The Portrayal Heterosexuals In Sitcoms From the 1950s-Present Day

Footnotes:

[1] D. F. Roberts, “Adolescents and the mass media: From ‘Leave it to Beaver’ to ‘Beverly Hills 90210,’” 94, no. 3 (1993): 629, http://psycnet.apa.org/record/1993-32804-001.

[2] Joanne Morreale, The Donna Reed Show. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2012), EBook edition, chap. 2.

[3] Marie Lathers, Space Oddities: Women and Outer Space in Popular Film and Culture, 1960-2000. (New York: Continuum, 2010), EBook edition, chap. 3.

[4] Tricia Jenkins, “Get Smart: A Look at the Current Relationship between Hollywood and the CIA,” 29, no. 2 (June 2009): 229-242, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01439680902890704?journalCode=chjf20.

[5] The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, “The Brady Bunch,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, October 6, 2017, https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Brady-Bunch.

[6] Shervin Malekzadeh, “What ‘The Jeffersons’ Taught Me About Being An American,” The Atlantic, August 7, 2012, https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/08/what-the-jeffersons-taught-me-about-being-an-american/260812/.

[7] Vanessa Williams, “’The Cosby Show’ and the Black American Dream,” The Washington Post, October 12, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2014/10/12/the-cosby-show-and-the-black-american-dream/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ad748bbabcde.

[8] Richard Butsch, “Five Decades and Three Hundred Sitcoms about Class and Gender,” (2005), 10, https://www.rider.edu/files/butsch_five_decades.pdf.

[9] Kristal Brent Zook, Color by Fox the Fox Network and the Revolution in Black Television. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), The W.E.B. Du Bois Institute Series, chap. 1.

[10] Katharine E. Heintz-Knowles, “Images of youth: A content analysis of adolescents in prime-time entertainment programming,” Reframing youth issues, April 2000, https://frameworksinstitute.org/assets/files/PDF/youth_content_primetime.pdf.

[11] Kevin Craft, “The Thing That Made The Office Great Is the Same Thing That Killed It,” The Atlantic, May 16, 2013, https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/05/the-thing-that-made-i-the-office-i-great-is-the-same-thing-that-killed-it/275883/.
[12] Martin Gitlin, The Greatest Sitcoms of All Time. (Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, 20140, EBook edition, chap. 38.

[13] Edwin J. Viera, “Sitcoms Depict Evolution in Sexuality,” The Record, April 17, 2017, https://buffstaterecord.com/9620/opinion/sitcoms-represent-evolution-sexuality/.

[14] Bill Keveney, “Fox’s ‘New Girl’ Leaps Three Years Into The Future for its Final; Season,” USA Today, January 4, 2018, https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2018/01/04/fox-new-girl-leaps-three-years-into-future-final-season/1006097001/.

[15] Jennifer Reed, “Beleaguered Husbands and Demanding Wives: The New Domestic Sitcom,” American Popular Culture, October, 2003, http://www.americanpopularculture.com/archive/tv/domestic_sitcoms.htm.

[16] Beth Olson and William Douglas, “The Family on Television: Evaluation of Gender Roles in Situation Comedy,” 36, no. 5-6, (March 1997): 409, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02766656.

[17] Understanding Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication. (Minnesota: University of Minnesota, 2016), University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing edition, chap. 9.

[18] Bonnie J. Dow, review of Lifestyle Feminism, and the Politics of Personal Happiness, by Ally McBeal, The Communication Review, no. 4, 261, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10714420214688.

[19] William B. Covey, “Hardboiled & High Heeled: The Woman Detective in Popular Culture,” 51, no. 1 (Spring 2005): 240-41, ttps://muse.jhu.edu/.

[20] Lisa Respers France, “The Evolution of the TV Family,” CNN Entertainment, September 1, 2010, http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/01/families.on.tv/index.html.

[21] Mary Grace Garis, “Evolution of The Television Sitcom, From Studying 1980 To Predicting 2020,” Bustle, February 9, 2015, https://www.bustle.com/articles/63052-evolution-of-the-television-sitcom-from-studying-1980-to-predicting-2020.

[22] Understanding Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication. (Minnesota: University of Minnesota, 2016), University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing edition, chap. 9.

[23] Jonathan Merritt, “From ‘Full House’ to ‘Modern Family’: Ten shows that forced us to reimagine the American family,” Religious News Service, September 10, 2013, https://religionnews.com/2013/09/10/from-full-house-to-modern-family-ten-shows-that-forced-us-to-reimagine-the-american-family/.

[24] “Heterosexuality,” Merriam-Webster, 1892, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heterosexual.

[25] Robert Weiss, “Heterosexual, Homosexual, Bisexual, Gender Dysphoric,” Psychology Today, March 27, 2014, https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/love-and-sex-in-the-digital-age/201403/heterosexual-homosexual-bisexual-gender-dysphoric.

How The Portrayal Of Heterosexuals Through Sitcoms Influenced The Audience

I chose to display heterosexuals on the Timeline Project by how the term has been shaped, defined, and influenced in America starting from the 1950s through present day. Personally, I felt the most beneficial way to understand how the term heterosexual evolved over the years was through a genre of comedy television shows centered on a fixed set of characters who were carried over from episode to episode. Television had a special way of painting a specific picture that always caught the audience’s eye and skewed ones image of what the norm was in regards to a persons sexual preference. Further, sitcoms have always linked ones sexual passion to stereotyping ones gender. Women have been depicted in a way that they have only been attracted to men and vise versa. By the same token, majority of Americans have been raised on the fact that starting at a young age girls were suppose to be “girly” and “feminine” meaning they played with dolls, wore dresses, were emotional, and had crushes on boys. In contrast, males have been brought up in a way that they must be “masculine” and “powerful,” which meant they played competitive sports, were strong, had to be financially successful, and were attracted to girls since they were young. These stereotypes have been strongly implemented due to the fact this was how genders were portrayed on television and were always tied into young children growing up, falling in love with someone of the opposite gender, and raised by a family whose children would follow the same path as their parents. Americans were not able to see through the lens of sitcoms that identifying as anything else besides heterosexual was acceptable in society and felt they had to follow the sexual caste system that was implemented in preceding years.

