Saturday, October 12, 2013
Links - 12th October 2013
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." - Richard Feynman
***
TRAVAIL – Le klingon plus utile professionnellement que l’espéranto | Le Gorafi.fr Gorafi News Network - "« Il y a de plus en plus de métiers où parler le klingon devient quasi indispensable. Les postes de traducteur à la NASA bien sûr, développeur de jeux vidéo ou encore animateur du Comic-Con en sont quelques exemples. » L’expert en recrutement souligne aussi les possibilités qu’offre la maîtrise du klingon pour ceux qui souhaitent entamer une carrière de scénariste sur Star Trek, même si le nombre de postes reste assez restreint dans ce secteur précis... « Nous souhaitions offrir à nos élèves les meilleurs armes possibles pour affronter le monde du travail avec efficacité. Et dans ce cadre là, le klingon se révèle bien plus judicieux que l’espéranto. C’est pourquoi nous avons remplacé tous nos cours de latin, de grec ancien ou d’espéranto par des modules de klingon »... président de l’association Entreprise-Espéranto... M. Clanchin insiste également sur l’aspect pratique bien réel du langage qu’il défend : « L’esperanto est une langue parlée dans plein d’endroits comme par exemple l’académie d’espéranto, le cercle des amis de l’espéranto ou encore les jeunesses espérantistes »... de plus en plus de traducteurs klingon-elfique sont recherchés par les entreprises qui souhaitent développer leur activité à l’international. A l’heure actuelle, cela ne concerne qu’une poignée de postes mais sur le long terme, ce sont des milliers d’emplois qui risquent bien d’être créés"
Is lesbian sex real sex? - "The sisterly ties imagined by Rich frayed very quickly. Disagreements among feminists over the politics of sexuality came to a head during the so-called feminist “sex wars” of the 1980s. Over the course of this decade, feminists—lesbian, bisexual, and straight— disagreed vehemently over sexual issues such as pornography, heterosexuality, butch/femme gender roles, and sadomasochism. After a decade of avoiding difficult sexual discussions, feminists found themselves embroiled in bitter debates over the borders between pleasure and danger and between politically correct and politically incorrect sex. Sex had become the defining issue for feminist politics. During the sex wars, some aspects of lesbian sexual culture—mainly butch/femme gender roles and sadomasochism—were criticized for allegedly imitating heterosexuality... In 1978, Gayle Rubin and Pat (now Patrick) Califia even founded the first lesbian-feminist organization dedicated to sadomasochism, Samois, which became instantly controversial, its members accused of eroticizing violence against women. At the end of the 1980s, another battle in the lesbian sex wars erupted, this time over dildo use. The arguments took a by-now familiar form. Some lesbians claimed that dildos and strap-ons were authentically lesbian; others decried their use as male-identified... lesbians still remain caught between two opposing mainstream stereotypes: the hypersexual (and hyperfeminine) lesbians of heterosexual entertainments and the asexual lesbians who bring a U-Haul to their second date"
Gillard's attack on men's ties didn't come out of the blue - "Long before the unbridled emotion of the misogyny speech and a full year ahead of the obvious overreach of the blue tie speech, Gillard was involved in a deliberate political and media strategy "focusing on women's issues", building a "narrative around the first female prime minister" and increasing her "profile in media consumed by women". The four-page document is a "Women's media strategy" compiled as a media unit brief by adviser Sally Tindall and dated May 22, 2012. Gillard initialled and dated it less than a fortnight later, on June 4, with handwritten notes including "please integrate into forward media plan". The plan goes into some detail about policy initiatives, media appearances and publicity stunts that could advance the women's strategy and objectives... most interesting is the way this document identifies the media tactics Gillard used to push her women's agenda - something that later morphed into the so-called gender wars. The briefing suggests: "Mamma Mia interview with Mia Freedman, followed by blog or Q&A on the website. This would include some social media in the lead up by key ministers and prominent women, encouraging people to ask questions." This idea was circled and marked "OK" and then taken up within days. Significantly, as we look back on the Gillard years in an historical context, this document demonstrates beyond doubt that Australia's first female prime minister deliberately and strategically sought to elevate and capitalise on "women's issues" for publicity and political gain. This was obvious to many observers at the time but denied by Gillard and Labor in government."
The Feminist Agenda! (and cynical political manipulation)
Women attack PM on gender | The Australian - "She also expressed disappointment at the implications of the Prime Minister's revival of gender politics in her speech at the launch of the Women for Gillard fundraising initiative last week. "I was disappointed because mixing up gender with policy is a bad idea," Senator Milne told Sky News's Australian Agenda. "When you try to roll these things together, as in that speech earlier this week, what you get is the notional view that you can't criticise a policy of a female leader without that being some sort of criticism of gender, and that's not the case." Ms Bishop accused Ms Gillard of using gender as a "shield and a sword" to silence criticism of her government, and argued women in Australia were not disadvantaged by their gender. "She is using this kind of claim and sexism generally as a defence against legitimate criticisms of her performance," Ms Bishop told the Ten Network's Meet the Press program. "Her own party are being bluffed into keeping her as their leader because if they seek to remove her on the grounds that she's lost respect or she's incompetent, then they'll be labelled as misogynists for removing Australia's first female prime minister"... "Julia Gillard will ultimately be judged not as a woman prime minister but as a prime minister, and whether or not she was a good prime minister and whether or not she ran a good government," he said."
