues go towards funding it.
ReplyDeleteStraight alum here. I think these are great call-outs of heterosexual privilege. I wish that people would use these a basis for a rational and enlightening conversation instead of a basis for just getting offended.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I saw the posters on these website, and they made me chuckle, because they're funny and true. These aren't an attack on any kind of "heterosexual lifestyle," they're just trying to remind heterosexuals of all the way we have it comparatively easy in terms of our relationships not automatically being considered evil by half of the population. Being asked to think about that fact once in a blue moon isn't an attack.
And furthermore, I think that members of the nonheterosexual community are likewise unaware of the privilege made available to only them. The Claremont colleges have a dedicated queer resource center with its own staff, the office of institutional diversity, classes dedicated to that community's issues, and a month dedicates to queer awareness. I also know that from my high school, a very large proportion of the college bound gay students got generous scholarships made only available to people of their sexuality.
ReplyDeleteI almost want to say don't bite the hand that feeds. PRISM and these other programs' funding comes primarily from the student fees of heterosexual students. You need to consider your own privileges and where they come from before launching attacks like this.
What would you like for the blurb to say? We can put up another post on this blog.
ReplyDelete-Bonny
As a straight alumnus, I feel confronted by these posters AND I LIKE IT. Are we talking Advanced Studies here? Probably, but if we never expose people to anything past 101-level "tolerance", then they'll never know it's out there.
ReplyDeleteI reject the implication that minority groups have to coddle and placate the majority all the time, for fear of backlash. Y'all have to be "good gays" or we'll **GASP** take away your charter! That is classic concern trolling.
There is a time to be diplomatic, and a time to be real.
Wow, bradeleywend2talk. I'm have a hard time wording my response in an appropriate manner for this forum. Your second post shows that you've completely missed the point of these resources (and the campaign, for that matter, though it seems it may have been too offensive). Those "privileges" exist because members of the queer community are socially oppressed and attacked. What if when you went out with your partner, people stared it you in disgust? What if your parents disowned you because of who you wanted to date? What if people refused to hire you because of your sexual orientation, or bullied you to the point of suicide, or told you you were going to hell? Your patronizing "You need to consider your own privileges and where they come from before launching attacks like this," sounds like "shut up and be more grateful, we give you our money." Please read sites like http://www.cs.earlham.edu/~hyrax/personal/files/student_res/straightprivilege.htm and those that Lowell posted before you start going on about all those gay privileges that they're so lucky to have. I'm straight, and your comments have hurt me, so I hate to think how someone who was attacked directly by your comments would be feeling.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSo I think the posters are funny, for the most part. And quite confrontational. They make me and other heterosexual people think about how we are not usually singled out for our sexuality, and don't really have to deal with much because of it.
ReplyDeleteSo now that we've established that I have privilege, what do I do with it?
This is a Mudd junior commenting.
ReplyDeleteTaken individually--perhaps a touch offensive to those of us who don't identify as either heterosexual or advocacy-aligned, but you could say the same thing about parties. They may be humorous in small doses, but as the first comments noted, probably not the line of attack you were aiming for.
The campaign as a whole--you have a gay-bashing double agent as your distributor. They might have been tolerable at 50-100' spacings between individual posters; give the people walking by some time to think about it. Concentrated as they are, they're 15' by 10' and smaller eyesores on the primary public buildings on campus, and look like a leaflet bomb failed to detonate and separate the propaganda properly. Especially given that some of them are falling off and creating a litter problem. Seriously, I don't even know what the heck the distributor was thinking, and it's definitely turned me off from your entire advocacy campaign.
As far as I can tell, these posters are supposed to make me feel guilty for being sexually normal.
ReplyDeleteOh, well; good effort anyways!
Another Mudder here...
ReplyDeleteAs someone said above, this is so obviously not "Respecting Individuals' Sexualities" in any way. I do not think straight members of the community appreciate being called names, flipped off, and sneered at.
If the idea is to show heterosexuals what it feels like to be the object of sexuality-related hate, then I think the posters are successful. But it is so hypocritical to promote hate in order to try to get rid of hate. Isn't PRISM's goal to promote respect?
I don't believe bringing "angry queer art to the colleges" is a step in that direction. Art can be an extremely effective means of gathering community support, but angry art directly aimed at a particular group ("hey, hetero!") is just hateful.
I personally found the posters to be amusing, and I definitely don't think they're hateful. They seemed pretty clearly ironic/tongue-in-cheek to me.
ReplyDeleteI read them as pointing out privilege (a worthwhile exercise, in my opinion), rather than demeaning the privileged. I think this is probably going to be the fundamental disagreement between those who reacted positively and those who reacted negatively to the posters, at least judging by people's responses here. Given that, I'm not really sure an explanatory poster would have made much of a difference one way or the other in this case.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteReposted because I can't figure out how to edit, and I wanted to use formatting tags:
ReplyDelete"I reject the implication that minority groups have to coddle and placate the majority all the time, for fear of backlash. Y'all have to be "good gays" or we'll **GASP** take away your charter! That is classic concern trolling."
That's the thing, though: PRISM isn't supposed to be about just minority groups. It's supposed to be a place that everyone can feel welcome. To quote from the HMC website page for PRISM:
"Chartered by ASHMC in the fall of 1999, PRISM meetings provide a comfortable gathering place for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender non-conforming, queer, questioning and straight students, faculty and staff to meet and discuss the LGBT experience here."
If someone wants to start an activist group that devotes itself to making normative individuals aware of their privilege, regardless of whether they like it or not, go for it. But that's not what PRISM should be.
BEGIN HIJACK
ReplyDeleteIf you're a California resident, I'd like to encourage you to contact your member of the State Assembly and urge them to support SB 48, which would add persons with disabilities and LGBT Americans to the list of groups whose role and contributions are discussed in social studies classes. The bill passed the State Senate on Thursday, 23-14, but still needs to get through the Assembly.
END HIJACK
This seems kind of incredibly aggressive for a place as generally liberal as a college campus. There's definitely a place for confrontation, but it's definitely not on a place where huge swaths of the people who'll be seeing it are likely already for gay rights and whatnot. It just seems patronizing and is more likely to put people off.
ReplyDeleteSomething that I neglected to mention earlier:
ReplyDeleteIt's quite possible to have shock value without resorting to slur-like phrasing. Likewise, you can catch someone's attention without attacking them.
I'm not opposed to shock value at all. I am opposed to things that are essentially guaranteed to drive wedges.
This a really interesting campaign and conversation, and people here have made some great points about the drawbacks and merits to aggressive efforts like this. Amber's comment at 4:30 pm about how different groups will react is particularly astute and in line with some of my own concerns.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I feel the need to respond to aniranc, who writes, "There's definitely a place for confrontation, but it's definitely not on a place where huge swaths of the people who'll be seeing it are likely already for gay rights and whatnot." I cannot disagree more. A college campus, ostensibly liberal and "for gay rights," is exactly the type of place that needs constant reminding about privilege. To be "for gay rights" doesn't mean that you are at all educated about the larger issues, namely heteronormativity and acknowledgment of your own privileged position. Everyone always has to more to learn – all the more so in a place where people seem to think they already know everything.
I agree with Sarah and Amanda – I think if you’re not a little uncomfortable you’re probably missing the point of the project. Though I do understand that offering some context to the posters, maybe a paragraph from the artist to explain what they wanted people to get out the project would be helpful.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it is not uncommon for me to feel patronized or attacked for my sexuality. From somebody yelling slurs at me to strangers coming up to me and saying something to the effect of “Oh. My. God. You and your boyfriend are so cute!”, or for me to be stereotyped by my friends who want me to help them pick out outfits, and lets not forget all the people who want a gay best friend for the novelty of it.