Since American life in the 1950s, television has both reflected and nurtured cultural mores and values that have held up a mirror to society. The relationship between social attitudes and television has been reciprocal. I felt it was important to begin my timeline based on heterosexuals in the 1950s because this was when I was able to learn through watching sitcoms that television shows started to portray the conservative values of the idealized American life. The shows focused on White middle-class families with traditional nuclear roles and implied that most domestic problems could be solved relatively quickly and always ended with a strong moral lesson. Then, during a period of optimism and prosperity, families and lifestyles illustrated in domestic comedies were able to tackle controversial issues. This flourished and sitcoms brought the realities of real-world events into people’s living rooms. As a viewer, it was extremely intriguing because myself along with others were able to connect to similar experiences that the television stars were facing. As society began to change, so did television shows in order to reflect the social attitudes that had formed overtime, such as divorce and parenting tactics. In addition to changing family dynamics on sitcoms, shows developed a political awareness that reflected audiences’ growing appetite for social and political commentary. Sitcoms featured a new take on modern family life, with mothers starting to work outside of the home and fathers helping out with housework and parental duties.

Television has not only reflected cultural values but has influenced them. Many viewers have been led to believe certain opinions because of sitcoms and made people less open to opposing political viewpoints. The importance of sitcoms has altered individual’s perception on what the American Dream has been. Television has ingrained in the viewers mind that the goal in life was to fall in love with someone of the opposite gender in order to have a family and reach the ultimate destiny, happiness. Throughout the decades, sitcoms have expanded their audience because they have kept up with real life problems and have shaped the characters based on present day beliefs, such as social, religious, and political matters. Statistically speaking, odds were that the couple one would see on comedy television was more often than not a heterosexual white couple, and an even higher percentage of characters were straight. It has been important to note that sitcoms have defined the word “couple” as any two characters of the opposite gender who kissed, went on a date, had sex, were married, or engaged in a sexual relationship. When depicting traditional heterosexual couples, these power dynamics have been straightforward. Gender roles have been enforced or subverted therefore, the audience was use to seeing heterosexual couples that function with a variety of power dynamics. The portrayal of both females and males has formed many to believe, including myself that gender roles have served as a culturally constructed power dynamic within society.

The Intersection of Bisexuality and Space: Brenda Howard and the First Pride

[1] Corey E. Flanders, “Defining Bisexuality: Young Bisexual and Pansexual People’s Voices,” Journal of Bisexuality, vol. 17, no. 1 (2017): 40, accessed March 5, 2018, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15299716.2016.1227016.

[2] “What is Bisexuality?”, Bisexual Resource Center, accessed March 5, 2018, https://biresource.org/resources/youth/what-is-bisexuality/.

[3]Miranda Rosenblum, “The U.S. Bisexual+ Movement: A #BiWeek History Lesson,” GLAAD, accessed April 8, 2018, https://www.glaad.org/blog/us-bisexual-movement-biweek-history-lesson?page=8&response_type=embed.

[4]Eliel Cruz, “Remembering Brenda: An Ode to the ‘Mother of Pride,'” The Advocate, accessed April 8, 2018, https://www.advocate.com/bisexuality/2014/06/17/remembering-brenda-ode-‘mother-pride’.

[5]”Biography,” Robyn Ochs, accessed April 8, 2018, https://robynochs.com/biography/.

[6] “A Brief History of the Bisexual Movement,” BiNet USA, accessed March 5, 2018, https://www.binetusa.org/bihistory2.html.

[7] Andrew Freedman, “Remembering the Stonewall Riots, 45 Years Later,” Mashable, accessed April 9, 2018, https://mashable.com/2014/06/28/remembering-stonewall-riots/#FvDGQnTFGsqS.

[8] Yohana Desta, “The Evolution of the Pride Parade, From Somber March to Celebration,” Mashable, 2014, accessed April 9, 2018, https://mashable.com/2014/06/10/pride-parade-evolution/#JBgjbU5J9Zq3.

[9]Lena Williams, “200,000 March in Capital to Seek Gay Rights and Money for AIDS,” The New York Times, 1987, accessed April 9, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/12/us/200000-march-in-capital-to-seek-gay-rights-and-money-for-aids.html.

[10] “Who We Are,” New York Area Bisexual Network, accessed April 9, 2018, http://www.nyabn.org/Pages/WhoWeR/WhoWeR.html.

[11] Trudy Ring, “Bisexual Pioneer Brenda Howard’s Husband Celebrates Her with #StillBisexual Campaign,” PRIDE.com, 2015, accessed April 9, 2018, https://www.pride.com/identities/2015/09/23/watch-bisexual-pioneer-brenda-howards-husband-celebrates-her-stillbisexual-cam.

[12] Zachary Zane, “6 Facts You never Knew About the Bisexual Flag,” PRIDE.com, 2016, accessed April 10, 2018, https://www.pride.com/bisexual/2015/5/15/6-facts-you-never-knew-about-bisexual-flag-yes-there-one.

[13]Miguel Obradors-Campos, “Deconstructing Biphobia,” Journal of Bisexuality, vol. 11, no. 2 (2011): 207, accessed March 6, 2018, https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.trincoll.edu/doi/pdf/10.1080/15299716.2011.571986?needAccess=true.

[14] Miranda Rosenblum, “8 Current TV Shows With Bi+ Characters We Love This #BiWeek,” GLADD, September 17, 2017, accessed March 5, 2018, https://www.glaad.org/blog/8-current-tv-shows-bi-characters-we-love-biweek.

[15] Nikki Hayfield, Victoria Clarke, Emma Halliwell, and Helen Malson, “Visible lesbians and invisible bisexuals: Appearance and visual identities among bisexual women,” Women’s Studies International Forum (2013): , accessed March 6, 2018, https://ac-els-cdn-com.ezproxy.trincoll.edu/S0277539513001362/1-s2.0-S0277539513001362-main.pdf?_tid=a6ae9d7e-1669-495f-bb45-f39baa3846c0&acdnat=1520398778_74f4b46d189ac0f512804c5f52461792.

[16] Trudy Ring, “Bisexual Pioneer Brenda Howard’s Husband Celebrates Her with #StillBisexual Campaign,” PRIDE.com, 2015, accessed April 9, 2018, https://www.pride.com/identities/2015/09/23/watch-bisexual-pioneer-brenda-howards-husband-celebrates-her-stillbisexual-cam.

[17] Chloe Sargeant, “People are sharing stories to create visibility for bisexuality with new hashtag #BiTwitter,” SBS, March 30, 2017, accessed March 5, 2018, https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/sexuality/fast-lane/article/2017/03/30/people-are-sharing-stories-create-visibility-bisexuality-new-hashtag-bitwitter.

