http://www.cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Homosexual_Closet&feed=atom&action=historyHomosexual Closet - Revision history2024-03-28T10:34:51ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.25.2http://www.cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Homosexual_Closet&diff=12630&oldid=prevFinnb: Undo revision 12601 by Egugecuge (Talk)2010-11-24T14:22:54Z<p>Undo revision 12601 by <a href="/deadmedia/index.php/Special:Contributions/Egugecuge" title="Special:Contributions/Egugecuge">Egugecuge</a> (<a href="/deadmedia/index.php?title=User_talk:Egugecuge&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="User talk:Egugecuge (page does not exist)">Talk</a>)</p>
<a href="http://www.cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Homosexual_Closet&diff=12630&oldid=12601">Show changes</a>Finnbhttp://www.cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Homosexual_Closet&diff=12601&oldid=prevEgugecuge at 08:36, 24 November 20102010-11-24T08:36:25Z<p></p>
<a href="http://www.cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Homosexual_Closet&diff=12601&oldid=9846">Show changes</a>Egugecugehttp://www.cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Homosexual_Closet&diff=9846&oldid=prevNooney at 15:41, 3 May 20102010-05-03T15:41:24Z<p></p>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>If "the rising tide of gay normalization" ensures that the homosexual secret no longer need remain secret, it does so only because the knowledge of the homosexual is no longer the sexual knowledge theorized by Foucault as ''the'' knowledge of society. This is the distinction between the erotic spectacle of Justin Taylor and the adolescent adorableness of Justin Suarez--a distinction between queer self-knowledge and homosexual self-ignorance. The de-sexualization of homosexuality brought on through social normalization in many ways neuters any capacity for homosexuality to function as effectively disruptive as it did from within the closet, for once the closet is nailed shut there is no periphery from which to displace the center. Justin Suarez moves forward by not looking backward, not being called to remember a history of his own oppression; Marc ensures the Justin need not be embraced by the very flag sewn at the behest of Harvey Milk in 1978. The evaporation of the closet presents a sweat test for contemporary queer radical politics, as its loss signals a very different kind of ''straight''jacket proffered to the queer--that of heternormativity.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>If "the rising tide of gay normalization" ensures that the homosexual secret no longer need remain secret, it does so only because the knowledge of the homosexual is no longer the sexual knowledge theorized by Foucault as ''the'' knowledge of society. This is the distinction between the erotic spectacle of Justin Taylor and the adolescent adorableness of Justin Suarez--a distinction between queer self-knowledge and homosexual self-ignorance. The de-sexualization of homosexuality brought on through social normalization in many ways neuters any capacity for homosexuality to function as effectively disruptive as it did from within the closet, for once the closet is nailed shut there is no periphery from which to displace the center. Justin Suarez moves forward by not looking backward, not being called to remember a history of his own oppression; Marc ensures the Justin need not be embraced by the very flag sewn at the behest of Harvey Milk in 1978. The evaporation of the closet presents a sweat test for contemporary queer radical politics, as its loss signals a very different kind of ''straight''jacket proffered to the queer--that of heternormativity.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">==References==</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Eskridge, William N. "Privacy Jurisprudence and the Apartheid of the Closet, 1946-1961." ''Florida State University Law Review.'' Summer, 1997.</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Horn, Eva. "Knowing the Enemy: The Epistemology of Secret Intelligence." ''Grey Room.'' (11) Spring 2003. pp. 58-85.</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Love, Heather. ''Feeling Backward: Loss and the Politics of Queer History.'' Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2007.</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Sedgwick, Eve. ''Epistemology of the Closet.'' Berkeley: U of California Press, 1990.</ins></div></td></tr>
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</table>Nooneyhttp://www.cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Homosexual_Closet&diff=9745&oldid=prevNooney: /* The Closet as a Mode of Mediation */2010-04-26T17:44:22Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">The Closet as a Mode of Mediation</span></span></p>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet.jpg|400px|left|thumb|Floorplans diagram the relationship between a room and its closet.]]</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet.jpg|400px|left|thumb|Floorplans diagram the relationship between a room and its closet.]]