Wednesday 7 January 2015

'I'd never judge....'

There seemed to have been a break from it for a while - maybe people were preoccupied by the festive season, or something - but last night at work, it was back to 'normal', with a couple of gratuitous outbreaks of 'gay baiting'. The target on this occasion was one of our more recent 'recruits', and one of the younger guys in the place, whose training has now almost finished - he wasn't there, of course, in the nature of this stuff, it almost always happens behind people's backs - who seems to have been targeted because of the way he dresses, and the fact that he's flat sharing with a couple of young women, who 'obviously' wouldn't feel 'safe' if he was a 'red-blooded male'. At one point in the conversation, one of my colleagues, with obvious (and almost certainly deliberate) irony said 'I'd never judge anyone by their orientation', and it was all I could do to avoid calling him a liar to his face. Because I know, from things he's said numerous times before, that he would, without a shadow of a doubt, judge me for my sexuality, as would virtually everyone else who works in the building. Judge me simply because of the existence of my attractions, rather than any consideration of how those attractions are expressed - which is, of course, not at all in any practical sense. It's not just the prejudice that irritates me, it's the hypocrisy, too.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B

2 comments:

  1. This construction of male sexuality which depicts "real" masculinity as so unconstrained that no woman should feel safe just shows what a long, long way we have to go.
    Hi Sammy, I'm still reading! Good to see you are still getting by.

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    Replies
    1. Hello Billy
      Good to hear from you! I hope all is well with you. You're right, the idea of a man having to 'prove' his masculinity by acting (or pretending to act) as a leering, slavering borderline rapist is, at the very least, depressing, and thoroughly demeaning to the man himself, as well as the supposed objects of his lust.
      Turning to my other problem, incurable masochism, I'm back to being a Saints member for the first time in four years, and the proud owner of an 'international digital subscription', so I'll be able to watch our defence of the wooden spoon in glorious real-time streaming on my laptop! I remember you saying a while ago that the Saints have the cutest fans on average, but, in Daniel Markworth, it seems that we also have the cutest player I can remember seeing in my time as a footy fan! Not that I'm shallow, or anything!!

      Love & best wishes
      Sammy B

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