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 Post subject: Curious symbols
PostPosted: Sun Jun 27, 2004 2:33 pm 
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Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2004 12:01 am
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Location: Nutmeg State
BERLIN (AP) -- Hundreds of thousands of revelers wearing everything from full Victorian garb and designer gowns to skimpy leather and construction hats celebrated gay pride in cities around the world Saturday. <p>***How do skimpy leather and construction hats symbolize gay pride?***


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 Post subject: Re: Curious symbols
PostPosted: Sun Jun 27, 2004 3:35 pm 
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Location: New Jersey
It's mimesis. The comical embrace of a stereotype is an old way of nullifying the stereotype's negative qualities.<p>I'm actually watching New York's parade from the lobby of my law school as I write this, and I have to say it's pretty entertaining, and I'm neither gay nor a parade fan.


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 Post subject: Re: Curious symbols
PostPosted: Sun Jun 27, 2004 4:01 pm 
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Matthew Grieco:
[QB]It's mimesis. The comical embrace of a stereotype is an old way of nullifying the stereotype's negative qualities.<p>True, but it seems like that tactic carries the risk of offending people who just don't get it. Not to say that every reader is stupid, but for many, photos and sentences like this one from the AP's NY story only serve to reinforce their belief that gays are immoral and deviant:<p>"There were marching bands, politicians including Mayor Michael Bloomberg and, as always, plenty of men wearing G-strings and towering heels."<p>I'm looking at photos right now for our state page, and while there are plenty of thong-wearing-men pics to choose from, I'm leaning toward one of two women accompanied by their children and obviously emotional while exchanging wedding vows before the parade.<p>I'm not trying to shoot down your explanation, which I agree with, but I think the original poster may have another point.


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 Post subject: Re: Curious symbols
PostPosted: Sun Jun 27, 2004 4:10 pm 
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Location: New Jersey
I get the point. I just think people need to get over it.


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 Post subject: Re: Curious symbols
PostPosted: Sun Jun 27, 2004 8:39 pm 
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Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2004 1:01 am
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Location: The Lexington Avenue Spaceship
The construction hats are probably a nod to the Village People, one of whom dressed as a construction worker. One of them also dressed in leather gear, which is popular in a certain subset of the gay community.<p>The coverage of gay-pride parades is a perennial source of contention within the gay community. The more outrageous elements -- drag queens, leather guys, the thong brigade -- always seem to get the attention in the mainstream media, presumably because they're looking for the most attention-grabbing art. Some gay people feel that's a bad thing, because it gives a distorted picture of the community that only reinforces a lot of antigay bigotry. Others feel it's fine because those elements are part of the community and the bigots be damned. As a gay man myself, I'm not bothered by coverage of the outrageous elements; if they're out there, they're fair game for coverage. Ideally, though, those photos would be balanced with something tamer -- the local PFLAG delegation or gay softball league, maybe.<p>However, people who believe gays are "immoral and deviant" don't need photos of thong-clad men to reinforce those beliefs. They'd be incensed if every marcher in the parade were wearing business suits.<p>I'm glad to see, moab, that you're considering using the photo of the women with their children, though I'd be interested to hear weather you get complaints from the people who think gay people shouldn't be parents.


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 Post subject: Re: Curious symbols
PostPosted: Sun Jun 27, 2004 9:39 pm 
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Location: The Herald in Everett, WA
I love the big gay pride parades. Guaranteed good art.<p>(I live in a gay-friendly area. Well, relatively so to other places I've lived. I don't think anyone's complained from either side of the "issue" about the photos.)<p>[ June 27, 2004: Message edited by: Jackie ]</p>


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 Post subject: Re: Curious symbols
PostPosted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 12:16 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by EMorse:
I'm glad to see, moab, that you're considering using the photo of the women with their children, though I'd be interested to hear weather you get complaints from the people who think gay people shouldn't be parents.<hr></blockquote>You'll get complaints no matter what you do. I'd wager that as many as half of readers (depending on location) think the news media shouldn't cover gay events at all.<p>Funny how you never hear cries of "conservative media" after a story on a Veterans Day celebration.


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 Post subject: Re: Curious symbols
PostPosted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 12:33 pm 
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Location: New Jersey
<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Oeditpus Rex:
Funny how you never hear cries of "conservative media" after a story on a Veterans Day celebration.<hr></blockquote><p>Maybe that's because veterans are not so uniformly conservative as their most vocal representatives would suggest.


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 Post subject: Re: Curious symbols
PostPosted: Tue Jun 29, 2004 12:38 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jun 21, 2002 12:01 am
Posts: 145
Location: Toronto
Running an ordinary family photo instead of a vibrant, colourful action photo from a Pride parade is like running a photo of a plane landing safely or an American not being kidnapped in Saudi Arabia.


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 Post subject: Re: Curious symbols
PostPosted: Tue Jun 29, 2004 2:30 pm 
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Posts: 458
Location: Heart of Global Warming
<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by canuck:
Running an ordinary family photo instead of a vibrant, colourful action photo from a Pride parade is like running a photo of a plane landing safely or an American not being kidnapped in Saudi Arabia.<hr></blockquote>Ah, the "fair and balanced" approach.<p>D.


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