</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The metaphor of the closet <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">is about </del>the relationship between two spaces--one in, one out, one closed, one open, one announced and one shuttered. The complexity of the closet, however, lies in the fact that both of its spaces are simultaneously in and out, closed and open, announced and shuttered. <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Closets are repositories built off main rooms</del>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">and are thus obviously peripheral and marginal. Yet to be "</del>in <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">the closet" means participating </del>or <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">passing (at least on the surface) among the majority</del>. <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Thus the emotional dyslexia of the </del>closet<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">: being "in the closet" suggests that the closet individual participates in the larger "room" of heterosexual relations</del>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">although </del>one's <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">own occupation of that space is psychically smaller as every covert speech act forces the queer </del>to <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">brush up against the enclosing walls of institutionalized language</del>.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The metaphor of the closet <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">involves </ins>the relationship between two spaces--one in, one out, one closed, one open, one announced and one shuttered. The complexity of the closet, however, lies in the fact that both of its spaces are simultaneously in and out, closed and open, announced and shuttered. <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">It is fundamentally a psychic structure</ins>, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">a set of relations between interior/exterior, knowledge/ignorance, with the bar operating as sacred threshold through which one may hide </ins>in or <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">come out</ins>. <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">The </ins>closet, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">as a mental device for conceptualizing </ins>one's <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">relationship </ins>to <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">society, ''mediates'' a relationship between queer knowledge and social ignorance</ins>.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The notion of the closet is held fast upon the <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">individual</del>'s ability to live a "dual life" insofar as <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">one </del>must be aware that she ''is indeed in the closet in order to be in the closet''. <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">It is fundamentally a psychic structure, a set of relations between interior/exterior, knowledge/ignorance, with the bar operating as sacred threshold through which one may hide in or come out. The closet, as a mental device for conceptualizing one's relationship to society, ''mediates'' a relationship between queer knowledge and social ignorance. </del>To be "in the closet" is to be at once gay and not-gay; it is a microcosm of an internal relationship between shame and pronouncement in which one recognizes oneself as deviant and understands the necessity to be read as normative. It requires self-knowledge and yet a denial of that self-knowledge as a truth that must be expressed; as such, the closet is a secret within a secret.   </div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Closets are repositories built off main rooms, and are thus obviously peripheral and marginal. Yet to be "in the closet" means participating or passing (at least on the surface) among the majority. Thus the emotional dyslexia of the closet: being "in the closet" suggests that the closeted individual participates in the larger "room" of heterosexual relations, although one's own occupation of that space is psychically smaller as every covert speech act forces the homosexual to brush up against the enclosing walls of institutionalized language. </ins>The notion of the closet is held fast upon the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">homosexual</ins>'s ability to live a "dual life" insofar as <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">she </ins>must be aware that she ''is indeed in the closet in order to be in the closet''. <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline"> </ins>To be "in the closet" is to be at once gay and not-gay; it is a microcosm of an internal relationship between shame and pronouncement in which one recognizes oneself as deviant and understands the necessity to be read as normative. It requires self-knowledge and yet a denial of that self-knowledge as a truth that must be expressed; as such, the closet is a secret within a secret.   </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>===The Epistemology of the Closet as a Logic of Privacy vs. Risk===</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>===The Epistemology of the Closet as a Logic of Privacy vs. Risk===</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>It is perhaps unexceptional, in some ways, that the notion of the homosexual closet arises during the same cultural moment as post-WWII McCarthyism. According to <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Professor of Law </del>William Eskridge: "Prior to the 1940s, same-sex intimacy was literally unspeakable, as the homosexual and society conspired to keep the matter secret. By the 1940s, however, the edges separating the two halves of the double life were eroding, as greater numbers of homosexuals transgressed the lines separating public and private spheres and more heterosexuals became curious about the secret life, either to condemn it, to explore it, or both. The erosion required the homosexual to decide whether to openly admit homosexuality or to keep the private life closeted and separate from the public one for fear that exposure of the former could destroy the latter" (2). According to Eve Sedgwick, the "damaging contradictions of this compromised metaphor of in and out of the closet of privacy" are simply siphoned from a <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">"</del>larger<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">" </del>topology of privacy and secrecy that emerges in the late 19th century (72). In such a political and epistemological climate, the closet comes to invert the traditional logics of secret intelligence that dominated the World Wars and post-War era. The enemy, in this sense, becomes the self as well as the other, as it is the homosexual's own desire that threatens to pry them from the closet. The homosexual attempts to render herself as a deceptive object, an object whose "appearance is never more than intentionally misleading" (Horn 67). There is indeed produced a "dynamic of bottomless mistrust and violence-prone paranoia" but this dynamic is entirely internalized in a violent self-navigation of spy-vs-spy. The homosexual in the closet embodies a Cold War-style logic of mistrust, which Eva Horn defines as "the logic of one's own will to deceive" (67).</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>It is perhaps unexceptional, in some ways, that the notion of the homosexual closet arises during the same cultural moment as post-WWII McCarthyism. According to <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">law professor </ins>William Eskridge: "Prior to the 1940s, same-sex intimacy was literally unspeakable, as the homosexual and society conspired to keep the matter secret. By the 1940s, however, the edges separating the two halves of the double life were eroding, as greater numbers of homosexuals transgressed the lines separating public and private spheres and more heterosexuals became curious about the secret life, either to condemn it, to explore it, or both. The erosion required the homosexual to decide whether to openly admit homosexuality or to keep the private life closeted and separate from the public one for fear that exposure of the former could destroy the latter" (2). According to Eve Sedgwick, the "damaging contradictions of this compromised metaphor of in and out of the closet of privacy" are simply siphoned from a larger topology of privacy and secrecy that emerges in the late 19th century (72). In such a political and epistemological climate, the closet comes to invert the traditional logics of secret intelligence that dominated the World Wars and post-War era. The enemy, in this sense, becomes the self as well as the other, as it is the homosexual's own desire that threatens to pry them from the closet. The homosexual attempts to render herself as a deceptive object, an object whose "appearance is never more than intentionally misleading" (Horn 67). There is indeed produced a "dynamic of bottomless mistrust and violence-prone paranoia" but this dynamic is entirely internalized in a violent self-navigation of spy-vs-spy. The homosexual in the closet embodies a Cold War-style logic of mistrust, which Eva Horn defines as "the logic of one's own will to deceive" (67).</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The metaphor of the closet creates a situation in which one is psychically and physically constrained by the risk of discovery. In this sense, the epistemological equivalent for the post-WWII closeted homosexual may be the double agent, except one lacking the teleology of knowledge gathering. If the purpose of the spy is to "penetrate into the forbidden and protected space, cross borders, and investigate the enemy's territory [...] Physically setting foot on enemy soil to spy out hidden locations [...] His disguise is important: he mimics the enemy", then the homosexual executes a perverse reversal of this role (Horn 73). From within the closet, the homosexual mimics the straight world, but with the sole purpose of survival. The activities of the closeted homosexual are to keep the knowledge secret rather than process it into "information." The homosexual mimics the straight world not to garner intelligence about the enemy but to disguise intelligence about herself; enmity is always simultaneously "out there" and "in here." The closet and the room become jointly theatening spaces of potential discovery. The purpose of the closet is to contain risk, but likewise one must recognize the possibility of risk to be in the closet. In doing so, the closet becomes a secret space of internalized alienation (the much-touted notion of "gay shame"); the closet is a place of covert expression, producing an aesthetic of desire based in silences and ignorances both public and personal. The closet is never a black box, because the tension of the closet resides in the awareness that the world is just beyond; when in the closet the only light comes from <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">''</del>the outside'' underneath the door.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The metaphor of the closet creates a situation in which one is psychically and physically constrained by the risk of discovery. In this sense, the epistemological equivalent for the post-WWII closeted homosexual may be the double agent, except one lacking the teleology of knowledge gathering. If the purpose of the spy is to "penetrate into the forbidden and protected space, cross borders, and investigate the enemy's territory [...] Physically setting foot on enemy soil to spy out hidden locations [...] His disguise is important: he mimics the enemy", then the homosexual executes a perverse reversal of this role (Horn 73). From within the closet, the homosexual mimics the straight world, but with the sole purpose of survival. The activities of the closeted homosexual are to keep the knowledge secret rather than process it into "information." The homosexual mimics the straight world not to garner intelligence about the enemy but to disguise intelligence about herself; enmity is always simultaneously "out there" and "in here." The closet and the room become jointly theatening spaces of potential discovery. The purpose of the closet is to contain risk, but likewise one must recognize the possibility of risk to be in the closet. In doing so, the closet becomes a secret space of internalized alienation (the much-touted notion of "gay shame"); the closet is a place of covert expression, producing an aesthetic of desire based in silences and ignorances both public and personal. The closet is never a black box, because the tension of the closet resides in the awareness that the world is just beyond; when in the closet the only light comes from the outside<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">, </ins>''underneath the door<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">''</ins>.