There’s been a lot of talk about respect, and I think that’s good, but I would also like to see some talk about understanding. I appreciate the respect I get from my friends, but often times I don’t think they understand the frustration I feel when I patronized by certain remarks. I understand the way many people feel about this campaign, but at the same time I appreciate that the campaign gives an opportunity for people to feel the way that I feel when somebody tells me I cannot get married, my lifestyle is immoral, or even when I go to a party and too afraid to talk to a guy because of the potential look of disgust when he realizes I’m hitting on him. I think that if even a few people can look past the initial feeling of attack and try to put it into perspective of how their queer friends might feel everyday, the project is a success. I know that the 5C’s are, for the most part, a great environment to be queer – but the rest of the world isn’t, and I think if we just disregard these posters because we’re in a safe space we belittle the struggles of queer people around the world.
And now a quote for Margaret Cho: "They'll say, 'Ok, yeah, yeah, ok. Too much information! Don’t go there!' I live there. I bought a house there. I’m going to take you there! Because when something hurts me, I have to say something, ‘cause if I don’t it’ll just burn me up, and I feel like living as a minority in America feels like dying of a thousand paper cuts, and I ain’t going out like that. So I have to speak my herstory... Silence equals nonexistence. If I don't give too much information, if I don't go there, it's like I was never there in the first place." The bottom line is I’m not going to stop talking about these things just because it makes somebody uncomfortable, anger and frustration are a part of my experience and while they’re not pleasant I do still value them and think that they do need to be expressed from time to time.
These posters offer an opportunity for people to discuss heterosexual privilege and heteronormativity – and maybe people are angry with the posters, but more often I find myself angry with heteronormativity and stereotypes that, at times, limit me.
Going by the posters and a few of the comments here, let's just all agree that apparently being a real jerk is possible for everybody.
ReplyDeleteI am another heterosexual who really loved these posters and cannot understand why people are so offended. The humor (and I would say good humor) with which they poke fun and remark upon a privilege I enjoy (and frankly there is no other word for it, no matter what my guilty conscience might say) by reversing for the moment of their apprehension, the flow of prejudice - is for me an honest admission of our common condition, that we are all potentially open to such treatment and reminds me that for some these potentials are more than just potential. Nevertheless, the outrage some have taken at this work is absurd if only for the fact that these posters are fictional artifacts placed in a social reality very different from that which their fiction suggests. No self respecting heterosexual can seriously take offense at these posters because they are placed within a world that is permeated by a social reality that serves exactly the opposite conditions implied by the poster. In fact, it is my privilege to take these works as humorous. If they were in fact Hey Homo posters, homosexuals would not be so free as to find them funny.
ReplyDeleteChartered by ASHMC in the fall of 1999, PRISM meetings provide a comfortable gathering place for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender non-conforming, queer, questioning and straight students, faculty and staff to meet and discuss the LGBT experience here.
ReplyDeleteTo me, these posters fit with the charter - they are a humorous examination of the LGBT experience in the world and specifically on the 5C's.
Furthermore, just because they target us students with heterosexual privilege doesn't mean that heterosexual students didn't have a hand in creating the campaign - I wouldn't know either way.
As a straight student from another university, friend of Adrienne's, and a guy that used to be very homophobic back in high school, you guys are only doing yourselves damage here. You guys just undermined your allies position, making yourselves look just like another crazy liberal wackjob group not to be taken seriously in the eyes of many. I now have less of a leg to stand on in arguments for LGBT causes... congratulations guys, very classy.
ReplyDelete"To me, these posters fit with the charter - they are a humorous examination of the LGBT experience in the world and specifically on the 5C's."
ReplyDeleteThey would make sense as an exhibit with a) clear context and b) focused discussion. They do not make sense for PRISM's goals without that context.
"Furthermore, just because they target us students with heterosexual privilege doesn't mean that heterosexual students didn't have a hand in creating the campaign - I wouldn't know either way."
Even if some heterosexual students had a hand in creating the campaign, that doesn't mean that the campaign can't make other heterosexual (or bisexual, or pansexual, or genderqueer) students feel uncomfortable.
---
"I am another heterosexual who really loved these posters and cannot understand why people are so offended."
You know, I hear that phrase so often, except instead of "heterosexual who really loved these posters" it's "transsexual who doesn't mind the word tranny'". As it turns out, just because you are A and feel that B, does not mean that all A's feel (or should feel) that B!
"No self respecting heterosexual can seriously take offense at these posters"
This seriously smacks of shutting down others. I can tenuously understand the argument that sometimes it's necessary to make people uncomfortable when calling out privilege, but this statement is just not OK. There are perfectly legitimate reasons why a non-gay individual might take offense at these posters and to ignore or deny that is to be just as ignorant as those who are bigoted towards the LGBT community.
If I were straight, I think I would interpret these posters as queer people being bitter about heterosexual privileged (which is fine) and hating me for having it (which is less fine). I would interpret it as being told that I'm a bad ally despite trying to be open and caring and supportive without being told how to fix it. And then I would probably go off and cry because I didn't know how to be a better ally.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that some allies have not felt this way, but there probably are some who do. And if they're like me, they wouldn't feel comfortable speaking up because then they are just obviously an even worse ally opening themselves up for more attacks.
I'm not saying that this is what PRISM was going for, but that is how I think I would feel if I were straight and saw these posters.
I think a lot of the problem is a lack of context. To me, the posters seem to be a lot of anger without a clear point. Are they trying to make people experience the same pain that queer people do? Are they just pointing out heterosexual privileged? Are they just attacking straight people? I feel like any of these could be a valid interpretation of the posters given the lack of other information posted with them. Maybe they're not even meant to be angry. Maybe they're meant to be more playful and tongue-in-cheek. And as someone else pointed out, they don't exactly give you anything to do about heterosexual privileged.
Sorry guys, correction... my friend Adrien, not Adrienne... force of habit inherited from high school :)
ReplyDeletere: what to do about privilege?
ReplyDeleteI think a large portion of breaking down privilege is the acknowledgement of it. It is called privilege because people don't realize they have it - to them it is normal to walk down the street without fear of being attacked for their sexual orientation, to have people presume that they are heterosexual correctly, to marry (no debate).
Once someone realizes they have privilege, I would say to listen to non-privileged people and their suggestions and try to change their language and behavior.
For an easy example, don't assume that a male-bodied person has a girlfriend and a female-bodied person has a boyfriend. Or don't assume that because someone is male-bodied or female-bodied that their gender aligns the same way. You might think - oh but everyone at the 5Cs knows this! but I've seen a professor ask a student (in context, not just out of the blue) about his girlfriend, and actually I've seen things like this multiple times, and people are addressed through gendered language all the time - sir, ma'am, ladies, etc. I'll ask people to use gender neutral pronouns to me and they'll forget. That's alright, but it's important to listen and change.
Lowell already posted these, but his comment addressed multiple things so people may have missed it when reading over this thread. They're links on privilege and what to do about it:
http://takesupspace.wordpress.com/cis-privilege-checklist/
http://blog.shrub.com/archives/tekanji/2006-03-08_146
*I'll ask people to use gender neutral pronouns to REFER to me. Oops. I guess people could use gender neutral pronouns to me too.
ReplyDeleteBonny, that's a nice summary of easy ways to help reduce the impact of privilege, but it's not on the wall by those posters, and it's still written in the language and context of those who already know about privilege.
ReplyDeleteThat's understandable, considering that with the exception of one or two comments, almost all of the discussion here has been among those who are already deeply aware of privilege and fairly well-versed on the topic, but it still doesn't really address the issues with the effectiveness of the campaign as a whole.
Many of the comments that slam the posters as too aggressive actually underestimate heterosexual people. I'm queer with lots of smart, supportive hetero friends. I would give my friends enough credit that they understand the message, can process the confrontational affect and learn from the posters, if they don't already know what the posters are saying.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first saw these posters, I thought that the majority of them were pretty funny. However, after looking at them for a few days, I now see them as annoying and somewhat offensive. Instead of uniting us as a college community against prejudice, these posters instead remind us of how we are different. The slogan "Hey Hetero!" is sort of funny, but it is not endearing to heterosexual persons like myself who already supported gay marriage to begin with. It definitely does not reflect an organization that is supposed to be welcoming of all sexualities. I also really don't see the need for these types of posters to be plastered all over a college campus where the majority of the people supported gay marriage to begin with. These posters are not winning more allies for PRISM, and instead they are driving people away.
