For my first blog post, I focused on the poem titled \u201cBoy in a Whalebone corset.\u201d The poem details a scene in which the boy\u2019s father is burning the boy\u2019s \u201cfeminine\u201d belongings as the boy watches from the window, recovering from the physically and mentally violent attack. One aspect of the poem that especially stood out to me was the repetition of the phrase \u201cCorset still on\u201d (12). Despite the devasting and frankly disturbing scene that is being described, I try to find a more hopeful meaning within this line. I interpret this line as even in the aftermath of this horrific and traumatic event in the name of \u201cOld Testament God\u201d (12) as said by Jones, the corset remains on as a symbol representing the boy\u2019s unchanged feelings and truth. The father\u2019s actions have not made the boy \u201cless queer\u201d or \u201cless feminine\u201d, as the boy\u2019s queerness and sense of identity remains.<\/p>\n
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I think of the poem as a memory or reflection of the boy\u2019s past trauma of this event that took place at the hands of his own father and in the name of religion. He is reflecting on this event in order to accept who he is. By using insults likely said by his father such as \u201cw****\u201d and using descriptive words for the \u201csissy clothes\u201d (\u201cSomething pink in his fist, negligee, lace, fishnet, w****\u201d), and of course the phrase \u201ccorset still on\u201d, the boy is reclaiming his power of words and actions used to demean him and accepting himself as who he is. This is why I like to think of the line \u201ccorset still on\u201d and the poem overall as hopeful, as it means that the boy is reflecting on this event because he has survived. His queerness, or in this case his corset, remains on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For my first blog post, I focused on the poem titled \u201cBoy in a Whalebone corset.\u201d The poem details a scene in which the boy\u2019s father is burning the boy\u2019s \u201cfeminine\u201d belongings as the boy watches from the window, recovering from the physically and mentally violent attack. One aspect of the poem that especially stood … Continue reading Queer acceptance in “Boy in a Whalebone Corset”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5723,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[344663],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5723"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1328"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1371,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1328\/revisions\/1371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}