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>===Coming Out===</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>===Coming Out===</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>There is a structural reversal inherent to the conceptual interface of closeting, for what the closet encloses it also offers the potential to reveal. "Coming out of the closet" involves making oneself known as homosexual, either to a homosexual or heterosexual audience. It may result in a range of responses, including devastating violence, celebratory self-identification, or institutional refusal to acknowledge the speech act, a refusal Eve Sedgwick summarizes an the <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">statement</del>, "That's fine, but why did you think I'd want to know about it?"</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>There is a structural reversal inherent to the conceptual interface of closeting, for what the closet encloses it also offers the potential to reveal. "Coming out of the closet" involves making oneself known as homosexual, either to a homosexual or heterosexual audience. It may result in a range of responses, including devastating violence, celebratory self-identification, or institutional refusal to acknowledge the speech act, a refusal Eve Sedgwick summarizes an the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline"> oft-noted heterosexual response</ins>, "That's fine, but why did you think I'd want to know about it?"</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>"Coming out" is an image curiously poised in exclusive relation to the closet--indeed, if the closet is based in "fits and starts" of silence, then there is no closet without the speech act of coming out (Sedgwick 71). As Sedgwick writes, "the image of coming out regularly interfaces the image of the closet, and its seeming unambivalent public siting can be counterposed as a salvational epistemologic certainty against the very equivocal privacy afforded by the closet" (71). If the closet is the homosexual's cruel destiny, then coming out produces a fantasy of acceptance in which the homosexual's ''secret knowledge becomes public information'', the disguise is given up, and she ceases to be a spy against herself. The celebration of announcement is precisely the throbbing heart of gay pride; gay pride operates ''in response to'' the closet and, indeed, requires the closet so as to have any emotional efficacy.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>"Coming out" is an image curiously poised in exclusive relation to the closet--indeed, if the closet is based in "fits and starts" of silence, then there is no closet without the speech act of coming out (Sedgwick 71). As Sedgwick writes, "the image of coming out regularly interfaces the image of the closet, and its seeming unambivalent public siting can be counterposed as a salvational epistemologic certainty against the very equivocal privacy afforded by the closet" (71). If the closet is the homosexual's cruel destiny, then coming out produces a fantasy of acceptance in which the homosexual's ''secret knowledge becomes public information'', the disguise is given up, and she ceases to be a spy against herself. The celebration of announcement is precisely the throbbing heart of gay pride; gay pride operates ''in response to'' the closet and, indeed, requires the closet so as to have any emotional efficacy.  </div></td></tr>
</table>Nooneyhttp://www.cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Homosexual_Closet&diff=9741&oldid=prevNooney at 17:35, 26 April 20102010-04-26T17:35:35Z<p></p>
<table class='diff diff-contentalign-left'>
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<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">Revision as of 17:35, 26 April 2010</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="L1" >Line 1:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 1:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet01.jpg|550px|thumb| Ennis del Mar (Heath Ledger) gazes into the childhood closet of his dead lover, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Jake </del>Twist, in ''Brokeback Mountain.]]</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet01.jpg|550px|thumb| Ennis del Mar (Heath Ledger) gazes into the childhood closet of his dead lover, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Jack </ins>Twist, in ''Brokeback Mountain.]]</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet04.jpg|350px|thumb| Ennis "discovers a pair of bloody shirts--one his, one Jack's--long thought lost, hidden behind a panel: the tell-tale hearts of Jack's closet."]]</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet04.jpg|350px|thumb| Ennis "discovers a pair of bloody shirts--one his, one Jack's--long thought lost, hidden behind a panel: the tell-tale hearts of Jack's closet."]]</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet06.jpg|350px|thumb| Ennis and Jack's shirts hang in Ennis closet during the final shot.]]</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet06.jpg|350px|thumb| Ennis and Jack's shirts hang in Ennis closet during the final shot.]]</div></td></tr>