ReplyDeleteA poster above commented on how PRISM gets the majority of its funding from straight students and that it should not "bite the hand that feeds", so to speak. I have no problem with the resources given to PRISM, but using them to put up posters like these is just wrong. I really don't care what events the queer resource center throws or how it spends its money (just like i really don't care about how any other ASHMC funded group spends its money) but resources should not be expended on projects like this. I dislike the idea of a speech policy guided by strict political correctness, and I agree that PRISM had the right to post these posters, but people who are offended by them should have the right to take them down.
And now onto the posters themselves:
1) Getting sneered at and flipped off every time I look at these posters is a little irritating.
2) Toasters have little to do with membership.
3) The crime scene photo irritates me greatly. When I look at it, I get the sense that they are redefining a "sexuality-related attack" to fit their purposes. Things like rape are also sexuality-related attacks, but these posters callously ignore this issue. Straights are subjected to sexuality-related violence, too. Sexuality-related violence is a serious issue facing both straights and gays, and we must fight it in all its forms together as a community. When I read these posters, they seem to scream "only we are victims of sexual violence". It's just not true.
"Many of the comments that slam the posters as too aggressive actually underestimate heterosexual people. I'm queer with lots of smart, supportive hetero friends. I would give my friends enough credit that they understand the message, can process the confrontational affect and learn from the posters, if they don't already know what the posters are saying."
ReplyDeleteIf one starts from the assumption of smart, supportive heterosexual individuals, then it is not surprising that the conclusion is that those individuals are smart and supportive.
As per one of my previous posts, however, if you're targeting people who are already supportive, what's the point?
On a somewhat unrelated note...
ReplyDeleteHas anyone aside from me noticed that all of the individuals pictured in these posters are caucasian?
If one were going for a critique of all western privilege, I could perhaps see it as being a subtle commentary on white privilege, but considering the poster series is focusing specifically on gay/lesbian issues, it seems an odd consistency.
What this campaign and much of the response to it shows is exactly how thin skinned our 'tolerance' is. We are accepting of homosexuality so long as it doesn't act in an "aggressive" manner, even against the social disparity we claim to disagree with. Once again, liberal privilege is pleased to disown itself just so long as it isn't inconvenienced or made uncomfortable beyond the complacency of symbolic gesture.
ReplyDelete"What this campaign and much of the response to it shows is exactly how thin skinned our 'tolerance' is. We are accepting of homosexuality so long as it doesn't act in an "aggressive" manner, even against the social disparity we claim to disagree with."
ReplyDeleteI'm trying really hard not to make a snippy reply here, but do you realize how large a portion of the comments so far have been from non-heterosexual individuals?
Please, don't try to sweep away reasonable criticisms with trite remarks like this. If you want to discuss, let's discuss, but being snide helps no one here.
The the anonymous at 3:12:
ReplyDeleteEven the best allies out there can be unaware of their privilege. These posters, as I see them, are not an ally issue, but a privilege issue. I posted something earlier about how privilege is no one's "fault," per se, and in that sense these posters are not an attack on individuals but rather an effort to maybe bring light to that privilege that some people, gay or straight or other, may be unaware of.
And to Amber:
Yes, this is a comment that we have heard from others as well. For what it's worth, the artist told us that one of the people in the photographs is actually a person of color, but:
"When the colours and saturation were balanced, he became much fairer-looking, which freaked me out. I showed him, and he thought that to roll the silent privilege of apparent whiteness into that of heterosexuality made the work stronger, if far more ambiguous- and at the cost of making it look like a white-people-only project."
Not sure if that changes anything, since he is definitely perceived as white, but just thought I'd let you know.
Lowell
Lowell, thanks for the followup. As you said, I'm not sure how much it changes (especially since the random person viewing the posters isn't going to know that unless you tell them, either), but I appreciate the knowledge.
ReplyDeleteI think the problem with alezwisser's comment is that it assumes the opponents to this project are heterosexual. I identify as queer, and I felt deeply offended by the posters. It's unfair to assume that anyone who objects to the posters or finds them offensive is a bad ally or is unaccepting of homosexuality. Many of the people who find problems with the posters are queer.
ReplyDeleteIt's one thing to make people uncomfortable and be controversial. It's another to attack them. Seeing the posters within the context of this blog is different than walking to the dorms and happening upon a picture of a sneering heterosexual couple with no context or explanation. Without an explanation next to the posters, I feel like they can't achieve their purpose. People who are aware will think about how aware they are, but nothing changes. People who are unaware of privilege won't have a way to make themselves more aware, and they may put off to the extent that they avoid becoming more aware.
I mentioned in an earlier comment that these posters also seem to put bisexuals and pansexuals in an awkward position. If I kiss my male partner in public, am I suddenly a bad queer? Are you going to yell "hey hetero" at me and tell me how privileged I am? What if I'm kissing a female partner instead? Is that suddenly okay and acceptable according to the people who put up these posters? I feel like I am looked down upon by these posters for having a partner of the opposite sex. In the straight community, I am at times looked down upon for being queer. I feel safe among allies (straight, gay, whatever) who are accepting of ALL people. It's hypocritical to put up posters trying to rally support for queers while simultaneously bashing certain queers.
I'd love to talk about privilege, I"d love to talk about disparity, but I can't do it in a hostile and disrespectful environment. This forum has been a great way to give context to the posters and give people the chance to discuss the themes, but it's not enough if the posters aren't reflecting the same safe and respectful atmosphere.
-Ariana
@Ariana
ReplyDeleteI'm not suggesting that the "enemies" of this project are heterosexuals. I am suggesting that it is a project aimed at highlighting heterosexual privilege. I disagree with many of the homosexuals who feel that the only course is that of appeasement and believe that the strategy opened by this campaign is equally valid. In fact I don't believe this campaign is aggressive at all - I find it quite a friendly teasing way of making us aware within our alliances and friendships that this disparity persists nonetheless. But it does also have a serious side, and as a white male heterosexual who has had to painfully learn about the privileges I do not share with those of different races, sexualities, gender etc - I can tell you that the most powerful experiences in my education were not reasonable arguments appealing to my good will. They came at moments in which I was challenged to feel what it might be like to be in the minority. That is all that these posters do - suggest what it might be like. And that is a very big might. Since you bring up the issue of sexuality perpsective, I feel it is my place to speak from my heterosexual perspective and to say that I do not feel that these posters attack me, but challenge me. And my choice, as someone who enjoys a privilege I believe everyone should share, is to accept that challenge as such.
re: whiteness
ReplyDelete"If one were going for a critique of all western privilege, I could perhaps see it as being a subtle commentary on white privilege, but considering the poster series is focusing specifically on gay/lesbian issues, it seems an odd consistency."
As Lowell said, the whiteness was accidental then turned into intent, but even without that knowledge I would have interpreted it as intentional whiteness. Gay/lesbian issues aren't separate from race issues, just like they aren't separate from trans issues. When it comes to heterosexual privilege, that privilege is also assumed to be white. So that's how I saw it.
-Bonny
@alexwisser
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that the posters were eye-opening for you, and I appreciate you sharing your perspective. I have heard many different perspectives about this project, and the people I am most concerned about are the people who have been hurt. I have not heard from any one person that this project has made them aware of privilege they were not previously aware of, though it is quite possible that there are students at Mudd who that applies to. I have heard from many students, both queer and straight, that these posters are hurtful to them, particularly with no explanation attached. Without the context, the posters come off as offensive and attacking to some people (myself included). Even though not everyone feels that way, I see these posters creating more discussion about how offensive they are or are not, rather than about the message they are trying to get across.