[18]  “Frank Ocean: Coming Out Had to Do With ‘My Own Sanity,’” Rolling Stone, July 21, 2012, accessed March 6, 2018, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/frank-ocean-on-coming-out-i-wished-at-13-or-14-there-was-somebody-i-looked-up-to-who-would-have-said-something-like-that-20120721

[19] “Biography,” Eliel Cruz, accessed April 10, 2018, http://elielcruz.com.

History of Transgender: Through the Eyes of Brandon Teena

 


For the timeline project I chose to focus on not a place, but a person. From the first moment I learned about Brandon Teena, the young transman from Lincoln Nebraska who was brutally murdered, I was fascinated with his short life. Brandon’s story is more than just his life experiences as a transman in the United States, it is unique and specific to the rural town of Humboldt, Nebraska and how this small town understood the trans identity at the time. Brandon’s story touches on the problems of gender, sexuality, rural versus urban, and class issues in the United States. His life story in Nebraska showed me a new culture and group of people I was not familiar with having grown up outside of New York City. His life gave me insight into the differences between urban versus rural cultural practices and how this affects how we see the rest of the world.

In the United States education system, we are taught that the rural parts of the country are idyllic, old versions of the United States. There is a sense of nostalgia taught when we learn about rural parts of the country and how they live their lives. Too often, we focus on the cosmopolitan cities of the world and how culture is produced and recreated in these cultural hubs. But we forget to look at how rural communities are producing and reinforcing their own cultural norms. These rural norms are typically thought of as old-fashioned American heterosexual whiteness. Author Mary Gray writes about rural queer teens and says, “rural communities are not unproblematic, idyllic spaces for queer and questioning youth engaged in identity problems. These publics can be compromised” (Gray, 57).

This was the case for Brandon Teena who escaped to Humboldt to start his new life as a young man. Although he got away with living as a man for a few weeks, once his friends found out that he was actually born with female anatomy, they turned on him because he was different. His two male friends gang raped him and then murdered him a few days later because he deviated from the rural norm they were used to. It begs the question of: would Brandon still be here today if he relocated to a more urban, accepting location? Or were all geographical spaces struggling to understand the idea of transgender in 1993? We can never be sure or know the answer to this question. Brandon Teena’s story touches on the issues of rural verses urban space in the United States and how geography affects what our norm is.

Additionally, my interest Brandon’s story came from having to watch the movie version of his life in one of my classes early on in my college career. His story was transformed into a Hollywood movie in 1999 called Boys Don’t Cry. Hilary Swank played Brandon and won an Academy Award for her performance in 2000. Although this movie was widely popular and accepted by the Academy, it is important to remember that this was a glamorized, Hollywood version of the event.  The director, Kimberly Pierce, wanted to tell the story, but we have to remember this is not an accurate depiction, rather it is told through actors, lighting, and makeup. Brandon’s story was more than just a Hollywood blockbuster. It showed the world how we understood gender and sexuality in the early 1990s in rural America. Brandon was just 21 when he was murdered by people he thought were his friends. It is important to reflect back on Brandon’s story and think if he would be more accepted in 2018. Everyday we learn more and more about the trans identity and how the rest of the world sees it, but have we really moved away from incidents like Brandon’s? This timeline will show the history of Brandon’s story and how laws, legislation, and cultural practices have affected the larger group of the trans community today.

Gray, Mary L. “From Websites to Wal-Mart: Youth, Identity Work, and the Queering of Boundary Publics in Small Town, USA.” American Studies 48, no. 2 (2007): 49-59.


Works Cited

[1] Stryker, Susan. Transgender History. Seal Studies. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press : Distributed by Publishers Group West, 2008.

[2] Beemyn, Brett PhD.  Serving the Needs of Transgender College Students, Journal of Gay & Lesbian Issues in Education, 1:1, 2008. 33-50, DOI: 10.1300/J367v01n01_03

[3] Hines, Sally. “Theorising Transgender.” In TransForming Gender: Transgender Practices of Identity, Intimacy and Care, 9-34. Bristol: Policy Press at the University of Bristol, 2007. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.trincoll.edu/stable/j.ctt9qgpqw.5

[4] “Hate Crime Laws.” The United States Department of Justice. July 28, 2017. Accessed April 09, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/crt/hate-crime-laws.

[5] “Brandon Teena.” Wikipedia. April 09, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Teena.

[6]  Dunne, John Gregory. “The Humboldt Murders.” The New Yorker. June 19, 2017. Accessed April 09, 2018. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/01/13/the-humboldt-murders.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Minkowitz, Donna. “Love Hurts.” The Village Voice, April 19, 1994.

[9] Duggan, Lisa. “Crossing the Line: The Brandon Teena Case and the Social Psychology of Working-Class Resentment.” New Labor Forum 13, no. 3 (2004): 36-44. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.trincoll.edu/stable/40342493.

[10] Matthew Shepard Foundation. “About Us.” Matthew Shepard Foundation. 2015. Accessed April 09, 2018. https://www.matthewshepard.org/about-us/.

[11] “B R A N D O N.” B R A N D O N. Accessed April 09, 2018. http://brandon.guggenheim.org/.

[12] “Brandon Teena.” Wikipedia. April 09, 2018. Accessed April 09, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Teena.

[13] Ibid.

[14]  Swan, Rachel. “Boys Don’t Cry.” Film Quarterly, vol. 54, no. 3, 2001, pp. 47–52. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/fq.2001.54.3.47.

[15] Butler, Judith. “Bodies that Matter.” Excerpted in Feminst Theory and the Body, edited by Janet Price and Margrit Shildrik, 235-245. London: Routledge. 1999.

[16]  Halberstam, Judith. In a Queer Time and Place : Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives. Sexual Cultures. New York: New York University Press, 2005.

[17] Gray, Mary L. “From Websites to Wal-Mart: Youth, Identity Work, and the Queering of Boundary Publics in Small Town, USA.” American Studies.  2007. 48, no. 2: 49-59.

[18] “Prince Family Paper.” Dunderpedia: The Office Wiki. Accessed April 10, 2018. http://theoffice.wikia.com/wiki/Prince_Family_Paper.

[19] “The Matthew Shepard And James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act Of 2009.” The United States Department of Justice. August 6, 2015. Accessed April 10, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/crt/matthew-shepard-and-james-byrd-jr-hate-crimes-prevention-act-2009-0.

[20] “Same-sex Marriage in the United States.” Wikipedia. April 10, 2018. Accessed April 11, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_the_United_States.

[21] “Understanding Transgender Access Laws.” The New York Times. February 25, 2017. Accessed April 09, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/us/transgender-bathroom-law.html.