Why the Danish mermaid is happier than the Singapore Merlion - "Danes believe that everyone deserves equal rights and opportunities. The term Janteloven means “you are not better than me”. From the bus driver to the corporate CEO, everyone takes pride in their work and does not feel inferior. Practising Janteloven relieves the pressure to acquire more materialistic symbols of success. Danes do not have “Tiger moms” who push their kids to choose professions that seem more respectable or well-paying. This allows many people to make a career out of their passion."
Comments: "What a slap in the face. Work life balance? Someone will take your lunch away, you know!"
"One of the rare occasions where "Janteloven" is referred to as a positive trait - we Danes mainly consider it prohibitory to initiative and entrepreneurship, as it rather goes "don't think you're better than me" and promotes collectivism over individualism to a degree that is by many considered unhealthy for society."
A Nightly Dinner Out That’s Like Therapy - NYTimes.com - "Mr. Rosen is 103 but he doesn’t look a day over 90. His mother died at 53 and his father at 70, but he says he feels fine and has had no major operations or health problems... “I haven’t eaten dinner home in many years,” said Mr. Rosen, who tried singles groups and other activities after his wife of 70 years, Lillian, died five years ago, when she was 95. But nothing brought him the comfort of a fine restaurant... Mr. Rosen said he would like to find a regular dining companion. A recent six-month fling with a 90-year-old woman he met at synagogue did not work out. “I’m still open to meeting someone,” he said, his eyes twinkling as he prepared to order coffee and dessert. “I still have the desire. That’s what counts.”"
Hey ‘Starry Night,’ Say ‘Cheese!’ - NYTimes.com - "These days, many museum visitors arrive with smartphones and the assumption that they have an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of good photographs. Museum bans on picture-taking are practically unenforceable and are also obsolete. Art museums in America typically permit visitors to take (nonflash) photographs of works in a museum’s permanent collection but forbid pictures at temporary exhibitions. This prohibition is currently under review at many institutions, some of which have already dropped it. You don’t have to be a cultural alarmist to feel unsettled by the ubiquity of digital cameras in museums. As early as 1936, the German critic Walter Benjamin warned that cameras were instruments of distraction that impeded concentration and robbed art of its “aura”... the vogue for digital photography is a constructive development that, for the most part, enhances our experience of art... “We now routinely attempt to negotiate with all of our lenders to allow photography of their works while on display in the galleries. We have included that express permission in our own loan letters and contracts.” The change, he notes, should put an end to confrontations between guards and visitors. “It is far more important for our gallery attendants to focus on the safety of the works of art and our visitors than to have to constantly admonish our visitors, ‘No photographs!’”... When we photograph, e-mail, tweet and Instagram paintings, we capitalize on technological innovation to expand familiarity with an ancient form. So, too, we increase the visual literacy of this country. Much can be gained. Nothing can be lost. A photograph of a painting can no more destroy a masterpiece than it can create one"
Timothy Porter: Perverted hypnotist who tried to turn patient into sex slave is jailed - "War hero and self-taught therapist Timothy Porter made his patient fondle her breasts as he performed a sex act on himself while her three children slept upstairs. Jonathan Walker, prosecuting, told the court: “The defendant stated he was her master, she was his sexual slave.” When his victim was roused from hypnosis, she found him with his trousers down telling her to touch herself"
This shit works???
The Kenyan Daily Express: PHOTO of the Lady with the Longest Pubic Hair..ONLY 18-yr-olds and Above..
iPhone homeless scheme leads to chaos in Calif. - "Things turned sour outside an Apple Store in Southern California when a man's plan to hire the homeless to wait in line for anxiously awaited new iPhones resulted in an angry and mostly unpaid mob"
Pimp who forced teen to have sex with 100 customers convicted
Despite claims of patriarchy and rape culture, all the comments are from men calling for a harsher sentence (many of them prescribing castration)
Leopard print clothing banned at zoo as it 'confuses animals' - "Zookeepers noticed the trend for animal print clothing had caused animals to try to communicate with those wearing it or to run away in fear... Banned prints at Chessington World of Adventures Resort include:
– Zebra – Giraffe – Leopard – Cheetah – Tiger – Spotted Hyena – Striped Hyena – African Wild Dog...
'it's no wonder animals are getting confused when they see what looks like zebras and giraffes driving across the terrain in a 7.5 tonne truck'"
1 in 3 Japanese women want to be housewives: poll - "One in three young Japanese women wants to get married and be a full-time housewife, a government survey has showed, despite growing calls for increased female participation in the workforce. The poll, which quizzed more than 3,000 people aged 15-39, found 34% of unmarried women did not want to work when they settled down... potential husbands were on the whole less keen on the idea, with only one in five saying they wanted a future wife to stay at home all day."
