I mean, so much of the evil that men do to one another has at its core the inability of people to empathize with another person's position. Say when you're seven, you find yourself slightly more drawn to Johnny than you are to Jane. This is not a conscious decision on your part, it just happens, it's an instinct like...liking the color blue.
Now in less tolerant times, you were put to death for this attraction. As time went on, this punishment was sometimes reduced to mere castration, or just imprisonment. Until recently this attraction was considered so horrific that society pretty much expected you to lie to yourself about your sexual and emotional feelings, and if you couldn't do that, certainly expected you to shut up about it and go live your life bottled and terrified; and if you would be so kind as to never have any physical closeness with anyone ever, when you were buried you could know that society would feel that you had handled your disgraceful situation with tact and willpower. That was one cheery option--nothing, and then the grave.
Or, you might make a false marriage with some woman who wouldn't know what was going on with you, and you could both be miserable and unfulfilled. That was another respectable option. Or you might kill yourself. There's not a lot of empathy evident in the people who prefer these options.
I mean, I certainly realize how insane it would be to ask a heterosexual to deny his or her natural sexual feelings and perform homosexual acts that went against their nature. If I can have that empathy, why can't others have that same empathy in reverse? I want some empathy here!
[Goes into an affirmation] I am the predominant source of...well, fuck that.
[Throws his note cards over his shoulder, drives on ahead.]
--Christopher Durang, from Laughing Wild
7 comments:
Oh, Mr. Durang. If only he were still trying to be satirical instead of just silly.
Under patriarchy the color blue is rape.
Those who like the color blue are therefore oppressing me, and anyone who points out that I am using shame to control their actions is also oppressing me, by not showing solidarity in the form of agreeing with me unquestioningly.
Now, I should admit, I do like the color blue, occasionally and in moderation of course, but some people out there like the color blue too much, and that, I must also admit in my usual passive agressive fashion, is going too far.
The nerve of some people...
just so yer blue doesn't have fucking sparklies in it, precioussss
Rey: yeah, the last thing i saw of his was "Sex and Longing." it...kind of didn't work so much, for me. his later ones sounded kind of fluffy. but, well, i guess maybe he worked through whatever it was he needed to, which may make for less good drama but (hopefully) better mental health for him...
OMG - I just clicked over to gushing orgasms from the links in the post above.
IT WAS AWESOME. No, it's not porn, so click over post-haste!
...okay, that's one boot and one "quoi?" i'm nuking it. goddam spam.
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