Hey Everyone.

recently I've been having a debate with myself about the idea behind same sex attraction and chauvanism. The idea being that as gay males we have attractions towards what's traditionally considered to be male archetypes. Our attention towards these characteristics whether positive (i.e. that guy has a nice body/ is very masculine) or deprecating (i.e. physical non-attraction to non masculine archetypes) necessarily bolsters and promotes those masculine traits. my issue is this. as a gay male it makes sense to be attracted to what is traditionally male. and thus to be a gay male is to be a chauvanist!  :afr:

The thing is ofcourse there is an element of self acceptance. To accept one self as a gay male is to accept oneself as both gay and a male. one cannot help but excude those qualities associated with maleness, even if you are a drag queen, gym queen, size queen or just a queen. and acceptance of others begins with acceptance of self. so to accept oneself as implicitly chauvanistic is to take steps to promote equality, harmony and acceptance in society.

as gay men I think we do this kind of self reflection a lot. and I think it's important to create a divide between an appreciation of male qualities and philosophical/political/societal chauvanism. (Yes, I like sex with men. no I don't think that makes men better than other people)

Thoughts/Discussion?

recently I have been struggling with this a lot as I consider myself to be a feminist but find it difficult to integrate the idea that we live in a society where a woman needs a man to thrive and yet promoting the idea that a woman doesn't need a man. do I operate under the assumption that women don't need a man (even though we may not really be there yet). it's kind of like the post racial, I'm color blind arguements. should we stop discussing race because I believe I am immune to racism? :blink:

Cheers