[22] Hennigan, W.J. “Trump Announces He’ll Bar Transgender People from Serving in U.S. Military.” Los Angeles Times. July 26, 2017. Accessed April 09, 2018. http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-updates-trump-tweets-transgender-military-service-htmlstory.html.

[23] “Brandon (1998–99) by Shu Lea Cheang. A Video Navigation of the Restored Web Artwork.” Guggenheim. May 11, 2017. Accessed April 09, 2018. https://www.guggenheim.org/video/brandon-1998-99-by-shu-lea-cheang-a-video-navigation-of-the-restored-web-artwork.

[24] “In a First, ‘Fantastic Woman’ Wins Oscar with Transgender Lead.” NBCNews.com. Accessed April 09, 2018. https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/first-fantastic-woman-wins-oscar-transgender-lead-n853626.

A Look At Two-spirit Over the Years

[1] Esther Rothblum, “Native American Two-Spirit People,” Archives of Sexuality and Gender 11, no. 1 (November 1998): http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/65dkd7

[2] “Two-spirit.” Wikipedia. April 10, 2018. Accessed April 8, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-spirit.

[3] “Walking in Two Worlds: Understanding the Two-Spirit & LGBTQ Community.” Tribal Institute. http://www.tribal-institute.org/2014/INCTwo-SpiritBooklet.pdf.

[4] Feinberg, Leslie. Transgender warriors: making history from Joan of Arc to RuPaul. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996.

[5] Vries, Kylan Mattias De. “Berdache.” Encyclopædia Britannica. November 16, 2016. Accessed April 7, 2018. https://www.britannica.com/topic/berdache.

[6] Filice, Michelle. “Two-Spirit.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. Accessed April 6, 2018. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/two-spirit/.

[7] Bossu, M. 1768 Nouveaux Voyages aux Indes Occidentales. Vol. 2. Paris.

Angelino, H. and Shedd, C. L. (1955), A Note ON Berdache. American Anthropologist, 57: 121-126. doi:10.1525/aa.1955.57.1.02a00130 

[8] Filice, Michelle. “Two-Spirit.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. Accessed April 6, 2018. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/two-spirit/.

[9] Waldman, Carl. Atlas of the North American Indian. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Checkmark Books, 2009. Google Scholar.

[10] Roscoe, Will. Changing Ones: Third and Fourth Genders in Native North America. St. Martins Press, 2005.

[11] Lyman, S. “A History of Indian Policy.” ERIC – Education Resources Information Center. November 30, 1972. Accessed April 9, 2018. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED092279.

[12]  Catlin, George. Illustrations of the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians: With Letters and Notes Written during Eight Years of Travel and Adventure among the Wildest and Most Remarkable Tribes Now Existing : With Three Hundred and Sixty Engravings, from the Author’s Original Paintings. Henry G. Bohn, 1850.

[13] Roscoe, Will. “Native Americans.” GLBTQ Archive. 2015. http://www.glbtqarchive.com/ssh/native_americans_S.pdf.

[14] “Hosteen Klah; Medicine Man, Sand Painter and Weaver.” Heard Museum Guild. Accessed April 9, 2018. https://www.heardguild.org/hosteen-klah/.

[15] Roscoe, Will. “WAS WE’WHA A HOMOSEXUAL? Native American Survivance and the Two-Spirit Tradition.” Wills World. http://www.willsworld.org/WasWeWha1995.pdf.

[16] Faiman-Silva, Sandra. “Anthropologists and Two Spirit People: Building Bridges and Sharing Knowledge.” In Anthropology Faculty Publications. Paper 23. 2011. http://vc.bridgew.edu/anthro_fac/23

[17] Rosengren, John. “Sacred Rights of the International Two Spirit Gathering.” Utne. January 2009. Accessed April 9, 2018. https://www.utne.com/mind-and-body/sacred-rights-of-the-international-two-spirit-gathering-lgbt-native-american-indian-community.

[18] Morgensen, Scott Lauria. Spaces between Us: Queer Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Decolonization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2011. Google Scholar.

[19] Leland, John. “A Spirit of Belonging, Inside and Out.” New York Times (1923-Current File), Oct 08, 2006. https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.trincoll.edu/docview/93169290?accountid=14405.

[20] “Montana Two Spirit Society.” Two Spirit Society|Montana|Native and Indigenous. Accessed April 9, 2018. https://www.mttwospirit.org/about.

[21] “Two Spirits (2009).” IMDb. Accessed April 11, 2018. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1296906/.

[22] Duggan, Paul. “Gay Youth’s Death Shakes Colo. City.” The Washington Post. September 01, 2001. Accessed April 9, 2018. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/09/01/gay-youths-death-shakes-colo-city/98d8eab5-4afb-41b9-b83c-35d69d7cc88e/?utm_term=.362c3caaa65b.

[23] “Mission Statement.” BAAITS. Accessed April 9, 2018. http://www.baaits.org/about.

[24] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFt6XRyQhD8

[25] Zug, Marcia. “Why Same-Sex Marriage Bans Risk Native American Sovereignty.” The Atlantic. October 15, 2016. Accessed April 9, 2018. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/10/tribal-same-sex-marriage-bans/503345/.

[26] “Then and Now: 7 Amazing Two Spirit, LGBTQ Natives You Should Know.” Indian Country Media Network. August 24, 2017. Accessed April 9, 2018. https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/culture/arts-entertainment/then-and-now-7-amazing-two-spirit-lgbtq-natives-you-should-know/.

Two-Spirit Timeline Explanation

I chose the Two-spirit as my site, in comparison to choosing a specific major event or figure, to broaden what could be included in my timeline as well as having an efficient amount of sources and material to fulfill the 25 events on the timeline. I started off with a definition that I created myself and then what Wikipedia had to say. Though I acknowledge Wikipedia’s credibility at times, it can prove to be a helpful source when trying to familiarize yourself with a foreign topic. I then delved into the historical aspects of two-spirit, starting with when the Europeans came to the Americas and colonized present-day Latin America and eventually North America. These Spanish and French colonizers were bound to run into two-spirits, or what they called berdaches, who did not fit into their binary gender role and practices. Thus, they persecuted, oppressed and even killed them for not following Western gender roles.[1] Another reason why I started with the Europeans colonizing the Americas is because there is no record that I could access to two-spirits before the Europeans came. Though I am sure natives kept their own records, either written or oral, they may have been destroyed, lost or are not archived and made publically accessible. Thus, I started with European arrival and colonization.