Comment: "This poll shows how much smarter women really are. They've seen their worn-out (:() father coming home late every night from work (or " a meeting") and their worn-out (:)) mother coming home from aerobics or lunch with her "friend". The young girls know who has a happier life. I'd love to be a housewife. If I only had a uterus."
A lot of the commenters have wishful thinking and/or didn't read the article and claim 2/3 of Japanese women don't want to be housewives
***
TRAVAIL – Le klingon plus utile professionnellement que l’espéranto | Le Gorafi.fr Gorafi News Network - "« Il y a de plus en plus de métiers où parler le klingon devient quasi indispensable. Les postes de traducteur à la NASA bien sûr, développeur de jeux vidéo ou encore animateur du Comic-Con en sont quelques exemples. » L’expert en recrutement souligne aussi les possibilités qu’offre la maîtrise du klingon pour ceux qui souhaitent entamer une carrière de scénariste sur Star Trek, même si le nombre de postes reste assez restreint dans ce secteur précis... « Nous souhaitions offrir à nos élèves les meilleurs armes possibles pour affronter le monde du travail avec efficacité. Et dans ce cadre là, le klingon se révèle bien plus judicieux que l’espéranto. C’est pourquoi nous avons remplacé tous nos cours de latin, de grec ancien ou d’espéranto par des modules de klingon »... président de l’association Entreprise-Espéranto... M. Clanchin insiste également sur l’aspect pratique bien réel du langage qu’il défend : « L’esperanto est une langue parlée dans plein d’endroits comme par exemple l’académie d’espéranto, le cercle des amis de l’espéranto ou encore les jeunesses espérantistes »... de plus en plus de traducteurs klingon-elfique sont recherchés par les entreprises qui souhaitent développer leur activité à l’international. A l’heure actuelle, cela ne concerne qu’une poignée de postes mais sur le long terme, ce sont des milliers d’emplois qui risquent bien d’être créés"
Is lesbian sex real sex? - "The sisterly ties imagined by Rich frayed very quickly. Disagreements among feminists over the politics of sexuality came to a head during the so-called feminist “sex wars” of the 1980s. Over the course of this decade, feminists—lesbian, bisexual, and straight— disagreed vehemently over sexual issues such as pornography, heterosexuality, butch/femme gender roles, and sadomasochism. After a decade of avoiding difficult sexual discussions, feminists found themselves embroiled in bitter debates over the borders between pleasure and danger and between politically correct and politically incorrect sex. Sex had become the defining issue for feminist politics. During the sex wars, some aspects of lesbian sexual culture—mainly butch/femme gender roles and sadomasochism—were criticized for allegedly imitating heterosexuality... In 1978, Gayle Rubin and Pat (now Patrick) Califia even founded the first lesbian-feminist organization dedicated to sadomasochism, Samois, which became instantly controversial, its members accused of eroticizing violence against women. At the end of the 1980s, another battle in the lesbian sex wars erupted, this time over dildo use. The arguments took a by-now familiar form. Some lesbians claimed that dildos and strap-ons were authentically lesbian; others decried their use as male-identified... lesbians still remain caught between two opposing mainstream stereotypes: the hypersexual (and hyperfeminine) lesbians of heterosexual entertainments and the asexual lesbians who bring a U-Haul to their second date"
Gillard's attack on men's ties didn't come out of the blue - "Long before the unbridled emotion of the misogyny speech and a full year ahead of the obvious overreach of the blue tie speech, Gillard was involved in a deliberate political and media strategy "focusing on women's issues", building a "narrative around the first female prime minister" and increasing her "profile in media consumed by women". The four-page document is a "Women's media strategy" compiled as a media unit brief by adviser Sally Tindall and dated May 22, 2012. Gillard initialled and dated it less than a fortnight later, on June 4, with handwritten notes including "please integrate into forward media plan". The plan goes into some detail about policy initiatives, media appearances and publicity stunts that could advance the women's strategy and objectives... most interesting is the way this document identifies the media tactics Gillard used to push her women's agenda - something that later morphed into the so-called gender wars. The briefing suggests: "Mamma Mia interview with Mia Freedman, followed by blog or Q&A on the website. This would include some social media in the lead up by key ministers and prominent women, encouraging people to ask questions." This idea was circled and marked "OK" and then taken up within days. Significantly, as we look back on the Gillard years in an historical context, this document demonstrates beyond doubt that Australia's first female prime minister deliberately and strategically sought to elevate and capitalise on "women's issues" for publicity and political gain. This was obvious to many observers at the time but denied by Gillard and Labor in government."
The Feminist Agenda! (and cynical political manipulation)
Women attack PM on gender | The Australian - "She also expressed disappointment at the implications of the Prime Minister's revival of gender politics in her speech at the launch of the Women for Gillard fundraising initiative last week. "I was disappointed because mixing up gender with policy is a bad idea," Senator Milne told Sky News's Australian Agenda. "When you try to roll these things together, as in that speech earlier this week, what you get is the notional view that you can't criticise a policy of a female leader without that being some sort of criticism of gender, and that's not the case." Ms Bishop accused Ms Gillard of using gender as a "shield and a sword" to silence criticism of her government, and argued women in Australia were not disadvantaged by their gender. "She is using this kind of claim and sexism generally as a defence against legitimate criticisms of her performance," Ms Bishop told the Ten Network's Meet the Press program. "Her own party are being bluffed into keeping her as their leader because if they seek to remove her on the grounds that she's lost respect or she's incompetent, then they'll be labelled as misogynists for removing Australia's first female prime minister"... "Julia Gillard will ultimately be judged not as a woman prime minister but as a prime minister, and whether or not she was a good prime minister and whether or not she ran a good government," he said."
