Author: LoverOfAllThings

“One of Your Girls” by Troye Sivan is a song about how a gay man (Troye Sivan) makes himself likeable to men who he’s attracted to. The line “Give me a call if you ever get lonely, I’ll be like one of your girls or your homies” enforces heterosexism and highlights the expectation of men (especially gay men) to fit a particular mold of either hyper feminine or hypermasculine. In the case of this song, Troye Sivan has chosen to feminize himself in order to gain favor of his suitor. These limitations, however, serve as an excuse for society to behave aggressively and controllingly towards marginalized people. This theme of society not accepting gay men for their sexual identity and/or how they present themselves (as well as anyone who deviates from the determined “normal”) is common in the literature analyzed in this class such as “Boy in a Whalebone Corset” by Saeed Jones in his collection Prelude to Bruise. In this selection, the speaker’s father beats him and burns the clothes which he deems “sissy clothes.” The speaker’s method of self-expression in this poem is his feminine clothing, and his father shows his disapproval for his son’s representation of himself by destroying them as soon as he finds them. This passage reflects society’s desire to control individuals who are different and not accept queer people for who they are and how they chose to present themselves. 

In the music video for this song, Troye Sivan is seen in drag dancing on a vision of masculinity (Ross Lynch) who is muscular, blonde, dressed in a wife-beater tank top, and sat manspreading in a chair in an empty, white room. This connects to the story in “Growing Up Gay, Growing Up Lesbian” wherein gay men in Little Havana, Florida felt more comfortable transitioning or presenting more feminine regardless of their authentic feelings surrounding their own gender. Because of the pressure from a heterosexist American society, people would prefer to have an inauthentic lifestyle if that meant feeling relatively safe or comfortable to love who they love. In the music video, Troye Sivan is just in drag, but it reminded me of the men who Jesse G. Monteagudo described as “unhappy and confused” who felt forced to live inauthentically in order to survive at all. 

Scene one of act two highlights the differences between Prior and Louis in the traumatic context of the worsening of Prior’s condition. Their reactions to an episode of poor health are indicative of their personalities and perspectives on Prior’s condition. Prior is clearly desperate and pleading with Louis for help and support when he’s in his moment of need on page 49 and 50. Louis responds to this by immediately leaving the room and announcing that he’s going to call someone else to deal with it. This dichotomy is clearly drawn and illustrates the incompatibility of Prior and Louis in their current states. Louis’s aversion to any sort of trouble or challenge or hardship is incredibly hard on Prior as he grows increasingly conscious of the possibility of Louis leaving him at the hospital as he explicitly stated on page 50. The scene ends with Prior unconscious and Louis quietly saying, “…I can’t I can’t I can’t,” (50). As if to verbalize what the readers knew from their prior conversations about Louis “walking out” on their relationship: his inability to cope with the impending death of his partner (40).

Within the differences highlighted in this scene, there are a few similarities. Both Louis’s and Prior’s reactions to this apparent manifestation of Prior’s condition are rooted in fear. Louis fears the death of his partner. He experiences denial earlier in the play on page 39, but when faced with symptoms correlating with worsening condition, Louis can no longer ignore the fact that his partner is dying. This causes him to be hysterical and likely feel incapable of taking care of him, thus calling the ambulance to take Prior somewhere where he can be better taken care of. Prior’s fear is very complex. He is afraid of dying, of course, but he is also afraid of being abandoned by the person that he loves. If he was dying beside an unquestionably supportive partner who took care of him and didn’t break down and “get too upset” at the mention of a development in Prior’s condition, Prior would potentially be less averse to being hospitalized (39). The knowledge that Louis could leave Prior at the hospital brings that fear of abandonment together with any minute apprehension surrounding the hospital, resulting in Prior’s desire to stay in their home with Louis for as long as possible.

In Cherríe Moraga’s poem, “Loving on the Run,” I was drawn to the speaker’s “improper” grammar and use of syntax to build an identity for herself. The speaker ends every “-ing” word with “-in,” like “talkin” instead of “talking” (19). This colloquial way of speaking highlights the speaker’s refusal to conform to oppressive societal expectations. This dedication to her identity, illustrated by her dialect, is a token of her authenticity and proves to her audience that she doesn’t owe anyone assimilation. Exploring and embracing authenticity is a motif that appears consistently in the readings for this class. Moraga’s linguistic authenticity connects with that of Gloria Anzaldúa’s in “Speaking in Toungues: A Letter To 3rd World Women Writers” as they both implement Spanish words and phrases throughout their writing to highlight their heritage and identity. This changes the scope of the audience for both works. Anzaldúa achieves this by addressing her audience directly as the receptors of a letter to “mujeres de color,” (165). 

Cherríe Moraga also emphasizes the danger of comparing or “ranking” oppressions when discussing the treatment of minority groups (44). She compared herself—a white-passing lesbian—and her sister—who’s black—getting a beating on the street for their respective abnormalities in the eyes of “the Man.” Moraga declares, “We’re both getting beaten any way you look at it,” (44). This connection among marginalized communities rings true throughout our readings and I connected with it specifically in Susan Stryker’s novel, Transgender History where she discusses the connection between prejudice against transgender people and disabled people. Society governs people’s bodies and if the powers that be decide you are “enfreaked,” then you are subject to scrutiny regardless of whatever marginalized group you are a part of (xii). I found this very interesting because both physical disabilities and transness are often outwardly apparent to society, while Moraga’s lesbianism may not be immediately recognizable. This highlights the varying effects of different people living their most authentic lives. I think this idea of the connection between minority groups is incredibly important for activists to remember when speaking out for any cause and it can unite several causes for a more impactful result. 

In “Boy at Threshold” there is a continuation of the motif of freedom in the symbolism of both the open door as well as the wings. These wings are shown to be bent back by some “dark gust” which could represent fear. The body language of bent back wings parallels that of an animal with ears drawn backward to signify distress or uncertainty. In this context, I believe that the speaker is fearful or distressed by this idea of freedom as, with that, comes a lack of familiarity. This fear is why many people stay in abusive situations, or those who have been abused continue that cycle; because it’s predictable and familiar. The speaker also illuminates a clear contrast between being “your blood” and being “dangerous” in the second stanza. This furthers the concept that, to the speaker, remaining a part of this (potentially unaccepting) family is considered safer than spreading his wings and exploring that concept of freedom. Later in the poem, the speaker describes himself being “drag[ged]” out of his doorframe and pulled to freedom by the air (14). The wind is a very common symbol of freedom and this use of it reinforces that idea.

The motifs of freedom and the symbol of wings are also employed earlier in Saeed Jones’s collection in the poem “Daedalus, After Icarus” wherein one man (Daedalus) walks along the beach with a pair of wings strapped to his arms. In this poem wings are very clearly correlated with freedom as a woman calls down to her son to ask the man if she can have a pair of wings so she can “finally leave [his] father,”(11). These lines in the poem further solidify the symbolism that connects wings and freedom. Throughout this poem, there are a “flock” of boys surrounding the man as he walks the shoreline imitating him, pretending to have wings. Daedalus, as Icarus’s father, knows freedom can come at a cost but that is a lesson the boys must learn for themselves. For this reason, he does not acknowledge the boys as they have fun mimicking him, rather he very suddenly jumps into the ocean. This only prompts the boys to follow him, leading them to shift their desires to be fish now instead of birds. These are two animals commonly associated with freedom, so the relation between freedom and these boys still stands. This also serves to deepen the motif of freedom throughout this collection and highlight the danger of freedom as the waves crash over their thrashing bodies.