I then move through different European encounters and descriptions of two-spirits in the 18th century, which were mainly negative and condescending.[2] Europeans at the time did not understand that non-binary gender roles and spaces could exist amongst other cultures and societies. In a way, they were naïve. Their encounters mostly occurred through colonization, exploration, military expansion or mapping. I then proceed to highlight important two-spirit figures, such as We’wha and Lhamana, in the 19th century.[3] These figures stand as significant players in keeping the two-spirit tradition alive by proving during their own time and to future two-spirits that they do exist and were once prominent figures in their tribes.

In the late 20th century, two-spirit gatherings and societies began to form and host events in honor of the two-spirit tradition, but to also act as a safe space for two-spirits to come together and educate one another. I included multiple powwows and events in the timeline to show that once a couple of two-spirit groups were established, many followed in their wake. But, even more importantly to highlight, it took until the late 20th century for a sacred practice to come together to protect and preserve the tradition.

In June of 2001, Fred Martinez was murdered for being a two-spirit. It was concluded that it was a hate crime and sparked outrage and awareness among the LGBTQ and native communities.[4] This event was integral to the timeline to further show the discrimination, oppression and violence two-spirits face in modern times for being who they are. In commemoration of Fred Martinez and to raise attention in the media of this hate crime, a short documentary Two Spirits premiered in June of 2009. This film was important to the two-spirit people because it was a film about a double minority group who usually does not receive any attention from the media at all.

To close, I included the Obergefell v. Hodges case which did not include same-sex marriage on Indian reservations. This further shows the oppression and ineqauilty natives and two-spirits face on their own land in the US. (For reference, same-sex marriage is determined by each tribe.)[5] My final event is Tony Enos’ music video “Two Spirit” which is another effort to bring two-spirit into the light of the media through music.

Through my events, I show different platforms on which two-spirits received attention, either in a negative or positive lights. Unfortunately, two-spirits throughout history have been oppressed and persecuted for not conforming to typical Western gender roles. Thus, most of the events documented here represent oppression, violence, and neglect.

 

[1] Angelino, H. and Shedd, C. L. (1955), A Note ON Berdache. American Anthropologist, 57: 121-126. doi:10.1525/aa.1955.57.1.02a00130

[2]Bossu, M. 1768 Nouveaux Voyages aux Indes Occidentales. Vol. 2. Paris.

[3] Roscoe, Will. “WAS WE’WHA A HOMOSEXUAL? Native American Survivance and the Two-Spirit Tradition.” Wills World. http://www.willsworld.org/WasWeWha1995.pdf.

[4] Duggan, Paul. “Gay Youth’s Death Shakes Colo. City.” The Washington Post. September 01, 2001. Accessed April 9, 2018. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/09/01/gay-youths-death-shakes-colo-city/98d8eab5-4afb-41b9-b83c-35d69d7cc88e/?utm_term=.362c3caaa65b.

[5] Zug, Marcia. “Why Same-Sex Marriage Bans Risk Native American Sovereignty.” The Atlantic. October 15, 2016. Accessed April 9, 2018. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/10/tribal-same-sex-marriage-bans/503345/.

Hairpin Drop Heard Around the World

Sources

[1] Jennifer L. Evans. 2010. “Genderqueer Identity and Self-Perception.” Clinical Dissertation, The California School of Professional Psychology San Francisco Campus: Alliant International University. file:///C:/Users/Kristen/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/Genderqueer_identity_and_self_.pdf. 1

[2] Kuhn, Betsy. 2011. Gay Power!: The Stonewall Riots and the Gay Rights Movement, 1969. Twenty First Century Books. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=yUVb25C-WKQC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=stonewall+riots&ots=J6IE6zZO6C&sig=HIlPQFmimoz0yh-TtuzvN51ejc4#v=onepage&q=stonewall%20riots&f=false. 5

[3] PBS. 1999. “Greenwich Village: A Hub for American Masters.” .org. PBS. December 29, 1999. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/greenwich-village-about-greenwich-village/620/.

[4] Nie, Kelly. 2016. “Stonewall Inn.” History of New York City (blog). November 14, 2016. https://blogs.shu.edu/nyc-history/2016/11/14/stonewall-inn/.

[5] PBS. n.d. “Why Did the Mafia Own the Bar?” .org. PBS. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/stonewall-why-did-mafia-own-bar/.

[6] Watson, Stephanie. 2014. Gay Rights Movement. North Mankato, Minnesota: ABDO. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=5YmWAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=%22bonnie%27s+stone+wall%22&ots=usKF_8N2GO&sig=G5Zj0ZuZMIKoGB9QKdjkCwtNWLo#v=onepage&q=%22bonnie’s%20stone%20wall%22&f=false. 8

[7] Carter, David. 2004. Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Griffin. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=o0hO1fWw-SkC&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=Ton+%E2%80%9CFat+Tony%E2%80%9D+Lauria&ots=DdmUSUYD3h&sig=5dwbqrN7CKE0ZYR1w1NjHyYUK6A#v=onepage&q=transgender&f=false 80

[8] Carter, David. 2004. Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Griffin. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=o0hO1fWw-SkC&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=Ton+%E2%80%9CFat+Tony%E2%80%9D+Lauria&ots=DdmUSUYD3h&sig=5dwbqrN7CKE0ZYR1w1NjHyYUK6A#v=onepage&q=transgender&f=false. 77

[9]Robinson, Lucy . 2007. “Gay Liberation 1969–73: Praxis, Protest and Performance.” In Gay Men and the Left in Post-War Britain, 65–92. Manchester University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt155jf8t.9. 65

[10] Matzner, Andrew. 2004. “Stonewall Riots.” http://www.glbtqarchive.com/ssh/stonewall_riots_S.pdf. 2

[11] Sandercock, Leonie. 1998. Making the Invisible Visible: A Multicultural Planning History. University of California Press. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=oE17VL7-iBsC&oi=fnd&pg=PA120&dq=stonewall+riots+anniversary&ots=BlVJYHap9J&sig=W0djbTO_zuGLA8FS20zw-LPzlE4#v=onepage&q=stonewall&f=false. 120

[12] Landers, Stewart, and Farzana Kapadia. 2017. “The Health of the Transgender Community: Out, Proud, and Coming Into Their Own.” American Journal of Public Health 107 (2): 205–6. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2016.303599.

[13] Stryker, Susan. 2004. “Transgender Activism.” GLBTQ. http://www.glbtqarchive.com/ssh/transgender_activism_S.pdf. 2

[14]  Maslin Nir,Sarah . 2017. “Stonewall Inn Project to Preserve Stories Behind a Gay Rights Monument.” New York Times, June 17, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/17/nyregion/stonewall-inn-lgbt-rights-google.html.