Why the Danish mermaid is happier than the Singapore Merlion - "Danes believe that everyone deserves equal rights and opportunities. The term Janteloven means “you are not better than me”. From the bus driver to the corporate CEO, everyone takes pride in their work and does not feel inferior. Practising Janteloven relieves the pressure to acquire more materialistic symbols of success. Danes do not have “Tiger moms” who push their kids to choose professions that seem more respectable or well-paying. This allows many people to make a career out of their passion."
Comments: "What a slap in the face. Work life balance? Someone will take your lunch away, you know!"
"One of the rare occasions where "Janteloven" is referred to as a positive trait - we Danes mainly consider it prohibitory to initiative and entrepreneurship, as it rather goes "don't think you're better than me" and promotes collectivism over individualism to a degree that is by many considered unhealthy for society."
A Nightly Dinner Out That’s Like Therapy - NYTimes.com - "Mr. Rosen is 103 but he doesn’t look a day over 90. His mother died at 53 and his father at 70, but he says he feels fine and has had no major operations or health problems... “I haven’t eaten dinner home in many years,” said Mr. Rosen, who tried singles groups and other activities after his wife of 70 years, Lillian, died five years ago, when she was 95. But nothing brought him the comfort of a fine restaurant... Mr. Rosen said he would like to find a regular dining companion. A recent six-month fling with a 90-year-old woman he met at synagogue did not work out. “I’m still open to meeting someone,” he said, his eyes twinkling as he prepared to order coffee and dessert. “I still have the desire. That’s what counts.”"
Hey ‘Starry Night,’ Say ‘Cheese!’ - NYTimes.com - "These days, many museum visitors arrive with smartphones and the assumption that they have an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of good photographs. Museum bans on picture-taking are practically unenforceable and are also obsolete. Art museums in America typically permit visitors to take (nonflash) photographs of works in a museum’s permanent collection but forbid pictures at temporary exhibitions. This prohibition is currently under review at many institutions, some of which have already dropped it. You don’t have to be a cultural alarmist to feel unsettled by the ubiquity of digital cameras in museums. As early as 1936, the German critic Walter Benjamin warned that cameras were instruments of distraction that impeded concentration and robbed art of its “aura”... the vogue for digital photography is a constructive development that, for the most part, enhances our experience of art... “We now routinely attempt to negotiate with all of our lenders to allow photography of their works while on display in the galleries. We have included that express permission in our own loan letters and contracts.” The change, he notes, should put an end to confrontations between guards and visitors. “It is far more important for our gallery attendants to focus on the safety of the works of art and our visitors than to have to constantly admonish our visitors, ‘No photographs!’”... When we photograph, e-mail, tweet and Instagram paintings, we capitalize on technological innovation to expand familiarity with an ancient form. So, too, we increase the visual literacy of this country. Much can be gained. Nothing can be lost. A photograph of a painting can no more destroy a masterpiece than it can create one"
Timothy Porter: Perverted hypnotist who tried to turn patient into sex slave is jailed - "War hero and self-taught therapist Timothy Porter made his patient fondle her breasts as he performed a sex act on himself while her three children slept upstairs. Jonathan Walker, prosecuting, told the court: “The defendant stated he was her master, she was his sexual slave.” When his victim was roused from hypnosis, she found him with his trousers down telling her to touch herself"
This shit works???
The Kenyan Daily Express: PHOTO of the Lady with the Longest Pubic Hair..ONLY 18-yr-olds and Above..
iPhone homeless scheme leads to chaos in Calif. - "Things turned sour outside an Apple Store in Southern California when a man's plan to hire the homeless to wait in line for anxiously awaited new iPhones resulted in an angry and mostly unpaid mob"
Pimp who forced teen to have sex with 100 customers convicted
Despite claims of patriarchy and rape culture, all the comments are from men calling for a harsher sentence (many of them prescribing castration)
Leopard print clothing banned at zoo as it 'confuses animals' - "Zookeepers noticed the trend for animal print clothing had caused animals to try to communicate with those wearing it or to run away in fear... Banned prints at Chessington World of Adventures Resort include:
– Zebra – Giraffe – Leopard – Cheetah – Tiger – Spotted Hyena – Striped Hyena – African Wild Dog...
'it's no wonder animals are getting confused when they see what looks like zebras and giraffes driving across the terrain in a 7.5 tonne truck'"
1 in 3 Japanese women want to be housewives: poll - "One in three young Japanese women wants to get married and be a full-time housewife, a government survey has showed, despite growing calls for increased female participation in the workforce. The poll, which quizzed more than 3,000 people aged 15-39, found 34% of unmarried women did not want to work when they settled down... potential husbands were on the whole less keen on the idea, with only one in five saying they wanted a future wife to stay at home all day."