</table>Nooneyhttp://www.cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Homosexual_Closet&diff=9740&oldid=prevNooney at 17:35, 26 April 20102010-04-26T17:35:14Z<p></p>
<table class='diff diff-contentalign-left'>
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<col class='diff-content' />
<col class='diff-marker' />
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<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">Revision as of 17:35, 26 April 2010</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="L1" >Line 1:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 1:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet01.jpg|550px|thumb| Ennis del Mar (Heath Ledger) gazes into the childhood closet of his dead lover, Jake Twist, in ''Brokeback Mountain.<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">|</del>]]</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet01.jpg|550px|thumb| Ennis del Mar (Heath Ledger) gazes into the childhood closet of his dead lover, Jake Twist, in ''Brokeback Mountain.]]</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet04.jpg|350px|thumb| Ennis "discovers a pair of bloody shirts--one his, one Jack's--long thought lost, hidden behind a panel: the tell-tale hearts of Jack's closet."<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">|</del>]]</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet04.jpg|350px|thumb| Ennis "discovers a pair of bloody shirts--one his, one Jack's--long thought lost, hidden behind a panel: the tell-tale hearts of Jack's closet."]]</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet06.jpg|350px|thumb| Ennis and Jack's shirts hang in Ennis closet during the final shot.<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">|</del>]]</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet06.jpg|350px|thumb| Ennis and Jack's shirts hang in Ennis closet during the final shot.]]</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet07.jpg|350px|thumb| Ennis closes his closet door; this is the final scene before the cut to credits.<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">|</del>]]</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet07.jpg|350px|thumb| Ennis closes his closet door; this is the final scene before the cut to credits.]]</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet08.jpg|350px|thumb| A scene from earlier in the film depicting the lynching of Jack Twist.]]</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet08.jpg|350px|thumb| A scene from earlier in the film depicting the lynching of Jack Twist.]]</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
</table>Nooneyhttp://www.cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Homosexual_Closet&diff=9739&oldid=prevNooney at 17:34, 26 April 20102010-04-26T17:34:31Z<p></p>
<table class='diff diff-contentalign-left'>
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<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">Revision as of 17:34, 26 April 2010</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="L1" >Line 1:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 1:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet01.jpg|550px|thumb|]]</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet01.jpg|550px|thumb<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">| Ennis del Mar (Heath Ledger) gazes into the childhood closet of his dead lover, Jake Twist, in ''Brokeback Mountain.|]]</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet06.jpg|350px|thumb|]]</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[Image: closet04.jpg|350px|thumb| Ennis "discovers a pair of bloody shirts--one his, one Jack's--long thought lost, hidden behind a panel: the tell-tale hearts of Jack's closet."</ins>|]]</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet07.jpg|350px|thumb|]]</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet06.jpg|350px|thumb<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">| Ennis and Jack's shirts hang in Ennis closet during the final shot.</ins>|]]</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet08.jpg|350px|thumb|]]</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet07.jpg|350px|thumb<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">| Ennis closes his closet door; this is the final scene before the cut to credits.</ins>|]]</div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet08.jpg|350px|thumb| <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">A scene from earlier in the film depicting the lynching of Jack Twist.</ins>]]</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Declared the "defining structure for gay oppression in [the 20th] century," the image of the closet has come to be the structure most acutely identified with the grief, silence and loss of the modern homosexual subject (Sedgwick 71). The idea of being "closeted" or a "closet-case" emerged in mid-20th century America with the increased policing of sexuality related to Cold War conspiracy, the McCarthy trials, and the White Flight to the suburbs. The mechanics of the phrase are often used to describe any hidden secret (a "closet misogynist") or a surprise unveiling or announcement ("coming out as a liberal"), although the overtones of "the closet" remain most strongly tied to the homosexual experience.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Declared the "defining structure for gay oppression in [the 20th] century," the image of the closet has come to be the structure most acutely identified with the grief, silence and loss of the modern homosexual subject (Sedgwick 71). The idea of being "closeted" or a "closet-case" emerged in mid-20th century America with the increased policing of sexuality related to Cold War conspiracy, the McCarthy trials, and the White Flight to the suburbs. The mechanics of the phrase are often used to describe any hidden secret (a "closet misogynist") or a surprise unveiling or announcement ("coming out as a liberal"), although the overtones of "the closet" remain most strongly tied to the homosexual experience.  </div></td></tr>