[15] Bruce, Teresa M. 1996. “Neither Liberty Nor Justice: Anti-Gay Initiatives, Political Participation, and the Rule of Law.” Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy 5 (3): 431–513. 438

[16] PBS. n.d. “Stonewall Inn: Through the Years.” .org. PBS. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/stonewall-inn-through-years/

[17] Nappo, Meaghan K. 2010. “NOT A QUIET RIOT: STONEWALL AND THE CREATION OF LESBIAN, BISEXUAL, GAY, AND TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY AND IDENT.” Thesis, University of North Carolina Wilmington. http://dl.uncw.edu/Etd/2010-3/nappom/meaghannappo.pdf. 5

[18] Hall, Simon. 2008. “Protest Movements in the 1970s: The Long 1960s.” Journal of Contemporary History 43 (4): 655–72. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/0022009408095421. 675

[19] Rosen, Steven A. 1980. “Police Harassment of Homosexual Women and Men in New York City 1960-1980,” 12 (159): 159–90. 168

[20] Rosen, Steven A. 1980. “Police Harassment of Homosexual Women and Men in New York City 1960-1980,” 12 (159): 159–90. 172

[21] Bruce, Teresa M. 1996. “Neither Liberty Nor Justice: Anti-Gay Initiatives, Political Participation, and the Rule of Law.” Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy 5 (3): 431–513 438-439

[22] Blumenfeld, Warren J., and Diane Christine Raymond. 1988. Looking at Gay and Lesbian Life. Boston: Beacon Press. https://books.google.com/books?id=WuJYskiyjEoC&pg=PA305&lpg=PA305&dq=the+eastern+regional+conference+of+homophile+organizations+proposed+the+christopher+street+liberation&source=bl&ots=pFNZ7sSD4R&sig=iV-4QAXr2EGXNFvhFSMK8pdvosU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwir97ua25zaAhWCq1kKHQ74DEUQ6AEIXTAG#v=onepage&q=the%20eastern%20regional%20conference%20of%20homophile%20organizations%20proposed%20the%20christopher%20street%20liberation&f=false. 305

[23] Arriola ,Elvia R. 1995. “FAERIES, MARIMACHAS,t QUEENS, AND LEZZIES: THE CONSTRUCTION OF HOMOSEXUALITY BEFORE THE 1969 STONEWALL RIOTS” 5 (1): 33–77. 74-75

[24] Watson, Stephanie. 2014. Gay Rights Movement. North Mankato, Minnesota: ABDO. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=5YmWAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=%22bonnie%27s+stone+wall%22&ots=usKF_8N2GO&sig=G5Zj0ZuZMIKoGB9QKdjkCwtNWLo#v=onepage&q=%22bonnie’s%20stone%20wall%22&f=false 8

[25] Elizabeth A. Armstrong, and Suzanna M. Crage. 2006. “Movements and Memory: The Making of the Stonewall Myth.” American Sociological Review 71 (5): 724–51. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240607100502. 737

[26] NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. n.d. “Stonewall Inn & Christopher Park.” .org. NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. https://www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/stonewall-inn-christopher-park/.

[27] Teresa S. Moyer. 2017. “Community Archaeology and the National Park Service’s Second Century: The Third Instalment in a Continuing Series for the Journal of Community Archaeology and Heritage.” Journal of Community Archaeology & Heritage 4 (3): 157–59. 158

[28] Carol Hardy Vincent. 2016. “National Monuments and the Antiquities Act.” Congressional Research Service. http://www.law.indiana.edu/publicland/files/national_monuments_and_the_antiquities_act.pdf. 15

Reasoning

The Stonewall Inn has been a place that has been mythologized by LGBTQ communities around the world, serving as the place where the Stonewall Riots occurred, and also known as “the hairpin drop heard around the world”. The Stonewall Inn remains one of the most studied and revered venues in LGBTQ history and has often been credited as the place where the Gay Liberation Movement began. While the events to transpire at the Stonewall Inn were obviously not the origin of the gay community, it is recognized as being the location for the first successful gay liberation movement. It was successful because the event not only commanded so much press coverage, but because, for virtually the first time, oppression of the LGBTQ community was finally brought to light, allowing for centuries of oppression to be brought into the public eye for discussion. People were angry and tensions that had been building up were finally released in this violent, but effective uproar at the Stonewall Inn. The riots paved the way for a new wave of gay rights activism, which would translate this event into a widespread socio-political movement, administered by activists who had already done so much groundwork on behalf of gay rights by setting up gay rights organizations in the decades preceding the Stonewall Riots. Stonewall allowed for gay liberalization organizations to capitalize on the riots and used the momentum to encourage a demand for legislatively-backed, gay rights as well as reimagine how the LGBTQ community could fit into a new age society where they would be heard and protected.

The reason why I choose to present incite on the Stonewall Inn protests was to display the horrible and disgusting treatment we still see today. These protestors faced local law enforcement, and their society as whole, and refused to back down on the demands that the LGBTQ community be protected by the same rights and freedoms we are all supposed to enjoy. The Stonewall Inn was supposed to be one the few places were people of the gay community could go and feel comfortable with people like themselves – a safe space where they could, for once, be their true selves, but, unfortunately, this place was ruined by the never-ending police raids and harassment targeted on gay spaces. By synthesizing this event, I hope it gives you a better sense as to how people in the gay community were discriminated against for just being themselves. I also presented the Stonewall Inn the way I did was because I wanted to convey how much things have changed for gay people since the riots happened. Gay activists and groups were able to use this attack to unite an entire community of people and provide a forum for gays to “come out of the closet”, because they knew that they were not alone, in turn, making more people becoming a part of the gay rights movement. The success of the movement also allowed for more identities to be accepted and for new ones to be brought to the public, like genderqueer. Stonewall began a trend of gay pride marches, as the one of the first gay pride marches was in commemoration to the Stonewall riots and have evolved into a remembrance as to how far gay rights have progressed, but also serve as a reminder for the progress needed in the future. The history of the LGBTQ community has a long way to go, as was seen by the Stonewall Inn only just being made a National Monument in 2016, and as our society continues to progress, there still remains a need to further acknowledge the places and people that are important for the gay community and history as a whole.