Comment: "This poll shows how much smarter women really are. They've seen their worn-out (:() father coming home late every night from work (or " a meeting") and their worn-out (:)) mother coming home from aerobics or lunch with her "friend". The young girls know who has a happier life. I'd love to be a housewife. If I only had a uterus."
A lot of the commenters have wishful thinking and/or didn't read the article and claim 2/3 of Japanese women don't want to be housewives
It makes a better story
(Charles, a white man, has been charged with raping a black woman)
HENRY. Sit down.
(CHARLES sits.)
You want to tell me about Black folks? I’ll help you: O.J. Was guilty. Rodney King was in the wrong place, but the police have the right to use force. Malcolm X. was noble when he renounced violence. Prior to that he was misguided. Dr. King was, of course, a saint. He was killed by a jealous husband, and you had a maid when you were young who was better to you than your mother. She raised you. You’ve never fucked a black girl, but one sat near you in science class, and she was actually rather shy.
(pause)
CHARLES. …I would never say any of…
HENRY. You’re fucking A right you wouldn’t. Which is the purpose of the lesson. Do you know what you can say? To a black man. On the subject of race?
CHARLES. “Nothing.”
HENRY. That is correct.
(pause)
CHARLES. Black people can talk about Race.
HENRY. How about that.
CHARLES. (pause) I will do anything I can. To wipe the slate clean.
JACK. You cannot wipe the slate clean...
JACK. I would assume that you are guilty.
CHARLES. Why?
JACK. Because it makes a better story.
HENRY. World goes to sleep at night, Mr. Srickland. Wakes up and it needs two things. A cup of coffee and some vicious gossip.
CHARLES. And you can change the world.
HENRY. No one can change the world.
--- Race / David Mamet
HENRY. Sit down.
(CHARLES sits.)
You want to tell me about Black folks? I’ll help you: O.J. Was guilty. Rodney King was in the wrong place, but the police have the right to use force. Malcolm X. was noble when he renounced violence. Prior to that he was misguided. Dr. King was, of course, a saint. He was killed by a jealous husband, and you had a maid when you were young who was better to you than your mother. She raised you. You’ve never fucked a black girl, but one sat near you in science class, and she was actually rather shy.
(pause)
CHARLES. …I would never say any of…
HENRY. You’re fucking A right you wouldn’t. Which is the purpose of the lesson. Do you know what you can say? To a black man. On the subject of race?
CHARLES. “Nothing.”
HENRY. That is correct.
(pause)
CHARLES. Black people can talk about Race.
HENRY. How about that.
CHARLES. (pause) I will do anything I can. To wipe the slate clean.
JACK. You cannot wipe the slate clean...
JACK. I would assume that you are guilty.
CHARLES. Why?
JACK. Because it makes a better story.
HENRY. World goes to sleep at night, Mr. Srickland. Wakes up and it needs two things. A cup of coffee and some vicious gossip.
CHARLES. And you can change the world.
HENRY. No one can change the world.
--- Race / David Mamet
Wednesday, October 09, 2013
Homosexuality in Saudi Arabia: De facto tolerance
"I will not wear high heels. Because heels are a male invention designed to make women's butt look smaller... and to make it harder for them to run away." - Amanda Bynes (as Viola Hastings, She's the Man)
***
The Kingdom in the Closet - Nadya Labi - The Atlantic
"“It’s a lot easier to be gay than straight here,” he had said. “If you go out with a girl, people will start to ask her questions. But if I have a date upstairs and my family is downstairs, they won’t even come up.”
Notorious for its adherence to Wahhabism, a puritanical strain of Islam, and as the birthplace of most of the 9/11 hijackers, Saudi Arabia is the only Arab country that claims sharia, or Islamic law, as its sole legal code...
The kingdom leaves considerable space for homosexual behavior. As long as gays and lesbians maintain a public front of obeisance to Wahhabist norms, they are left to do what they want in private. Vibrant communities of men who enjoy sex with other men can be found in cosmopolitan cities like Jeddah and Riyadh. They meet in schools, in cafés, in the streets, and on the Internet. “You can be cruised anywhere in Saudi Arabia, any time of the day,” said Radwan, a 42-year-old gay Saudi American who grew up in various Western cities and now lives in Jeddah. “They’re quite shameless about it.” Talal, a Syrian who moved to Riyadh in 2000, calls the Saudi capital a “gay heaven.”
This is surprising enough. But what seems more startling, at least from a Western perspective, is that some of the men having sex with other men don’t consider themselves gay...
In Saudi Arabia, “It’s easier to be a lesbian [than a heterosexual]. There’s an overwhelming number of people who turn to lesbianism,” Yasmin said, adding that the number of men in the kingdom who turn to gay sex is even greater. “They’re not really homosexual,” she said. “They’re like cell mates in prison”...
Many “tops” are simply hard up for sex, looking to break their abstinence in whatever way they can...
Many gay expatriates say they feel more at home in the kingdom than in their native lands...