I think the project would be much more effective if the posters were each accompanied by explanatory text. I feel that it does our community more good to raise discussion about privilege (the intent of this project) rather than go back and forth over whether or not the methods are appropriate. Sometimes the shocking can draw attention, but in this case I feel like it is distracting from the more important issues.
Mudd senior here
ReplyDeleteLet me begin by saying I am aware that as a heterosexual, I have access to certain privileges that non-heterosexuals do not.
Still, I find these posters offensive. Rather than criticizing my actions or thoughts as a heterosexual, or offering suggestions on how to be a better ally or human, the posters seem to be attacking my heterosexuality, a fundamental part of my being. If we agree that one's sexual orientation is not a choice, and that there is nothing fundamentally right or wrong with any sexual orientation, then how come it seems that I am being attacked for mine? I would have welcomed posters pointing out how my actions or speech can be offensive, demeaning, or just plain insensitive to non-heterosexuals, but these posters seem to suggest that as a heterosexual, I must inherently be opposed to gay marriage, opposed to LGBTQ people raising children, and generally dangerous to the queer community. Maybe this could be deduced through my actions or speech as an individual- though I certainly hope not- but this should not be assumed simply due to my sexual orientation.
Someone posted above about not biting the hand that feeds you. I would like to point out that even when we as a Mudd community fall short of perfection in supporting one another, we’re still one of the more tolerance and welcoming communities out there. It seems ill-fated to attack this group of people- we’ve shown an interest in supporting and helping the LGBTQ community! Can’t we focus on improving and broadening this support, rather than alienating supporters by attacking their sexual orientation?
I would also like to address the poster on sexual violence. I realize that queers are targeted victims for sexual violence. However, as someone mentioned above, the statistic has to be skewed in some way- it downplays sexual violence toward women of all sexual orientations, and that is not appropriate.
In short: Attacking heterosexuals for being heterosexual is no better than attacking LGBTQ individuals for being who they are. Rather, a constructive poster display would feature ways in which the actions and speech of heterosexuals can be improved. As such, these posters fall short, especially when coming from a group that is supposed to be about respecting individual’s sexualities.
"As Lowell said, the whiteness was accidental then turned into intent, but even without that knowledge I would have interpreted it as intentional whiteness. Gay/lesbian issues aren't separate from race issues, just like they aren't separate from trans issues. When it comes to heterosexual privilege, that privilege is also assumed to be white. So that's how I saw it."
ReplyDeleteI hesitate to interpret things that way due to the erasure it causes. Yes, there are many different aspects of privilege, many different privileges one can have or not have, and the problems those privileges can cause are often related, but that does not make them all the same, and trying to roll them all up into one tidy package tends to run roughshod over individual perspectives.
While I can't personally speak to the racial privilege matter, I can say that I have been frustrated many times in the past when trans issues have simply been assumed to be part of gay/lesbian issues, ignoring the ways in which the former are distinct from the latter, and thus I can only assume that similar scenarios might arise for any other minority.
As such, I find it difficult to ascribe to a campaign centered around the tagline "Hey Hetero" an additional benefit of highlighting white privilege without simultaneously critiquing it for making it seem as if all heterosexual individuals are white (or that non-white heterosexual individuals are beyond reproach).
I am familiar with the concept of privilege, and I am completely in favor of bringing that to light, no matter how accepting our community already is, but I don’t think that is what these posters have done for our community. A friend of mine showed me a poster before they went up on the walls, and I actually didn’t see the “Hey, hetero” opening at the top. I didn’t immediately understand the point of the poster, but I wasn’t offended by it either. However, I couldn’t help but notice this particular phrase when I saw all the posters the next day, and I suddenly felt attacked.
ReplyDeleteAttacking me for being heterosexual and making me feel guilty for the privileges that I have is not a good way to make me see things from a different perspective. I did not choose to be straight any more than anyone else chose to be gay, and I don’t want to be looked down upon for that. What is more, I feel that a certain lifestyle is being ridiculed. I do hope to get married and have children some day, and I find it very offensive that the posters seem to mock these life choices. I believe that everyone should have the right to pursue this lifestyle should they choose to do so, but in the mean time I should not be punished for currently having the rights that everyone should have in the future.
I think a better way to make straight people more aware of privilege is to bring up these issues in a non-aggressive way, and to avoid using guilt to get someone’s attention. For instance, I have seen a list of questions that straight people typically ask gay people, but they have been turned around so that straight people can see how odd or offensive it is to be on the receiving end of these inquiries. “How do you know you’re straight when you haven’t even tried being gay?”, etc. When a heterosexual person reads something like this, he or she may remember asking someone one of these (or similar) questions, and I think it is at this point that a person will recognize the discrepancy between how gay and straight people are treated, even by people who don’t mean any harm. When faced with a realization like this, I think a straight person is more likely to direct the critique inward rather than feel attacked and get defensive, or simply ignore the message altogether.
When I first noticed the “Hey hetero” phrasing, my first concern was similar to Adrien’s; that allies would be driven away by a statement like this. Luckily, however, I think those of us who are supportive believe in equality on a more fundamental level and could not be swayed by a misguided display. I sincerely hope this is true, but I still think that slurs should not be directed at anyone, especially those of us “heteros” that would never use offensive language to hurt anyone else.
Darn it, I wrote a long thing and then blogspot gave me some error. Grr.
ReplyDeleteI saw three of these in my elevator (one on each side of the walls). More than anything, I felt that the message backfired. I don't even identify myself as hetero, or LGBT, or sexually at all. Rather than creating a discussion about privilege, I think you create one about "bashing heteros." An informational thing to accompany the posters (what they're about, what the artist is trying to capture, etc.) would have been much appreciated. Hell, type something up. I'll print it and put it in the darn elevator myself. As it is, I'm SO tempted to just remove (not tear down) the posters....
I agree with a lot of the others here in trying to raise awareness of the issue in a more non-hateful, non-guilt inducing way. I'm definitely all for LGBT equality and everything, but this is, IMHO, the wrong way to go about raising awareness on "hetero privileges."
You guys really could have been more tasteful. I don't really know all too much about PRISM, but based on your name alone and the posters I've just seen, I surely wouldn't feel all too welcome in your company. (I'm not saying that I would never come or anything - just that this has left a bad impression on me, so to speak.)
~Anonymoose, CMC
In response to the conversation around the perceived race/ethnicity of the models, and how that relates to the project's goal:
ReplyDeleteI don't think that using ostensibly white models in a conversation that only explicitly discusses sexuality is "erasure," or " trying to roll them all up into one tidy package" as Amber mentioned. Instead, I interpreted this in a more intersectional way, and that the project was specifically critiquing a white, economically-privileged heterosexuality. It would be incorrect to assume that non-white folks and people from working class backgrounds receive the same benefits through their heterosexuality, and a careless add-in model of diversity would have obscured these very important distinctions.
I agree, Amber, that it's negative when things get lumped together carelessly, like trans issues into lesbian/gay issues. But I don't think this is a case of oh, Let's add some race into the mix too. It's a pointed commentary on who receives privilege, and what it's based on.
anonymoose: feel free to use the main post here, that is what we have put up next to the posters at Mudd. if you'd like to print the message out and put it up at CMC, that would be really cool.
ReplyDeleteBonny, I don't think having a post explaining privilege buried in a comment thread on a blog linked in small type on the poster is exactly all that helpful. Really it's kind of like how having a dinner to talk about them in the aviation room isn't all that helpful. If you want these posters (which in my opinion are problematic for all sorts of reasons, but at the moment I don't have the time to go into that) to actually have any kind of positive impact highlighting privilege, then there needed to be some kind of explanation alongside them.
ReplyDeleteIt's really hard to be anything but defensive when one is met with such (apparent) anger and scorn. So I'm trying to stop and think about the reasons for the anger, and I can see pretty legitimate reasons.
