Sometimes news stories seem to circle around each other. Or maybe I am just looking to link unrelated stars.
Sexual identity and consent have been in the news in all kinds of ways. I was struck by the poll in the Telegraph that said that fully 49 percent of young British didn’t identify as straight. Anecdotally, gay men will tell you about numerous encounters with “straight guys.” Some even prefer them. But here was a study that bears out what so many of us have thought for years. It is a continuum, and a lot of folks find themselves in all kinds of places. I don’t mention this to promote any kind of sexuality, but rather to promote the idea that people should feel OK about wherever they happen to be on the spectrum. Telegraph article here.
Speaking of accepting differences, there is no question that Caitlyn Jenner has moved the needle on accepting transgender people wherever they are. It is an odd kind of transgender because it is rare—full of white male privilege. I don’t know the statistics, but I venture that a large number of transgendered people are not wealthy or the beneficiary of such media access. Given her comments about making money, Caitlyn doesn’t seem to have a clue about sexual outsiders in late capitalism. But at least she brought the topic up in a big way. Vanity Fair article here.
The other famous transgender of the moment is Chelsea Manning, who is experiencing firsthand what happens when you challenge the hegemonic order, have out-of-date toothpaste, and don’t have one percent credentials. We can only hope that the appointment of a transgender White House aide may be a sign that the White House is paying attention. I hope President Obama pardons Chelsea (and Ed Snowden, while he is at it).
For some time, we have been reading about rape on college campuses and “no means no.” If somebody had pushed me when I was a young and stupid, I wouldn’t have said no. But this week, the plague spreads to the prep school, in this case the very prestigious St. Paul’s, a premier training ground for the one percent. Even I have to admit that the negative part of this is that the whole school gets tarnished for the disreputable actions of a few. On the positive side, we reveal that even in these bastions of privilege, we need to question the position of male dominance. Sex can be many things, but I don’t think it should be a scorecard, and it must be consensual.
Everybody seems surprised that Donald Trump is at the head of the Republican Clown Car. But he is the only Republican candidate not sticking to a consultant’s script based on market research. He is going with his gut. And his gut is that there are a lot of bigots out there who are pissed off. And he’s right. In a strange way, he is the perfect right wingnut candidate for the moment.
Because all of these recent news items point to the same movement in the culture. Straight white male dominance is in its waning years. The party is over. Sure, it’s a kind of delicious twist when one of their members changes his sex and can still use those links to promote her new pretty self, but we are at the end of the era.
This doesn’t mean that it’s safe for women, nonwhites, and queer folk. Quite the contrary. The Clown Car may sound ridiculous, but the people riding in it are serious, and there is enough residual straight white male anger to still elect them if everybody else is either threatened (see voting rights controversy!) or apathetic or bitter. But I think this is about the last time. By 2045, we will be a majority minority country. Mind you, leading up to that date, the violence of the embittered will be nasty, but victory for the marginalized is almost in sight.
That is, if the nutters who run Israel or North Korea don’t blow us up!