A Short History of Femme: Joan Nestle and Lesbian Bars and Beaches

The femme identity can be difficult to trace to one specific place as so much of its’ history has gone unrecorded due to the stigma that was placed on the identity. Joan Nestle however is a notable femme identified figure. She has written and co-edited many femme pieces of writing, and co-founded the Lesbian Herstory Archives [18], which is an integral development for the femme and lesbian community in general. It was through the eyes of Joan Nestle that I thought I could most accurately depict a femme timeline regarding important events, places, and pop culture. The places that the femme identity really flourished, as discussed by Nestle, were in lesbian bars and beaches [7].

Nestle fought her way through hardships, just as many femme lesbians did before her birth in 1940 [24]. Though for not too long before, there were lesbian bars in San Francisco’s North Beach District, which eventually became San Francisco’s first lesbian neighborhood. It quickly became clear that women who desired other women were oppressed right away. Additionally, I found it important to include the relationship between prostitutes and lesbians in San Francisco because the regulation of prostitution had many implications on lesbians in the area. Upon making prostitution illegal in 1913 [1], prostitutes were forced out of the brothels they lived in but still needed a space to make an income in. They turned to bars, taverns, and clubs as the space they would inhabit to carry out their business. Lesbians came to these same bars, clubs, and taverns in need of a place that they too could express their sexuality. The police were hyper aware of prostitution at the time and would carry out routine checks at these bars, clubs, and taverns often mistaking lesbian women for prostitutes, both defined by their deviant sexualities.

Later in the mid 20th century, the McCarthy era brought a heightened awareness of lesbians as well and this focus on ridding the government of LGBTQ communities became known as the Lavender Scare [21]. As if the oppressions femme women faced weren’t enough already, the government was now specifically seeking them out, “witch -hunting” them, and defining them as sexually perverted, deviant, and immoral. Femme women struggled being invisible as lesbians when placed next to heterosexual women. They looked the same to outsiders, but they did not feel the same on the inside. Though being able to “pass” as heterosexual had its’ benefits, feeling invisible within the lesbian community, which was already marginalized, led to even further invisibility in general and they were ostracized within the lesbian community. Femme women weren’t seen as lesbian until they were next to butch women for a very long time. Even today it is difficult to distinguish a femme lesbian from a heterosexual women unless in a LGBTQ space.

Nestle found these places, where she could be seen, touched, appreciated, and loved at bars and her favorite beach, Riis Park Beach. Nestle knew that her femme identity was seen as wrong to many, but she didn’t care. She fought for her freedom, and the freedom of other femme identified lesbians in addition all types of lesbians. Though controversial, her explicit sexual pieces opened the door for femme lesbians to have sexual freedom, too. Her sexuality, as she notes, is intertwined with her public opinions against the feminist anti-pornography movement of the 1980s because both parts of her life- sexuality and politics- are connected. Without her political right to be a femme women, she cannot love her female partner, she cannot have sex with her female partner, she cannot live out her self-identified truth as a femme lesbian woman.

Footnotes

[1] Boyd, Nan alamilla. “LESBIAN SPACE, LESBIAN TERRITORY: San Francisco’s North Beach District, 1933–1954.” Wide-Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965, 1st ed., University of California Press, 2003, pp. 68–101. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pnvgp.8.

[2]Eves, Alison. “Queer Theory, Butch/Femme Identities and Lesbian Space.” Sexualities, SAGE Publications.

[3]Kath Browne & Leela Bakshi (2011) We are here to party? Lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans leisurescapes beyond commercial gay scenes, Leisure Studies, 30:2, 179-196.

[4] Smith, Elizabeth A. “Butches, Femmes, and Feminists: The Politics of Lesbian Sexuality.” NWSA Journal, vol. 1, no. 3, 1989, pp. 398–421. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4315922.

[5]Johnson, Matthew D., and Claude J. Summers. “Gay and Lesbian Bars.” Glbtq, Glbtq, Inc., 2015, pp. 1–7.

[6]Jennings, Rebecca. “A Room Full of Women: Lesbian Bars and Social Spaces in Postwar Sydney.” Women’s History Review, vol. 21, no. 5, Nov. 2012, pp. 813–829.

[7]Nestle, Joan. “Restriction and Reclamation.” A Restricted Country, Firebrand Books, 1987, pp. 61–67.

[8]“Riis Park Beach.” NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/beach-at-jacob-riis-park/.

[9]Hankin, Kelly. The Girls in the Back Room: Looking at the Lesbian Bar. U. Of Minnesota P., 2002.

[10]Nestle, Joan. “Preface to the First Edition.” A Restricted Country, Cleis Press; Second Edition, 2018.

[11]Wolfe, Maxine. “Invisible Women in Invisible Places: Lesbians, Lesbian Bars, and the Social Production of People/ Environment Relationships.” Arch. & Comport. / Arch. & Behav., vol. 8, no. 2, 1992, pp. 137–158.

[12]2016. Gieseking, J. Dyked New York: The Space between the Geographical Imagination and Materialization of Lesbian Queer Bars and Neighbourhoods. In G. Brown and K. Browne, eds. The Routledge Research Companion to Geographies of Sex and Sexualities. New York: Routledge, 29-36.

[13]Wilson, Elizabeth. “Feminist Review.” Feminist Review, no. 30, 1988, pp. 112–114. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1395059.

[14]Kramarae, Cheris, and Dale Spender. “Butch/Femme.” Routledge international encyclopedia of women: global womens issues and knowledge. New York: Routledge, 2000. 131-33.

[15]Nestle, Joan, et al. GenderQueer : Voices from beyond the Sexual Binary. 1st ed., Alyson Books, 2002.

[16]Boyd, Nan Alamilla. Wide-Open Town: a History of Queer San Francisco to 1965. University of California Press, 2003.

[17]Kennedy, Elizabeth Lapovsky. “The Hidden Voice: Fems in the 1940s and 1950s.” In Femme: Feminists, Lesbians, and Bad Girls.

[18] The Lesbian Herstory Archives: History, www.lesbianherstoryarchives.org/history.html.

[19]Greenfield, Beth. “Weekender: Cherry Grove, N.Y.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 July 2005, www.nytimes.com/2005/07/15/realestate/weekender-cherry-grove-ny.html.

[20]Out/Week Magazine, September 24, 1989. pp. 37-9

[21]“9 Things To Know About The Lavender Scare.” OUT, Out Magazine, 6 Feb. 2015, www.out.com/entertainment/popnography/2013/04/26/9-things-to know-about-lavender-scare.

[22]Smith, David. “Lesbian Novel Was ‘Danger to Nation’.” The Observer, Guardian News and Media, 2 Jan. 2005, www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/jan/02/books.gayrights.

