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Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Anxious Masculinity and the Morning DJ

There seems to be an epidemic of anxious masculinity affecting this country. Men who are unsure if the come across as masculine enough, who make misogynistic and homophobic remarks out of fear that they will be perceived as in some way effeminate. A prime example is Tucker Carlson boasting about gay bashing after persistent questioning of his sexual orientation. The frequency of off the cuff homophobic and transphobic remarks brought on by this insecurity has just gotten annoying and boring. It got frequent enough that I tuned off what had been my favorite morning radio station, KROQ, here in Los Angeles. I wasn’t mad, just annoyed by the boring predictability of it. These men are not bigots like ‘prono’ Pete LaBarbara, just insecure and afraid of being accused of failing to live up to the idiotic masculine ideal so beloved of the right wing in this country.

This morning on the radio station I switched to, Indy103, the same gay baiting ‘humor surfaced. At least it was from guests rather then the regular DJ’s but still there was same boring tone. I am so tired of this; I want a Queer Nation now!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bear with me, a few jumbled thoughts follow:

Odd how sexual preference or orientation is somehow morphed into an insult. While on its face it's offensive, on some level I hear someone use terms like "homo" or "fag" or "dyke", and I think, that's just as dumb as insulting me because of my eye color. How poor must be their vocabulary that this is the height of their articulations.

On the other hand, I confess to using those terms disparagingly against people who use them, in a context of mockery. For instance, there is a group of anti-science theocrats who I spend a great deal of time mocking. They constantly obsess about other people's sexuality, and I suspect it's an expression of repressed self-hatred. I pity them until they start slinging the homophobia like it's going out of style. Then I figure they're fair game. When I mock them, I'm always sure to include mockery of all their stupidity. There is nothing that grates on their nerves more than having their own bigotry turned against them to point out how obviously stupid they are, and how vacuous their ideas are. Yes, I confess. I delight in making their blood boil. I should be ashamed, I suppose, but in all honesty, I'm not.

I think I had something else to say, but the wine flows freely and my ire just won't fire. I'm too mellow to bellow. :)

I'll leave you with thoughts of peace and tranquility for the evening.

I hope you've been enjoying your return to the blogosphere.

Kisses,
JanieBelle

Unknown said...

Yay JanieBell! Yes I am enjoying my return to the blogosphere