fuckinghiddleston:
this is just gonna be a mini-rant because iunno, i have a need to rant about this because it’s been nagging me ever since i got onto tumblr
has anyone else noticed the distinct lack of posts that say it’s okay to be straight? i mean, don’t get me wrong, i support gay marriage and i think that sexuality is your own choosing and no one else should ever judge you for what you decide, but at the same time, i think this particular website fetishises being gay or bisexual.
once again, i have nothing against homosexual people (heck, i was into girls at one point in my life before i decided that i was straight) but i don’t like the way that it’s seen on tumblr.
i scrolled past a post earlier saying ‘man, i can’t believe that i thought i was straight’ with 13,000 notes, and while yes it’s kinda funny, it does send a message that almost reads to me as ‘LOL WTF I USED TO BE A STRAIGHT PERSON HAHAHA WHAT WAS WRONG WITH ME’ like it’s something to be laughed at and that being straight isn’t normal.
being straight is normal. being gay is normal. being bisexual, pansexual, asexual is completely normal. but instead, i feel like that being straight on tumblr is abnormal, that it’s something that i shouldn’t be proud of, because “hey, who wants to be proud of the fact that they’re straight?”
and it bothers me because if i made a post saying “man, i can’t believe i thought i was gay”, i probably would get bashed and hated and verbally abused on this website for the rest of eternity, whereas it’s okay to make a similar post saying that the person couldn’t believe they were straight at one point?
there’s one thing to want all sexuality types to be equal, and then there’s a completely different thing where the dominant sexuality (as in percentage wise in the world) is seen as something that should be striven against on a blogging website which apparently promotes acceptance and non-judgement.
ugh.
Let me lay this out for you, because you apparently need it explained:
The entire world tells you constantly that it’s ok to be straight.
Every piece of media you were given as a kid had hetero-normative characters. Every love story arc in every children’s show and movie, everything ever made by Disney or Pixar of Don Bleuth or Nickelodeon or Studio Ghibli or whatever.
And you know what? LOL WTF I USED TO BE THINK I WAS A STRAIGHT PERSON HAHAHA WHAT WAS WRONG WITH ME’ is kind of EXACTLY what that post was saying. And the answer to ‘What was wrong with me’ was heteronormativity completely erasing the possibility of anything but heterosexuality from the auspices of children, making kids who aren’t straight feel unsupported, unrepresented, and abnormal.
You have wandered into a tiny alcove of safe space. It’s not even exclusive safe space; no one has told you to stay out (and I’m pretty sure if straight kids were told to stay out, they’d break out THOSE TEARS)
You have happened upon one of the only places where people who aren’t straight feel safe in making it known. Where people - especially young people - can talk about their non-straight sexuality without fear of being ostracized or beaten or murdered.
How many people have been ostracized or beaten or murdered for being cishet (extra points for ‘by police officers!’)? How many young people have been abandoned by their families and put from their homes for being cishet? This is a number that floats comfortably around FUCKING ZERO.
Meanwhile up to 40% of homeless young people are queer.
We live in a world where ‘gay’ is an insult, where it gets you bullied, and where authority figures often accept it as a reasonable explanation or even EXCUSE for bullying. Where the answer ‘well, the kid’s queer’ is met with an attitude of ‘Oh, I guess that makes sense then’ when a case of bullying is investigated.
To quote another wildly popular tumblr post, because this is EXACTLY what you’re doing right now:
fuckitfireeverything:
teengrrrlsquad:
why isn’t there a STRAIGHT pride parade?? why isn’t there WHITE history month? why isn’t there an international MEN’S day!? why isn’t there a hospital for WELL people?? why isn’t there a soup kitchen for RICH people??!?
#WHY ARE THERE NO CEMETERIES FOR ALIVE PEOPLE
And another:
nardvvuar:
the way I see it, “black pride” (or any sort of “minority” pride movement) means “I am proud of who I am DESPITE those who have told me and my people that whiteness is superior” while “white pride” means “I am proud of who I am BECAUSE whiteness is superior” and that’s why it’s ok to say one but not the other
THE. ENTIRE. FUCKING. WORLD. Affirms your sexuality in a million ways every day. In commercials and greeting cards and billboards and media and songs and stories and EVERYWHERE, CONSTANTLY. Cishet affirmation is in the air your breathe. It is as easy as breathing for you to participate in it.
If you feel out of place or awkward in a space where representation of any other sexuality takes center stage, if that makes you feel uncomfortable…
GOOD.
MAYBE YOU NOW HAVE THE TINIEST, MOST FLICKERING IOTA OF BASIC COMPREHENSION OF WHAT IT’S LIKE TO LIVE IN THE REST OF THE WORLD EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR ONE’S ENTIRE LIFE AS A QUEER PERSON.
I mean, how DARE a space exist where queer people can say ‘LOL WTF I USED TO THINK I WAS A STRAIGHT PERSON HAHAHA WHAT WAS WRONG WITH ME?’ and actually have a talk about that with other queer people, right? What kind of silly nonsense is that, shouldn’t we be thinking about how we’re making the straighties feel? It’s not like they have anywhere else they can go to feel affirmed and talk about their issues!
OH WAIT.
Think about the fact that this post is your reaction to the one time in your entire life that you have encountered a space where everything isn’t about representing YOU. Think about what that says about you, and about representation.
When you make posts like this, you make yourself part of the problem. Because this post is basically a whine to the tune of ‘OMG, SHUT UP ABOUT BEING GAY, IT MAKES ME FEEL, LIKE, SUPER AWKWARD!’
No1curr.