</table>Nooneyhttp://www.cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Homosexual_Closet&diff=9611&oldid=prevNooney: /* The Closet as a Dying Mode of Mediation: The Dances of Two Justins */2010-04-26T16:10:58Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">The Closet as a Dying Mode of Mediation: The Dances of Two Justins</span></span></p>
<table class='diff diff-contentalign-left'>
<col class='diff-marker' />
<col class='diff-content' />
<col class='diff-marker' />
<col class='diff-content' />
<tr style='vertical-align: top;'>
<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">Revision as of 16:10, 26 April 2010</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="L50" >Line 50:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 50:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The texture of this transition can be clearly illustrated by through an isolated comparison of two mainstream television representations of queer youths. One the one hand there is Justin Taylor, the blonde, underage twink in Showtime's ''Queer as Folk'', which aired 2000-2005. In opposition to Taylor's charming promiscuity is Justin Suarez, a Latino with an affected flair for fashion who discovers his desire for boys during the final episodes of ABC's 2010 run of ''Ugly Betty''. While both these boys struggle with the pressures and impossibilities of gay identity, Taylor's "coming out story" harkens back to an almost Stonewall-sensibility of rage in the face of violence, whereas Suarez's narrative is ultimately one of gay assimilation.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The texture of this transition can be clearly illustrated by through an isolated comparison of two mainstream television representations of queer youths. One the one hand there is Justin Taylor, the blonde, underage twink in Showtime's ''Queer as Folk'', which aired 2000-2005. In opposition to Taylor's charming promiscuity is Justin Suarez, a Latino with an affected flair for fashion who discovers his desire for boys during the final episodes of ABC's 2010 run of ''Ugly Betty''. While both these boys struggle with the pressures and impossibilities of gay identity, Taylor's "coming out story" harkens back to an almost Stonewall-sensibility of rage in the face of violence, whereas Suarez's narrative is ultimately one of gay assimilation.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>When 17-year-old Justin Taylor announces his homosexuality to his parents, he is thrown out of his home, denied his college fund, and moves in with his 30-year-old, non-monogamous man-whore boyfriend, Brian. This is a tale of "coming out told straight"--rejection by family, denial of intended financial investments, and the crafting of alternative familial ties. In the final episode of Season 1, Brian arrives unexpectedly at Justin's high school prom; their ensuing dance recalls pederastic anxieties on the part of adult homosexual men toward adolescent boys. After prom, another senior bashes <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Brian</del>'s head with a baseball bat. This bashing serves as the violent reminder of the price of gay pride: ''a price always paid in blood''.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>When 17-year-old Justin Taylor announces his homosexuality to his parents, he is thrown out of his home, denied his college fund, and moves in with his 30-year-old, non-monogamous man-whore boyfriend, Brian. This is a tale of "coming out told straight"--rejection by family, denial of intended financial investments, and the crafting of alternative familial ties. In the final episode of Season 1, Brian arrives unexpectedly at Justin's high school prom; their ensuing dance recalls pederastic anxieties on the part of adult homosexual men toward adolescent boys. After prom, another senior bashes <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Justin</ins>'s head with a baseball bat. This bashing serves as the violent reminder of the price of gay pride: ''a price always paid in blood''.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Justin Suarez, in contrast, is never under any such threat of violence. While he does try to hide his homosexuality, and is scared about how his mother might react, the timbre of his time in the closet is relatively mundane. The presumption was always that Justin ''was already gay''--for Justin to come out is no secret at all (almost identical circumstances exist for ''United States of Tara'''s gay teen Marshall). Thus, when his family discovers that he is romantically involved with another boy, they plan a surprise coming out party for him, replete with rainbow flags, balloons, cookies, and other decor. These plans are cut short by Marc, the adult gay man Justin confides in. Marc responds to the party as an appalling disaster; his queer aesthetic is fundamentally offended by the garish rainbow decorations. He rips down a gay pride flag and demands the family remove everything so Justin may reveal himself to them in his own time. This scene operates as a refusal of a traditional representation of gay pride, for the rainbow flag is to gay pride what the closet is to gay shame. By ripping down the gay pride flag, Marc makes a curious political statement: he is rejecting the very politics of speech that have allowed him to carve a space for himself as a successful gay man to begin with. His act speaks for itself: ''"We're beyond this."'' When Justin does "come out", he does so not through speech, but through action--he asks his boyfriend to dance with him at his mother's wedding. Unlike Brian and Justin's dance, this is not an act of defiance done ''in spite of heterosexual norms'' but an act of integration done ''because of heterosexual norms''. Announcing his sexual orientation at a wedding foreshadows his very future as a homosexual man: one based in participation, not opposition, to the foreclosing standards of straight customs.