ReplyDeletePrivilege is a nasty thing, and there's no comfortable way to be told that I (being straight) have it and use it badly. Facing up to one's shortcomings is never easy, but being sneered at concurrently sure makes it feel worse.
After a couple days of thinking I still feel uncomfortable with the posters, but I guess that's the point. Is there even a way to confront privilege without confronting privileged persons?
I think we've established pretty clearly that these posters have offended a lot of people, some quite intensely, while they have intrigued and even pleased other people. These emotional responses alone are enough for me to call PRISM's decision to display these posters, and Mudd's support, a success. Of course, I'm uncomfortable about making other people feel uncomfortable or hurt, and I've been struggling a lot over the past few days with these discussions and how I feel about them. The emotions, confrontation, and the struggle are definitely a testament to the quality of the pieces.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I hope that we can move beyond the argument over how offensive they are and onto the issues of privilege. It's been made very clear that they may have been more effective if they had been accompanied by blurbs. Well, let's pretend that there were blurbs (and followers of these comments will have read more than blurbs here), and get to the purpose of the posters.
I think the point that a lot of people are missing is that these posters have nothing to do with ally-ship. Being supportive of a minority community is separate from having privilege. You don’t give up your privilege when you’re white attending a civil rights rally. You don’t give up your privilege if you’re a male studying gender studies. Hopefully we do all believe in “equality on a more fundamental level,” a phrase from Brette's thoughtful comment, but at least in 2011, privilege still plays a large role in day to day lives.
So what can you do about it once you realize you have privilege? There’s no real answer that I know of, at least. But I’d say this: Step 1 is to realize you have it. That's what these posters try to do. From there you have options. You can either just sort of stop there, and say "Okay, cool, I'm privileged. I'm okay with that. I'm not going to feel guilty, but I'm going to be aware of what the implications of that are. I'm going to be aware of the fact that the things that are granted to me by society may not be available to everyone. I’ll try not to take advantage of them." Maybe another option is to surrender your privilege. Don’t get married, even though you can. Refer to your significant other as your partner, rather than with a gendered term (boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife). But maybe most importantly, educate yourselves – and others – on what privilege. Have conversations, as difficult and as uncomfortable as they may be.
I'm feeling more and more like this was indeed the case:
ReplyDelete"Thus the overall feel of the campaign is that it provides a "feel good" effect to those who are already in the know, and an alienating effect to those who are not. I'm worried that the campaign went forward primarily due to the appeal of that "feel good" effect rather than as a well-thought-out effort to increase awareness."
And part 2...
ReplyDeleteAs Brette mentioned before, I hope most of us who were offended believe in “equality on a more fundamental level” than our current offense and won’t stop pushing for rights for everyone because of this display. However, the Mudd community is filled with people of all different levels of commitment to equality, and I fear these posters may have alienated people whose conviction for equality is more tenuous or undecided, and made them feel victimized by the very people they were starting to support. For these people, displaying “angry gay art” is possibly one of the worst things the LGBTQ community could do, especially when it wasn’t coupled with suggestions for how to move forward.
Another thought I have had is that this is college visitation season- don’t worry, I’m not going to suggest that we shouldn’t have displays challenging our society during this time of year, or any other time of year. What has crossed my mind is that I believe these posters create an image of Mudd that is much more polarized than it actually is- I think we are better than these posters make us look. For some students visiting campus, it may look as though Mudd is not very LGBTQ-friendly, as demonstrated by the need to display these provocative posters all over campus. I hope this is not true. For other students visiting campus, it may look like the LGBTQ community is angry and hateful towards heterosexual members on campus. I think that is not true as well. It would be a shame if visitors failed to recognize how generally supportive our campus is because of one poster display.
Finally, Lowell, while I think it’s admirable that you’re so dedicated to PRISM and the greater HMC community that you’re willing to take time discussing this when you’re on study abroad, it is hard to discuss a visual display with someone who hasn’t actually seen it in person. These posters not just isolated, individual posters around campus; rather, they are arranged in large (far taller than me) displays at central locations on campus. Instead of just one poster, or a handful, there are giant leering collections of these pictures, arranged to spell “HEY,” underscoring the derogatory “Hey hetero!” on the poster. It would be nice to have opinions or comments from those in PRISM currently on-campus this semester, who were responsible for the decision to put up these posters, and who have to pass by them on a daily basis.
I think it is inappropriate to call this display a success. I don't think it's a bad thing to make people feel uncomfortable; I think it's a bad thing to be hostile and make people feel attacked. Lowell, you say that this was not meant to be an attack on individuals, and you know what? I believe you. I am willing to believe that was not the intent, but unfortunately, it seems to be the effect nonetheless. Had the posters said, "Hey society" instead of "Hey hetero" I think they would have been met with a lot more support. When you criticize society, it's still confrontational, but doesn't alienate anyone. We don't feel that someone is angry at us, so it feels a lot safer to reexamine our viewpoints.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how many people reading these comments went to the Scripps dance concert on Friday, but there was an incredibly thought-provoking performance by Joss Greene that brought up trans issues in a really creative way. Greene danced to recordings of female voices asking really personal and sometimes offensive questions about trans people, “Are you taking hormones?”, “Are you going to get surgery?”, etc. Yes, it was uncomfortable, and yes, it was confrontational, but it was in no way offensive. I felt uncomfortable because I didn’t know, for instance, that being trans did not necessarily mean getting surgery, and I still don’t know which gendered pronouns to use for a few acquaintances that I don’t know particularly well. It made me realize that I need to be more aware that some people do not fit as neatly into the heteronormative gender binary as I do, and that there are other important issues in addition to the gay/lesbian issues that I am more familiar with. The performance left me feeling not attacked, but enlightened. I think PRISM’s purpose should have been more similar to Greene’s, focusing on understanding, awareness, education, and acceptance. The posters, instead of attacking this heteronormative gender binary, attack individuals who fit into it in a conventional way, and for this reason I don’t think the posters can be praised for fostering those same ideals in the Claremont community.
I've read some of the comments on here, and I think that many people feel the same way that I do.
ReplyDeleteFirst, a bit of my background. I'm straight. I've lived in Iowa, a midwestern farm state, for my entire life. The summer before coming to Mudd, I worked for One Iowa, an organization that promoted same-sex marriage in Iowa. My job was to drive out to small towns throughout the state and go knocking door-to-door to talk to people about the issue and get them to sign a petition. The petition was opposed to a proposed amendment to remove same-sex marriage. My coworkers and I worked very hard to get hundred of signatures throughout our region, and the organization had hundreds of workers and volunteers all working very hard to spread understanding and get support for the issue. Most of the time, the job was very rewarding, because people were either in complete support of us, and thanked us for doing it, or they were willing to listen to what we had to say with open minds. But, there were times when people were mean and threatening. I can remember moments where I was honestly scared for my life. But I kept working at it and trying to spread knowledge of the issue and understanding.
The amendment to ban same-sex marriages failed. Our work payed off.
With this in mind, I find these posters offensive and sickening. I understand the anger or frustration that some may feel, but this approach will not help anything. Sure, there are plenty of people who wont mind, but those people are already on your side. What will this look like to those who are not yet decided, or who don't know about the issue? Is this going to win them over? Is this a good way to tell them what your stance is? NO.
Inform people of the issue. Let them know about the frustration you feel. Let them know what is going on. And try and convince them to help support you. That is how you fix injustices like this. Angry posters attacking them will only alienate the people whose support you need.
Maybe approach it like MLK did and remind those who aren't taking action either way what is going on:
"First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action;" who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season."
Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."
The best approach in my mind would be to try and increase understanding to gain support. Not attack straight people simply because they are straight. When you do that, you are no better than those who attack you.
- eee
Oops.
ReplyDeleteAfter my comment about these posters being offensive and sickening, I meant to add why. It is because I feel that this sort of thing only works against everything that myself and the others throughout the country worked for.
