younger, but reminiscent.
Feb. 1st, 2006 11:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moominmuppetThe Cuddle Puddle of Stuyvesant High School (linked ganked from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
harperjean)
This does remind me a good deal of certain aspects of college (quite a number of them very pleasant memories). And, frankly, although plenty of people get annoyed about the whole "experimentation" thing, as if it invalidates stable queer identities, I'm quite happy about it. A world where people can explore and figure out their own sexualities without huge horrible penalties just doesn't sound like a bad thing to me. Yeah, sometimes it's an image, sometimes it's "just for show", sometimes these folks get the benefits and fun of queerness without "suffering" for it (is that why we fight against homophobia? So we can guilt people for not suffering what we're trying to prevent them from suffering? Does that seem backward to anyone else?) sometimes people who are definitely queer get hurt falling for people who are still sorting it out (oh, been there, done that). So what? Identities are creations. They don't come to us fully formed; we have to figure out which ones fit, and how to tailor them to ourselves.
And, honestly, I think that even those kids who end up straight as arrows will have benefits from their explorations, and so will our society. They might be a little less likely to demonize queer folk, vote for marriage bans, and generally do other nasty stuff that's all based in lack of comprehension/empathy/compassion.
harperjean)This does remind me a good deal of certain aspects of college (quite a number of them very pleasant memories). And, frankly, although plenty of people get annoyed about the whole "experimentation" thing, as if it invalidates stable queer identities, I'm quite happy about it. A world where people can explore and figure out their own sexualities without huge horrible penalties just doesn't sound like a bad thing to me. Yeah, sometimes it's an image, sometimes it's "just for show", sometimes these folks get the benefits and fun of queerness without "suffering" for it (is that why we fight against homophobia? So we can guilt people for not suffering what we're trying to prevent them from suffering? Does that seem backward to anyone else?) sometimes people who are definitely queer get hurt falling for people who are still sorting it out (oh, been there, done that). So what? Identities are creations. They don't come to us fully formed; we have to figure out which ones fit, and how to tailor them to ourselves.
And, honestly, I think that even those kids who end up straight as arrows will have benefits from their explorations, and so will our society. They might be a little less likely to demonize queer folk, vote for marriage bans, and generally do other nasty stuff that's all based in lack of comprehension/empathy/compassion.