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Justin Suarez, in contrast, is never under any such threat of violence. While he does try to hide his homosexuality, and is scared about how his mother might react, the timbre of his time in the closet is relatively mundane. The presumption was always that Justin ''was already gay''--for Justin to come out is no secret at all (almost identical circumstances exist for ''United States of Tara'''s gay teen Marshall). Thus, when his family discovers that he is romantically involved with another boy, they plan a surprise coming out party for him, replete with rainbow flags, balloons, cookies, and other decor. These plans are cut short by Marc, the adult gay man Justin confides in. Marc responds to the party as an appalling disaster; his queer aesthetic is fundamentally offended by the garish rainbow decorations. He rips down a gay pride flag and demands the family remove everything so Justin may reveal himself to them in his own time. This scene operates as a refusal of a traditional representation of gay pride, for the rainbow flag is to gay pride what the closet is to gay shame. By ripping down the gay pride flag, Marc makes a curious political statement: he is rejecting the very politics of speech that have allowed him to carve a space for himself as a successful gay man to begin with. His act speaks for itself: ''"We're beyond this."'' When Justin does "come out", he does so not through speech, but through action--he asks his boyfriend to dance with him at his mother's wedding. Unlike Brian and Justin's dance, this is not an act of defiance done ''in spite of heterosexual norms'' but an act of integration done ''because of heterosexual norms''. Announcing his sexual orientation at a wedding foreshadows his very future as a homosexual man: one based in participation, not opposition, to the foreclosing standards of straight customs.</div></td></tr>
</table>Nooneyhttp://www.cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Homosexual_Closet&diff=9609&oldid=prevNooney: /* The Closet as a Dying Mode of Mediation: The Dances of Two Justins */2010-04-26T16:09:42Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">The Closet as a Dying Mode of Mediation: The Dances of Two Justins</span></span></p>
<table class='diff diff-contentalign-left'>
<col class='diff-marker' />
<col class='diff-content' />
<col class='diff-marker' />
<col class='diff-content' />
<tr style='vertical-align: top;'>
<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">Revision as of 16:09, 26 April 2010</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="L48" >Line 48:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 48:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Coming out involves leaving someone behind, even if that someone is a historical subject. If the closet is constructed to protect the homosexual from the risk of discovery, then the closet ceases to exist once assimilation, rather than discovery, becomes the guiding practice extended toward homosexuality. As the homosexual is increasingly invited into the practices of monogamy and matrimony (mediations themselves based in the nuclear-family-based accumulation and condensation of economic and physical property), the opportunity to recognize a radical potentiality to queerness wanes. Without the homosexual closet, gay pride simply becomes a celebration of a corporate-sponsored, watered-down liberal elasticity: ''being just like everyone else''.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Coming out involves leaving someone behind, even if that someone is a historical subject. If the closet is constructed to protect the homosexual from the risk of discovery, then the closet ceases to exist once assimilation, rather than discovery, becomes the guiding practice extended toward homosexuality. As the homosexual is increasingly invited into the practices of monogamy and matrimony (mediations themselves based in the nuclear-family-based accumulation and condensation of economic and physical property), the opportunity to recognize a radical potentiality to queerness wanes. Without the homosexual closet, gay pride simply becomes a celebration of a corporate-sponsored, watered-down liberal elasticity: ''being just like everyone else''.  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The texture of this transition can be clearly illustrated by through an isolated comparison of two mainstream television representations of queer youths. One the one hand there is Justin Taylor, the blonde, underage twink in Showtime's ''Queer as Folk'', which aired 2000-2005. In opposition to Taylor's charming promiscuity is Justin Suarez, a <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">clean-cut </del>Latino with an affected flair for fashion who discovers his desire for boys during the final episodes of ABC's ''Ugly Betty''. While both these boys struggle with the pressures and impossibilities of gay identity, Taylor's "coming out story" harkens back to an almost Stonewall-sensibility of rage in the face of violence, whereas Suarez's narrative is ultimately one of gay assimilation.