- eee
I very much agree with the things that has just said here. Thank you. Also, I approve of your use of MLK, and want to add another quote of his (from the famous "I Have A Dream" speech) that I believe is highly relevant here:
ReplyDelete"But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
"We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone."
Yes, allies may not be coming from the same background as those of us in the queer community, but we need their help, and to attack them or turn our backs on them when they are offering that help is not something that I can let pass by without objecting.
Adrien
Adrien, thank you for that quote, and for recognizing us as allies that want to help.
ReplyDeleteI am having a hard time moving on to talking about privilege because I feel that those of us who were offended by the posters have not been acknowledged. We have heard "we didn't mean it that way", which is fine. But we have also heard "this was a success" and "let's pretend there was a blurb". The fact is that there was not a blurb, and we were simply bombarded with accusatory material with no context. What I think would mean a lot to all of us, straight or not, is a statement of understanding from PRISM, such as "we didn't mean it that way BUT we understand where your interpretation came from". I think when an understanding like that is expressed, we can actually move towards what the heart of this campaign really is supposed to be.
Honestly, what I'm more looking for is a "we recognize that there were some shortcomings and here is how they'll be fixed". The posters are still on the walls, yes? They still do not have any greater context, yes? How about changing this?
ReplyDeleteAmber, I believe there are now blurbs next to most/all the posters at HMC. I have no idea if this is the case at other colleges as well. I have not looked that closely at what the blurbs say because my life is being eaten by clinic + dance concert in 2 weeks. They might just be the same thing as in the original post on this blog, I dunno. But at Mudd at least, there does seem to be some context/attempt at giving context.
ReplyDeleteI've walked past those posters multiple times every day for as long as they've been up, and I haven't noticed any blurbs. It could be that I'm just blind (which is likely). I'm sure they're there, but, to my mind at least, they are clearly not noticible enough if I've missed them constantly.
ReplyDelete- eee
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRae, I actually do not know Joss, I am just a stranger who enjoyed his piece and learned from what he chose to share with his audience. So no, I did not ask him what he thinks of the poster campaign, and I don't really think that would be a relevant question to ask. My point in bringing up his performance was that he made me feel uncomfortable, which was good, and did not go so far as to make me feel attacked, which was also good. He caused me to think, to reevaluate my assumptions, and to have a discussion with several other people about what we all had learned, without making me feel attacked in the process. Of course, this is only one example, but I think finding more ways to cause discomfort without offending anyone will be more productive and unifying than making people feel attacked.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting update:
ReplyDeleteWhen I used my elevator this morning, the posters weren't there. I don't know who removed them. I'm not sure they even lasted 12 hours in our elevator, considering they went up late last night.
I think it says something about the nature of the posters...
~Anonymoose
I can't speak for PRISM since the group is not a collective uniform unit either, but I'm reading all the comments and synthesizing, I just don't have the time to respond as there are many other aspects to this project that have cropped up. I don't know if that helps with people's concerns any, but your feedback and comments are being taken into account by some people at PRISM.
ReplyDeleteAs Emily noted, flyers giving context have also been put up next to the Mudd posters, though not the posters on the other 4Cs.
-Bonny
I understand the goals of this project, as PRISM engaged in it, to be:
ReplyDelete-bringing attention to heterosexual privilege in a public, widespread way,
and
-disrupting heteronormative/mainly heterosexual spaces with the posters.
(PRISM folks, feel free to amend that or disagree.)
So with this in mind, I'm wondering... for those of you who thought that this campaign would have been more successful with a blurb/explanation, what do you think it should have said? And how do you think this would have changed the experience of the posters for people? This is not a rhetorical question, I'm actually wondering. For me, I saw those goals (and again, PRISMers, correct me if I'm wrong) as being pretty self-explanatory within the project, and I'm not sure if stating those goals explicitly would have elicited a much different reaction.
I'm also curious as to what PRISM ended up saying in the explanations... I don't got to Mudd and haven't seen them.
Also,
ReplyDeleteThese posters very much deal with heterosexual privilege (who has it, what it looks like, etc.). And privilege, as I understand it, is about the way that individuals benefit from structures. Which is about structures, for sure, but also the ways that these privileges are manifested in people's lives (which people are often unaware of). This requires talking about, and addressing, individuals.
Laura P asked, "Is there even a way to confront privilege without confronting privileged persons?"
And I don't think there is. I mean, you can go about the conversation in a number of ways and with a variety of tones... and all in all, I didn't see this poster campaign as being aggressive. It read more as campy, silly, and over-the-top to me. Perhaps it counts as angry queer/gay art, as some have brought up, but I feel like a poster campaign that said "Hey Breeders! Fuck you and your marriages!" would be an example of actually angry queer art. These posters were but one strategy of approaching privilege, and conversations around privilege can (and should) be occurring in a variety of ways, which I would guess is unfortunately not actually happening on campus.
I would argue that a reason why people are feeling like these posters are angry/confrontational is that they are unaccustomed to talking about heterosexual privilege or encouraging other people to talk about heterosexual privilege (whether or not they themselves have it). And as was mentioned in the first post, conversations about privilege are often uncomfortable and confusing. There are no easy solutions, and it takes time and consideration to understand how one's own privilege functions. It's not as simple as being told what to do and doing it. I encourage people to read the links that others have posted on privilege, and to be open to the idea that remaining in a space of discomfort is almost always necessary. Thinking about privilege, whether you have it in a particular way or you don't, is not a comfortable thing.
The blurbs say the same thing as this original post did. I typed up all and then deleted it because I was silly and didn't process the fact that I was just duplicating info.
ReplyDeleteSarah a., you bring up some very good points. It is important to confront and accept privilege, and that can't be done without at least a little bit of discomfort on the part of the person who is new to learning about their own privilege. There is no easy way to do it, and it's hard to actually get people to stop and reflect.
ReplyDeletePerhaps for some of the people who object to the posters, their discomfort comes from discomfort with the idea of confronting and accepting their own privilege. For me personally, as well as for several people I have heard opinions from, the discomfort is not with the idea of confronting privilege. The discomfort stems from the way the posters address privilege. The poster calls out to heterosexuals in a way that mimics derogatory slurs that are often used against gays and lesbians. Is this ironic, funny, cute, or offensive? To me, honestly, it probably depends on how I'm feeling when I hear it and who is saying it to me. If my friend calls me a queer in jest or in context, that is acceptable. If a stranger calls me a queer with no context, that is offensive to me. These posters have built no rapport with me, but they scream out to me out of context, and so my first reaction was not pleasant (this is before the explanatory statements were put up). "Hey hetero" is not inside of a word bubble, nobody is owning those words. The poster is using them, and they are directed at the reader. It seems to me that these words are intended as a slur, or at least that is one possible interpretation of the art.
Along with the phrase go those rather garish pictures. The first one I saw was on the "Get married" poster. The poster directly calls out to heterosexuals, then directly addresses them with "you" and a picture. To me, that tells me that the picture represents the people that the poster is addressing. The poster depicts these awful caricatures of sneering and rather pompous-looking people who appear to be flipping off those who can't marry. It seems to be saying, "if you are getting married or you have a relationship with an opposite-sex partner, you are full of yourself and you show contempt for queers." For many people reading these posters, that is a really terrible accusation. For the bisexuals and pansexuals and straight allies, that really sucks. Yes, I have privileges when my partner is of the opposite sex. Yes, I am willing to acknowledge that. Yes, I have thought about ways I may personally decrease the divide between those with and without those privileges. Commenters on this blog have brought up some ways to raise awareness without accusing people, as these posters do. Maybe people interpret the posters much differently than I do, but I think one of the common themes for those who have been angered by the posters is the feeling of being directly accused (or having their friends and allies directly accused).