In The History of Sexuality, a multivolume work published in the 1970s and ’80s, Michel Foucault proposed his famous thesis that Western academic, medical, and political discourse of the 18th and 19th centuries had produced the idea of the homosexual as a deviant type: In Western society, homosexuality changed from being a behavior (what you do) to an identity (who you are). In the Middle East, however, homosexual behavior remained just that—an act, not an orientation...
Yet a paradox exists at the heart of Saudi conceptions of gay sex and sexual identity: Despite their seemingly flexible view of sexuality, most of the Saudis I interviewed, including those men who identify themselves as gay, consider sodomy a grave sin...
Indeed, the Koran does not contain rules about homosexuality, says Everett K. Rowson, a professor at New York University who is working on a book about homosexuality in medieval Islamic society... "200 years ago, highly respected religious scholars in the Middle East were writing poems about beautiful boys”...
The gay men I interviewed in Jeddah and Riyadh laughed when I asked them if they worried about being executed. Although they do fear the mutawwa'in to some degree, they believe the House of Saud isn’t interested in a widespread hunt of homosexuals. For one thing, such an effort might expose members of the royal family to awkward scrutiny...
The power of the mutawwa'in is limited by the Koran, which frowns upon those who intrude on the privacy of others in order to catch them in sinful acts. The mandate of the Committee on the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is specifically to regulate behavior in the public realm. What occurs behind closed doors is between a believer and God. This seems to be the way of the kingdom: essentially, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Private misbehavior is fine, as long as public decorum is observed... Few people in the kingdom, other than the mutawwa'in, seem to take the process seriously...
To be gay in Saudi Arabia is to live a contradiction—to have license without rights, and to enjoy broad tolerance without the most minimal acceptance...
A policy of official denial but tacit acceptance leaves space for change, the possibility that gay men will abandon their sinful ways... But as the Western conception of sexual identity has filtered into the kingdom via television and the Internet, it has begun to blur the Saudi view of sexual behavior as distinct from sexual identity... “They know if your favorite artist is Madonna and you listen to a lot of music, that means you are gay”... His father, a Saudi, threatened to kill himself, then decided that he couldn’t (because suicide is haram), then contemplated killing Radwan instead...
The expectation that Zahar would maintain a public front at odds with his private self is no greater than the expectations facing his straight peers... Most of the gay men I interviewed said that gay rights are beside the point. They view the downsides of life in Saudi Arabia—having to cut your hair, or hide your jewelry, or even spend time in prison for going to a party—as minor aggravations. “When I see a gay parade [in trips to the West], it’s too much of a masquerade for attention,” Zahar said. “You don’t need that. Women’s rights, gay rights—why? Get your rights without being too loud.”
Embracing gay identity, generally viewed in the West as the path to fuller rights, could backfire in Saudi Arabia. The idea of being gay, as opposed to simply acting on sexual urges, may bring with it a deeper sense of shame...
He tried to rally the community and encourage basic rights—like the right not to be imprisoned. But the locals took him aside and warned him to keep his mouth shut. They told him, “You’ve got everything a gay person could ever want.”"
Meanwhile in Singapore, activists are still hung up over 377A.
***
Saudi gays flaunt new freedoms: 'Straights can't kiss in public or hold hands like us'
"The paradox of Saudi Arabia is that while the executioner's sword awaits anyone convicted of the crime of sodomy, in practice homosexuality is tolerated.
"I don't feel oppressed at all," said one, a 23-year-old who was meeting in one of the coffee shops with a group of self-identified "gay" Saudi friends dressed in Western clothes and speaking fluent English. "I heard that after 11 September, a Saudi student who was going to be deported on a visa technicality applied for political asylum because he was gay," he added, provoking laughter from the others. "What was he thinking of? We have more freedom here than straight couples. After all, they can't kiss in public like we can, or stroll down the street holding one another's hand."
Saudi Arabia's domestic reform initiative, combined with the kingdom's eagerness to shed an international reputation for fostering extremism and intolerance, may even have some benefits for this strict Islamic society's gay community. Shortly after the attacks on America - most of the suicide-hijackers were Saudi nationals - a Saudi diplomat in Washington denied that the kingdom beheads homosexuals, while openly admitting that "sodomy" is practised by consenting males in Saudi Arabia "on a daily basis". Even the head of the notorious religious police has since acknowledged the existence of a local gay population.
The treatment of gay men here received international attention when an Interior Ministry statement reported in January 2002 that three men in the southern city of Abha had been "beheaded for homosexuality". The report provoked widespread condemnation from gay and human-rights groups in the West - and a swift denial from an official at the Saudi embassy in Washington, DC. Tariq Allegany, an embassy spokesman, said the three were beheaded for the sexual abuse of boys. He said: "I would guess there's sodomy going on daily in Saudi Arabia, but we don't have executions for it all the time."
A Riyadh-based Western diplomat, aware of the details of the case, confirmed the men were beheaded for "rape". "The three men seduced a number of very young boys and videoed themselves raping them. Then they used the recordings, and the fear the boys had of being exposed, to get the youngsters to recruit their friends," he said.
While homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia, doubt surrounds specific punishment for it. Some gay foreigners were deported in the 1990s, "but no Saudi has ever been prosecuted for 'being a homosexual'...