[23]Kaplan, E. Ann. Women in film noir. London: BFI Publishing, 2012.

[24] “Sharing Stories Inspiring Change.” Jewish Women’s Archive, jwa.org/feminism/nestle-joan.

[25] Livingston, Jennie, director. Paris Is Burning. Paris Is Burning, 1991.

[26] Wiener, Thomas. “Book Reviews: Arts & Humanities.” Library Journal, vol. 117, no. 11, 15 June 1992, p. 78. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,uid&db=aph&AN=9207132311&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

 

Androgyny and Performance: David Bowie in the Early 1970s

 

Reasoning 

I chose David Bowie to represent androgyny because of his influence in the queer community and on other artists of his time, as well as his enduring reputation in the American imaginary as the androgynous alien Ziggy Stardust. Despite only performing as Ziggy for about a year in a career that spanned decades, in the US that’s mostly what he’s known for. He’s also an innovator that draws on many different influences, while pushing forward new ideas as well, and influencing others later. Bowie dramatized the search for identity, performing it on a large scale using extremes of gender. As a star, he was able to do this, and provide this kind of narrative for a wide audience. He could introduced new, radical possibilities for queerness, or else dramatize old ones on a large scale. He did this through a philosophy of fantasy and performance. Many rock stars at this time were concerned with being authentic to their craft; Bowie on the other hand, wanted to expose everything as distinctly inauthentic, and dramatize that by performing everything at it’s most theatrical. He embodied ideas of gender as performance, as well as his commentary on the false authenticity of celebrity culture.

The other people and trends I chose to touch on in this timeline, I found to be in some way influential on Bowie’s performance of androgyny, or else similar themselves to him in their explorations of it. The ability of Black blues performers like Gladys Bentley to perform the way she did at the time she did is a testament to her environment, and the desire of a white audience for the exotic. This helps show the unique space that performance can provide when examining gender, as it is created with an audience in mind, and because of its distance from the audience, can sometimes be a place where ambiguous gender is more accepted. The mod subculture in the 1960s questioned rigid understandings of white, mainstream masculinity, and provided an alternative form of masculinity in the UK and US that was a precursor to Bowie’s more radical exploration of gender. It helped shape an environment in which gender codes were not always understood as completely static.

Andy Warhol was a clear influence of Bowie, who, among other things, wrote a song for him. Warhol himself identified with androgyny, and surrounded himself with other queer people who did not necessarily participate in normative embodiments of gender. He was a big influence on Bowie’s questioning of authenticity in pop culture, which also played into his exploration of the authenticity of gender. Glam rock was a movement that Bowie helped push forward, not necessarily in name but in style, with his focus on theatricality and performance, as well as personal reinvention. Grace Jones was also a performer who used the space of performance to explore androgyny and gender performance. However, she also examined racial stereotypes in her work, and used androgyny as a way of disrupting more than just gender norms. James Baldwin did this as well, calling for androgyny in gender, sexuality, and race. Jones and Baldwin both took Bowies use of androgyny further, to apply to multiple forms of identity.

 

Notes

[1] Weil 63.

[2] Leick 157-158.

[3] Plato 137, 141.

[4] Wilson 155.

[5] Wilson 172-3.

[6] “The Guys” 82A.

[7] Stevenson 19.

[8] Lenig 45.

[9] Stevenson 44.

[10] Lenig 48.

[11] Cauterucci.

[12] Stevenson 53-54.

[13] Lenig 43.

[14] Light.

[15] Watts 48.

[16] Greene.

[17] Gilmore.

[18] Cook 2.

[19] Heilbrun, “Towards” xiv.

[20] Heilbrun, “Further” 147.

[21] Corber 169.

[22] Baldwin 218.

[23] Schulman.

[24] Guzman 84.

[25] Kershaw 21.

 

Works Cited

Cauterucci, Christina. “Why David Bowie’s Androgyny Was a Rare, Precious Gift.” Slate, 11 Jan. 2016, http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2016/01/11/why_david_bowie_s_androgyny_was_a_rare_precious_gift.html

Baldwin, James. “Here Be Dragons.” Originally published as “Freaks and the American Ideal of Manhood” in Playboy, Jan. 1985. Reprinted in Traps: African American Men on Gender and Sexuality, edited by Rudolph P. Byrd and Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Indiana UP, 2001, pp. 207-218.

Cook, Ellen Piel. Psychological Androgyny. Pergamon, 1985.

Corber, Robert J. “Everybody Knew His Name: Reassessing James Baldwin.” Review of James Baldwin Now by Dwight A. McBride, and Re-Viewing James Baldwin: Things Not Seen by D. Quentin Miller. Contemporary Literature, vol. 42, no. 1, 2001, pp. 166-175.

Gilmore, Mikal. “David Bowie: How Ziggy Stardust Fell to Earth.” Rolling Stone, 2 Feb. 2012, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/how-ziggy-stardust-fell-to-earth-20120202

Greene, Andy. “Flashback: Ziggy Stardust Commits ‘Rock and Roll Suicide’ at Final Gig.” Rolling Stone, 22 Nov. 2012, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/flashback-ziggy-stardust-commits-rock-and-roll-suicide-at-final-gig-20121122

Guzman, Maria J. “‘Pull Up to the Bumper’: Fashion and Queerness in Grace Jones’s One Man Show.” Imagining the Black Female Body: Reconciling Image in Print and Visual Culture, edited by Carol E. Henderson, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, pp. 79-93.

Heilbrun, Carolyn G. “Further Notes toward a recognition of androgyny.” Women’s Studies: An Inter-disciplinary Journal, vol. 2, 1974, pp. 143-149.

—. Toward a Recognition of Androgyny. Alfred A. Knopf, 1973.

Kershaw, Miriam. “Postcolonialism and Androgyny: The Performance Art of Grace Jones.” Art Journal, vol. 56, no. 4, 1997, pp. 19-27.

Leick, Gwendolyn. Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature. Routledge, 1994.

Lenig, Stuart. The Twisted Tale of Glam Rock. Praeger, 2010.

Light, Alan. “‘Ziggy Stardust’: How Bowie Created the Alter Ego That Changed Rock.” Rolling Stone, 16 Jun. 2016, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/ziggy-stardust-how-bowie-created-the-alter-ego-that-changed-rock-20160616

Plato. Symposium. Translated by W.R.M. Lamb. Loeb Classical Library. Harvard UP, 1925.

Schulman, Michael. “The Power of Grace Jones.” New York Times, 18 Sept. 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/20/fashion/the-power-of-grace-jones.html

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