ReplyDeleteAccusing people makes them angry and defensive, which is not going to make anybody examine their privilege. If anything, it distracts them or puts them off the idea even further. Some of us who read the posters feel the need to defend ourselves from the accusations. Some us us feel even more strongly that we need to defend our friends. Those leery pictures do not represent my straight friends, and I have a problem with the idea that they do.With these posters, you're asking a lot of good questions, but I think you're asking them the wrong way. Important questions like these need to be asked more respectfully, and in turn they will receive more thoughtful answers.
I hate how blogger loves to eat long comments. :|
ReplyDeleteAs do I...
ReplyDeleteI, personally (as a heterosexual), don't find the posters overly offensive. I think they are pointing out something that makes people uncomfortable in an exaggerated manner, but I think that that needs to be done (more on that in a second). I do, however, think I see why it can be hurtful to those who identify neither as primarily straight nor primarily gay, and that's a legitimate concern but I'm really not sure how we can address that.
ReplyDeleteAs to the call for a gentler approach, I have a few things to say: I think that HMC is a relatively queer-friendly campus, and so perhaps not the place with the most need for the posters. But as far as I know (thanks, Rae!), this project is an ongoing one that started and continues beyond Mudd. I know that a lot of what PRISM does involve gentler approaches, with ally training and open meetings and so forth. I think that there are still people, allies or not, that have never thought about these privileges, or avoid confronting them, and that needs to be done. I had a friend (CGU graduate) ask about the posters today and what they meant, and she had NEVER thought about that before, but when I explained, she began to understand (note: this does speak to the need for a blurb or a link on the posters. I've seen the recently posted blurbs, and I think they're pretty good, but a lot of people still don't see those).
Finally, I'll post below some edited (for brevity and relevance) writings by a blogger about anger in activism that I think are relevant. The blogger generally talks about sexuality, atheism, and politics.
Brianna, I would really like to read the writings about anger in activism, please do post them.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious as to how heterosexuals are expect to act on this new-found understanding of their privilege (assuming they were not aware of it before this campaign). Maybe the campaign should have thought about the next step, because otherwise I think it leaves some heterosexuals feeling guilty and without a purpose...
ReplyDeleteI am bisexual, but for the sake of simplicity, and overlooking the fact that these posters seem to forget about me, the "privileged" part of me is now confused. There is no way for me to get rid of this privilege, so congratulations, I might know it exists now, but all this realization has done is make me feel guilty about my privilege. I'd give this privilege away to gays if I could, but oh, that's right, sexuality is something that you're born with.
I am fully supportive of gay marriage and gay rights. However, my privilege is also something I was born with, and making me feel bad about it doesn't seem to be helping any larger purpose.
Having just read Lowell's post, this section disturbs me:
ReplyDelete"Don’t get married, even though you can. Refer to your significant other as your partner, rather than with a gendered term (boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife). But maybe most importantly, educate yourselves – and others – on what privilege. Have conversations, as difficult and as uncomfortable as they may be."
I don't intend to get married, but as someone who supports gay marriage, I think that guilting heterosexuals into not exercising an institution that could make their lives much happier is simply uncalled for.
Oh, well, just to clarify, I have no problems with people getting married, it doesn't offend me or make me bitter or anything negative. I think it's really exciting. :-) But I think it's important for people who are able to get married to realize that there are a lot of people that can't (ie be aware of their privilege). I also don't mean to guilt anyone into not getting married. I was just throwing out some (possibly radical?) suggestions.
ReplyDeleteExample from this afternoon. A conversation with me and a girl in my class. She's going away for a week because she's getting married, so she's getting an extension on her assignment. When I commented on how, "oh man, i wish i could have an extension," she jokingly said, "well just get married also!" And my first thought was "ha, if only i could." Yeah, she was joking, but it's not something everyone can have. And her comment actually made me feel kind of awkward.
It's great that you support gay marriage, and thank you for supporting gay marriage, but that is separate from acknowledging privilege (I'm not saying you don't acknowledge it, I'm just saying they're separate). That's what I feel hasn't been noticed in these discussions: if someone is an ally it does not mean that they necessarily are aware of their privilege.
oh, come ON.
ReplyDeleteIn California, a multi-million dollar hate campaign repealed same sex couples' rights to marry. Across the state and the country, non-heterosexual relationships were, and continue to be, mocked, insulted, derided, silenced, and ultimately legislated against.
AND YOU THINK THAT TO NOTE MARRIAGE IS A STRAIGHT-ONLY PRIVILEGE IS 'OFFENSIVE'?
Un-freaking-believable.
'Thin-skinned' really sums up the discord here. I'm one of the people who features in the posters, the family picnic and marriage posters. We actually are a family and long-term hetero partnership, warts and all. Rather than feel our way of life was under attack we volunteered to contribute because of the overt homophobia being peddled by the Howard government, denying same-sex couples access to IVF, marriage and enforcing a range of discriminatory laws. We also wanted to express our support for Gay and Lesbian friends in deciding not to legally marry until they could too, if they so chose, not that all of them would. It makes me really sad that people have felt hurt by these posters! They were made in a spirit of intersex harmony, actually with lots of love and fun and support. I can't help but wonder if those hurt people would've felt the same if they were white during the civil rights movement, or if they were privileged in any sense and took personal offence at the critiques of overarching structural discriminations against minorities by such campaigns drawing attention to inequity. Because I reckon to be personally offended itself, to see it only and solely in terms of individuals, depends on being unaware of how each of us are part of a much bigger machine. And this lack of awareness is what oils the machine. Power works most effectively when it masks itself. Also in order to be part of the images I had to spend hours in costume and make-up, and be art-directed in how to pose and what 'sneering' faces to pull. What does that say about how these posters attack 'real' people? Do any of you look like this cause if so you've got some wild Camp-us going on and I'm coming right over! .... Anyway, the experience inspired me to indulge in more of this delicious lambasting: http://www.youtube.com/user/joholafaclub
ReplyDeleteI recommend it. It's a riot. And an extremely politically effective one.
"AND YOU THINK THAT TO NOTE MARRIAGE IS A STRAIGHT-ONLY PRIVILEGE IS 'OFFENSIVE'?"
ReplyDeleteNo, actually, we don't. If you read closely, no one is saying that making people aware of privilege is bad. The matter in question is simply the manner of doing so.
Knee-jerk mocking reactions are not constructive here.
"Because I reckon to be personally offended itself, to see it only and solely in terms of individuals, depends on being unaware of how each of us are part of a much bigger machine."
ReplyDeleteLiz, I understand the point you're trying to make here, and I agree with you - to an extent. But it would also be a grave error to entirely ignore the fact that within that bigger machine are still unique and distinct parts, and those parts still have individual personalities and feelings.
If all we care about is the ends, then certainly, let us roll on full steam ahead. I'm not sure I'm willing to be quite so Machiavellian about it though.
Liz, thanks for the "behind the scenes" perspective. And also thanks for the youtube link. hehe. Loved the Fed square one and the ones with the budgie. :)
ReplyDeleteBesides being highly offensive, these posters are counterproductive. Does anybody notice that social liberals comprise roughly 100% of the population here? Whats the point of harassing socially liberal heterosexuals with aggressive and provocative anti-heterosexual posters? Good luck winning gay rights with that propaganda strategy, you stupid fucks. Maybe after that you should seek an alliance based on common interest with the Church of the Latter Day Saints and the Ku Klux Klan?
ReplyDeletewhoa!
ReplyDeleteAnd that's from someone who considers themselves a 'social liberal'.
That's from someone who happens to consider themself a social liberal and who happens to be rather angry.
ReplyDeleteare you the person/part of the people who posted the response posters:
ReplyDeletehey homos,
maybe this isn't the way to get what you want.
very nice. they made me laugh.
I read everything here! And talked to a bunch of people all over campus, and got a lot of perspectives, and heeeeere's some of where I come down ... four days after everyone else stopped talking about it:
ReplyDeleteAdrien (and MLK) is a BAMF. Joss is awesome. Toasters are overrated. Iowa gay marriage advocate, I respect your work; thank you for doing it.