In an unprecedented two-page special investigation, the daily newspaper Okaz said lesbianism was "endemic" among schoolgirls. It justified the article with a saying of the Prophet's wife Ayeshathat "there should be no shyness in religion". The article told of lesbian sex in school lavatories, girls stigmatised after refusing the advances of their fellow students, and teachers complaining that none of the girls were willing to change their behaviour.
Mr Ghaith dismissed a suggestion that he should send his "enforcers" to investigate"
***
The Kingdom in the Closet - Nadya Labi - The Atlantic
"“It’s a lot easier to be gay than straight here,” he had said. “If you go out with a girl, people will start to ask her questions. But if I have a date upstairs and my family is downstairs, they won’t even come up.”
Notorious for its adherence to Wahhabism, a puritanical strain of Islam, and as the birthplace of most of the 9/11 hijackers, Saudi Arabia is the only Arab country that claims sharia, or Islamic law, as its sole legal code...
The kingdom leaves considerable space for homosexual behavior. As long as gays and lesbians maintain a public front of obeisance to Wahhabist norms, they are left to do what they want in private. Vibrant communities of men who enjoy sex with other men can be found in cosmopolitan cities like Jeddah and Riyadh. They meet in schools, in cafés, in the streets, and on the Internet. “You can be cruised anywhere in Saudi Arabia, any time of the day,” said Radwan, a 42-year-old gay Saudi American who grew up in various Western cities and now lives in Jeddah. “They’re quite shameless about it.” Talal, a Syrian who moved to Riyadh in 2000, calls the Saudi capital a “gay heaven.”
This is surprising enough. But what seems more startling, at least from a Western perspective, is that some of the men having sex with other men don’t consider themselves gay...
In Saudi Arabia, “It’s easier to be a lesbian [than a heterosexual]. There’s an overwhelming number of people who turn to lesbianism,” Yasmin said, adding that the number of men in the kingdom who turn to gay sex is even greater. “They’re not really homosexual,” she said. “They’re like cell mates in prison”...
Many “tops” are simply hard up for sex, looking to break their abstinence in whatever way they can...
Many gay expatriates say they feel more at home in the kingdom than in their native lands...
In The History of Sexuality, a multivolume work published in the 1970s and ’80s, Michel Foucault proposed his famous thesis that Western academic, medical, and political discourse of the 18th and 19th centuries had produced the idea of the homosexual as a deviant type: In Western society, homosexuality changed from being a behavior (what you do) to an identity (who you are). In the Middle East, however, homosexual behavior remained just that—an act, not an orientation...
Yet a paradox exists at the heart of Saudi conceptions of gay sex and sexual identity: Despite their seemingly flexible view of sexuality, most of the Saudis I interviewed, including those men who identify themselves as gay, consider sodomy a grave sin...
Indeed, the Koran does not contain rules about homosexuality, says Everett K. Rowson, a professor at New York University who is working on a book about homosexuality in medieval Islamic society... "200 years ago, highly respected religious scholars in the Middle East were writing poems about beautiful boys”...
The gay men I interviewed in Jeddah and Riyadh laughed when I asked them if they worried about being executed. Although they do fear the mutawwa'in to some degree, they believe the House of Saud isn’t interested in a widespread hunt of homosexuals. For one thing, such an effort might expose members of the royal family to awkward scrutiny...
The power of the mutawwa'in is limited by the Koran, which frowns upon those who intrude on the privacy of others in order to catch them in sinful acts. The mandate of the Committee on the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is specifically to regulate behavior in the public realm. What occurs behind closed doors is between a believer and God. This seems to be the way of the kingdom: essentially, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Private misbehavior is fine, as long as public decorum is observed... Few people in the kingdom, other than the mutawwa'in, seem to take the process seriously...
To be gay in Saudi Arabia is to live a contradiction—to have license without rights, and to enjoy broad tolerance without the most minimal acceptance...
A policy of official denial but tacit acceptance leaves space for change, the possibility that gay men will abandon their sinful ways... But as the Western conception of sexual identity has filtered into the kingdom via television and the Internet, it has begun to blur the Saudi view of sexual behavior as distinct from sexual identity... “They know if your favorite artist is Madonna and you listen to a lot of music, that means you are gay”... His father, a Saudi, threatened to kill himself, then decided that he couldn’t (because suicide is haram), then contemplated killing Radwan instead...
The expectation that Zahar would maintain a public front at odds with his private self is no greater than the expectations facing his straight peers... Most of the gay men I interviewed said that gay rights are beside the point. They view the downsides of life in Saudi Arabia—having to cut your hair, or hide your jewelry, or even spend time in prison for going to a party—as minor aggravations. “When I see a gay parade [in trips to the West], it’s too much of a masquerade for attention,” Zahar said. “You don’t need that. Women’s rights, gay rights—why? Get your rights without being too loud.”
Embracing gay identity, generally viewed in the West as the path to fuller rights, could backfire in Saudi Arabia. The idea of being gay, as opposed to simply acting on sexual urges, may bring with it a deeper sense of shame...
He tried to rally the community and encourage basic rights—like the right not to be imprisoned. But the locals took him aside and warned him to keep his mouth shut. They told him, “You’ve got everything a gay person could ever want.”"