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The texture of this transition can be clearly illustrated by through an isolated comparison of two mainstream television representations of queer youths. One the one hand there is Justin Taylor, the blonde, underage twink in Showtime's ''Queer as Folk'', which aired 2000-2005. In opposition to Taylor's charming promiscuity is Justin Suarez, a Latino with an affected flair for fashion who discovers his desire for boys during the final episodes of ABC's <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">2010 run of </ins>''Ugly Betty''. While both these boys struggle with the pressures and impossibilities of gay identity, Taylor's "coming out story" harkens back to an almost Stonewall-sensibility of rage in the face of violence, whereas Suarez's narrative is ultimately one of gay assimilation.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>When 17-year-old Justin Taylor announces his homosexuality to his parents, he is thrown out of his home, denied his college fund, and moves in with his 30-year-old, non-monogamous man-whore boyfriend, Brian. This is a tale of "coming out told straight"--rejection by family, denial of intended financial investments, and the crafting of alternative familial ties. In the final episode of Season 1, Brian arrives unexpectedly at Justin's high school prom; their ensuing dance recalls pederastic anxieties on the part of adult homosexual men toward adolescent boys. After prom, another senior bashes Brian's head with a baseball bat. This bashing serves as the violent reminder of the price of gay pride: ''a price always paid in blood''.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>When 17-year-old Justin Taylor announces his homosexuality to his parents, he is thrown out of his home, denied his college fund, and moves in with his 30-year-old, non-monogamous man-whore boyfriend, Brian. This is a tale of "coming out told straight"--rejection by family, denial of intended financial investments, and the crafting of alternative familial ties. In the final episode of Season 1, Brian arrives unexpectedly at Justin's high school prom; their ensuing dance recalls pederastic anxieties on the part of adult homosexual men toward adolescent boys. After prom, another senior bashes Brian's head with a baseball bat. This bashing serves as the violent reminder of the price of gay pride: ''a price always paid in blood''.</div></td></tr>
</table>Nooneyhttp://www.cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Homosexual_Closet&diff=9605&oldid=prevNooney at 16:05, 26 April 20102010-04-26T16:05:22Z<p></p>
<table class='diff diff-contentalign-left'>
<col class='diff-marker' />
<col class='diff-content' />
<col class='diff-marker' />
<col class='diff-content' />
<tr style='vertical-align: top;'>
<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">Revision as of 16:05, 26 April 2010</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="L4" >Line 4:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 4:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet08.jpg|350px|thumb|]]</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image: closet08.jpg|350px|thumb|]]</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Declared the "defining structure for gay oppression in [the 20th] century," the image of the closet has come to be the structure most acutely identified with the grief, silence and loss of the modern <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">20th-century </del>homosexual subject (Sedgwick 71). The idea of being "closeted" or a "closet-case" emerged in mid-20th century America with the increased policing of sexuality related to Cold War conspiracy, the McCarthy trials, and the White Flight to the suburbs. The mechanics of the phrase are often used to describe any hidden secret (a "closet misogynist") or a surprise unveiling or announcement ("coming out as a liberal"), although the overtones of "the closet" remain most strongly tied to the homosexual experience.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Declared the "defining structure for gay oppression in [the 20th] century," the image of the closet has come to be the structure most acutely identified with the grief, silence and loss of the modern homosexual subject (Sedgwick 71). The idea of being "closeted" or a "closet-case" emerged in mid-20th century America with the increased policing of sexuality related to Cold War conspiracy, the McCarthy trials, and the White Flight to the suburbs. The mechanics of the phrase are often used to describe any hidden secret (a "closet misogynist") or a surprise unveiling or announcement ("coming out as a liberal"), although the overtones of "the closet" remain most strongly tied to the homosexual experience.  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The closet is generally understood as a figure of speech for the self-imposed (but often necessary) silence someone adopts regarding personal sexuality; individuals are "in the closet" when they either do not announce their homosexuality (allowing their silence to be ambiguous) or actively hide their sexuality (posing as heterosexual). Such distinctions are inevitably mutable--an individual may be "out of the closet" with friends yet "in the closet" with employers or parents; similarly, silence regarding one's sexual orientation or activity may not prevent anyone from presuming an individual is homosexual, especially if one's appearance is not gendernormative.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The closet is generally understood as a figure of speech for the self-imposed (but often necessary) silence someone adopts regarding personal sexuality; individuals are "in the closet" when they either do not announce their homosexuality (allowing their silence to be ambiguous) or actively hide their sexuality (posing as heterosexual). Such distinctions are inevitably mutable--an individual may be "out of the closet" with friends yet "in the closet" with employers or parents; similarly, silence regarding one's sexual orientation or activity may not prevent anyone from presuming an individual is homosexual, especially if one's appearance is not gendernormative.  </div></td></tr>
</table>Nooney