In terms of 'what do I do once I recognize my privilege?' ... I think nobody can actually tell us that. We really do have to figure it out on our own. MAYBE it means don't-get-married. Maybe it means join a grassroots group that promotes marriage equality. Maybe it means-- as I hope it does-- make a t-shirt that says DAVID BLANKENHORN IS A DOUCHEBAG and wear it everywhere you go. But just as you can't please all the people all the time, you can't possibly hope to please even every member of an oppressed/marginalized group. For myself, I tend to go with, "Listen to people. Be kind. Find out what the deal is."
And until I get into discussions like these, it tends to steer me right. =P
I admit that when I first saw the posters, I was like, "I've already decided not to get married until we achieve legal marriage equality on a federal level! I know the crime statistics! WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME? WHY TOASTERS???"
But you know ... I took what I wanted from those posters and I moved on. I spent some time thinking about how I would feel walking at night with a male partner vs. a female partner, and I talked with a friend about it, and ... screw the toasters. I don't have to love every poster I see in order to support my GLBTQetc. friends and peers.
Please don't screw the toasters. It's almost certainly a bad idea.
ReplyDeleteRichard
Just thought I'd add this reading material for anyone who still happens to be paying attention to this particular discussion:
ReplyDeletehttp://genderbitch.wordpress.com/2010/09/05/amo-call-out-culture/
Hi Amber,
ReplyDeleteGreat article and blog, thank you.
Lowell
Since there's so many comments, I don't want to respond to everything, but I will say mainly that I agree with the first three comments regarding the poor strategy-choice of these posters, no matter their end-desire.
ReplyDeleteThere's two things that I do want to bring up, however:
1. First is the apparent desire to bring angry-queer-art into the 5Cs. First, I'll admit, I did not even know angry-queer-art was a thing. Really, though, I feel the same way when I used to see my little brother yelling about something. If you're going to be angry and scream about something that deserves calm rational discussion, people are not going to suddenly think, "oh hm, I would like to learn more about that." They're going to tune out and say, "if all you're going to do is yell at me, I don't want to deal with you".
I feel kind of strange because I absolutely love punk rock, which I would characterize as "angry art". What makes effective activist punk rock different than these posters is that it begins by welcoming people with music that is meant to be shared and enjoyed, rather than accusatory words and defamatory caricatures. Then once people are welcomed in, they are made aware of the social issues that the band supports through their music, record sales, and activism, as well as how the newcomers can help. These posters do none of that. They begin by pushing away, then have zero invitation to join together as a respectful community of human beings.
2. I'm also very surprised at all this talk of "acknowledging privilege" as such an important goal that it's worth alienating allies who would be happy to help in any political efforts to help the less privileged. It reminds me of a story from one of my math professors. A friend of his wrote a thesis on a class of functions with properties A, B, and C. After years of work, know what happens? It turns out that no functions exist with properties A, B, and C.
ReplyDeleteWonderful. Now people are aware of their privilege, but they're left with feelings of disgust and shame with the people who yelled at them and alienated them in the process. How is that possibly a success? No under-privileged group is any closer to being granted the rights that the rest of society enjoys. It's just such an incredibly orthogonal and unproductive goal.
In my brain, hearing things like, "It's great that you support gay marriage, and thank you for supporting gay marriage, but that is separate from acknowledging privilege" sounds like, "supporting and building up the least-privileged people in society is nice and all, but it's really important that we also remember to tear down and make the more-privileged people feel bad that they were born with privilege". There is absolutely no good result that can come of that way of thinking.
Awareness in a vacuum does absolutely nothing. If instead the goal was acceptance, compassion, or support, that would be entirely different. But this just sounds like throwing out the baby with the bathwater (that's actually probably a horrible analogy, but I'm going to run with it). Congratulations, I've been made aware of my privilege. And in the process I've come to feel like if I ever came back to visit PRISM as an alum, I would be isolated and cast out. Maybe it wouldn't happen actively, but if PRISM has suddenly decided to post media that tells me, "You are separate from us. We will label you and refer to you as this label, thus keeping you isolated from us.", what else am I supposed to think?
I understand the line of logic where you might say, "good, now you know how much it sucks. maybe you'll stop making it suck for the rest of us." but the problem is that the structure of society is not any one person's fault. Sure, we live in a representative republic, and I can and do vote, but society is not changed by isolated individuals. It is changed by communities of individuals who work together and support each other. If your efforts are driving more people away from the community than towards it, those efforts are only doing more harm than good.
And to the people who first responded by saying they disapproved of these posters: thank you for being braver than me. I definitely wanted to say something as soon as the first email regarding these posters was sent out, but I was too worried that I would just be disregarded as some sort of bigot.
-- Jason, HMC'10.
p.s. (things that I realized in a facebook thread)
ReplyDelete1. Allies should be people who can look to their comrades and know in their hearts, "If shit went down, and society was somehow magically inverted upon itself, I know you would have my back. So I am going to have your back now." Some people might call this "mutual respect and understanding". A feeling of, "our circumstances may be different, but we're fighting the good fight together". No matter how worthy a goal you believe that acknowledging privilege is, if the process towards that goal undermines this communal respect, it is not worth it.
2. I believe we should be building communities that accept everyone and seek to help people understand and relate to each other as human beings. We should not be building communities who preach exclusivity and insist upon drawing dividing lines between people.
Apparently there's some people who think it's more important to remind people of their differences than to remind them that we are all human beings that just want love and peace. It's like if I were to say, "Hey you, little Mexican girl. You see that Irish boy over there? He will never accept you as a person because you and he are different, and there is nothing you can do about it." (and before someone yells at me for bringing up race, or because this example is inherently heteronormative, the Mexican girl and Irish boy in this scenario are my parents. just deal with it.) We should instead be saying, "Hey you, little Mexican girl. You see that Irish boy over there? He's just like you. Every morning, he wakes up and sees the same sky as you. He wants to be accepted by his peers, just like you. He wonders if he's ever going to fall in love, just like you. Even though you may have different struggles, you are both beautiful human beings filled with your own hopes and dreams, so you should do your best to see past the differences and realize that no matter how different we are, we are also all the same, and so we should love, support, and accept one another."
There's a reason PRISM is called "People respecting individual's sexualities at Mudd", and it's not just because it can be shortened to a simple two-syllable word. It's a place whose purpose is to say, "look, these individuals sitting around the table might seem different from you because of their sexuality, but they deserve respect and dignity because we're all just individual human beings." And that goes in both directions. We are individuals first, and labels second (preferably, we would be labels never), because all labels are capable of doing is dehumanizing and taking away freedom.
Hi. I am not well-versed in queer politics, so please don't be too upset at me anyone, if I have got this wrong. Also, I'm at work and can't really sit and read all the comments, so apologies if I'm repeating something you guys have already spoken about. I just saw the Hey Hetero! posters on a book today and wanted to find somewhere that I could make a comment about them to people who might be interested (nobody I know would care either way). So I was just thinking that all the people in the apparently hetero couples could infact be bi. I am, so that's why I thought about it. When you fancy more than one gender, people sometimes think you have it easy, but it's not always true. I'm not sure I fully understand the concept of 'strait privialge' but I understand it's something that some people think we bisexuals 'retain'. This isn't something I recognise in my own life. Try coming out as bi to your 'strait partner' or explaining to gay friends that you fancy the opposite gender too. Nobody really wants to know, even occaisionally the 'LGBT community', in which, sometimes it can feel like the B is silent. Just please guys, don't always assume that because a couple comprises a man and a woman, that couple has an easy time with sexuality / acceptance etc.
ReplyDeleteI think the posters are really funny and smart, by the way, and will draw people to considering a really important issue, so that's brilliant of course, but I think it's important not to make assumptions about what is happening when we see a man and a woman together. Anyway, that's all, sorry if I've said anything wrong or whatever, or if this post is in the wrong place, I just didn't know where else to write it. Thanks.
Nicholas.