Lickity lick not too quick, it's a slick ride, make my mink slide

[raybear]

I wish queers wouldn't sell themselves short when it comes to books and art in general. No piece has to represent everyone's experience. We're allowed to have several books and perspectives and views on the same subject. Hell, straight white men have tens of thousands of words and images on any given tiny aspect of life, and we're lucky if we get something mentioned in passing in a random chapter of a mediocre novel or health book or onscreen for one scene in a movie.

Somewhat understandably, perhaps the effort to be so global in reach comes from the limited resources and outlets, wanting to make good use of the tiny slice of time or exposure they're getting from the larger pie. But I'm sometimes more inclined to think the impulse is self-imposed, that there's a desire to be the model queer, the one who delivers the message to the masses and explains it all. The hero, the glorious messenger, the big gay missing link.

I hope I never feel compelled to be a model queer. Which is not to say that I believe one can pull that whole "I never asked to be a role model!" line that happens when people get famous. I wish celebrity and fame were talked about more as a psychological phenomenon and where and why the compulsion comes from.

In unrelated news, except for the fact that it involves sex which by proxy is always linked to both queers and celebrities, I just realized today for the first time in a year that one of my supervisor's initials are "CBT".

Comments

Absolutely.

[martyzilla.livejournal.com]

>>>I wish celebrity and fame were talked about more as a psychological phenomenon and where and why the compulsion comes from.<<< I absolutely wish more people understood that taking on fame and celebrity and a career in 'show biz' is taking on marketing oneself as a _product_ and involves a lot of posing, falseness, selective information, and etc. People who seek fame - particularly media celebrity - have some serious psychological stuff going on that most people are more than happy to just not even think about.

[esquemeauxpi.livejournal.com]

No piece has to represent everyone's experience.

i totally feel you on that my friend.
it's like someone writing a book that is suppose to sum up the experience of an entire ethnic group and they expect everyone within that group to relate....i've read a lot of books about the black experience in America, that i just can't "feel".

the big gay missing link.


hehehe
if you find one, take lots of pictures!
it'll be like Big Foot, but unlike Big Foot, network television will probably try to capitalize off if this missing link's image for profit.
WOO WOO....

[vfc.livejournal.com]

Argh! Why are all the posts you make that I so badly want to link from my LJ friends-only?

speaking of celebrity desire...

[raybear.livejournal.com]

it's somewhat arbitrary what i decide to friends-only. so in this case, for the sake of publicity, i'll unlock it. ha.

[wearemany.livejournal.com]

I wish celebrity and fame were talked about more as a psychological phenomenon and where and why the compulsion comes from.

ahahahaha. i. i'm not laughing AT you. i just. i'm so sick of that conversation, you see. but i could offer some recommended reading if you wanted. it has porn in it, but somehow i think you wouldn't mind that.

[raybear.livejournal.com]

hmmmm, not exactly what i had in mind when i said that since i'm guessing your recommendations aren't texts to be used in MFA and American Studies programs or even in a feature in Entertainment Weekly. though maybe they should.

[drinkasyoupour.livejournal.com]

We've been talking in school a lot lately about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. A model that some people have found useful for anxiety and depression, at times. But of course, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is too long to say several times over the course of lecture...

I bet that some people might find CBT pretty useful for anxiety and depression.