Meanwhile in Singapore, activists are still hung up over 377A.
***
Saudi gays flaunt new freedoms: 'Straights can't kiss in public or hold hands like us'
"The paradox of Saudi Arabia is that while the executioner's sword awaits anyone convicted of the crime of sodomy, in practice homosexuality is tolerated.
"I don't feel oppressed at all," said one, a 23-year-old who was meeting in one of the coffee shops with a group of self-identified "gay" Saudi friends dressed in Western clothes and speaking fluent English. "I heard that after 11 September, a Saudi student who was going to be deported on a visa technicality applied for political asylum because he was gay," he added, provoking laughter from the others. "What was he thinking of? We have more freedom here than straight couples. After all, they can't kiss in public like we can, or stroll down the street holding one another's hand."
Saudi Arabia's domestic reform initiative, combined with the kingdom's eagerness to shed an international reputation for fostering extremism and intolerance, may even have some benefits for this strict Islamic society's gay community. Shortly after the attacks on America - most of the suicide-hijackers were Saudi nationals - a Saudi diplomat in Washington denied that the kingdom beheads homosexuals, while openly admitting that "sodomy" is practised by consenting males in Saudi Arabia "on a daily basis". Even the head of the notorious religious police has since acknowledged the existence of a local gay population.
The treatment of gay men here received international attention when an Interior Ministry statement reported in January 2002 that three men in the southern city of Abha had been "beheaded for homosexuality". The report provoked widespread condemnation from gay and human-rights groups in the West - and a swift denial from an official at the Saudi embassy in Washington, DC. Tariq Allegany, an embassy spokesman, said the three were beheaded for the sexual abuse of boys. He said: "I would guess there's sodomy going on daily in Saudi Arabia, but we don't have executions for it all the time."
A Riyadh-based Western diplomat, aware of the details of the case, confirmed the men were beheaded for "rape". "The three men seduced a number of very young boys and videoed themselves raping them. Then they used the recordings, and the fear the boys had of being exposed, to get the youngsters to recruit their friends," he said.
While homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia, doubt surrounds specific punishment for it. Some gay foreigners were deported in the 1990s, "but no Saudi has ever been prosecuted for 'being a homosexual'...
In an unprecedented two-page special investigation, the daily newspaper Okaz said lesbianism was "endemic" among schoolgirls. It justified the article with a saying of the Prophet's wife Ayeshathat "there should be no shyness in religion". The article told of lesbian sex in school lavatories, girls stigmatised after refusing the advances of their fellow students, and teachers complaining that none of the girls were willing to change their behaviour.
Mr Ghaith dismissed a suggestion that he should send his "enforcers" to investigate"
Monday, October 07, 2013
Ayn Rand vs Lord of the Rings
"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."
- Kung Fu Monkey: Ephemera 2009 (7) / John Rogers
- Kung Fu Monkey: Ephemera 2009 (7) / John Rogers
Sunday, October 06, 2013
Links - 6th October 2013
“No one who has something original or important to say will willingly run the risk of being misunderstood; people who write obscurely are either unskilled in writing or up to mischief.” - Peter Medawar
Down with Hegel!
***
In Socrates' Wake: More advice to students: How to write a #$%* essay - "Always begin your essay along these lines: “Since the very dawn of time the problem of free will has been considered by many of the greatest and deepest thinkers in history.”"
Rise of male student support groups sparks row at British universities - "Male students are "manning-up", setting up men's groups to celebrate and explore the concept of masculinity amid accusations of sexism and gender stereotyping. Manchester University has created the first official MENS Society – Masculinity Exploring Networking and Support – despite outrage from critics who claim the existence of such a group undermines women's ability to speak out for equality... Men, who could feel pressured to "man-up" in a mixed gender environment, might feel less vulnerable discussing such issues in a male-only setting."
It's telling that feminists are such noisy critics of these
Twitter Bios and What They Really Say - NYTimes.com - "The Twitter bio is a postmodern art form, an opportunity in 160 characters or fewer to cleverly synopsize one’s professional and personal accomplishments, along with a carefully edited non sequitur or two. It lets the famous and the anonymous, athletes and accountants, surreal Dadaists and suburban dads alike demonstrate that they are special snowflakes with Wes Anderson-worthy quirks."
20 of the world's most clever Twitter bios - "As I scoured the Twitterverse for the most clever bios, I also found some pretty bad ones, too! But they are also funny in their own strange way. I don’t want to embarass anyone so I’ve removed the handles, but I couldn’t resist some of these clunkers:
- Fascinated by transactional nature of counterknowledge & public discourse in socially mediated spaces which simulate (but don’t engender) counter-public spheres"
Chinese give teachers most respect: survey - "Chinese respect teachers the most, while Singapore gives them the best salary, according to a latest survey... China is the only country where the majority rank teachers as holding the same social status as doctors. Over 70 percent of Chinese respondents believe students respect their teachers... About 50 percent of the respondents in China said they would encourage their child to become a teacher."
Scheduling Sex: The Secret to a Passionate Marriage? - "To practice Personal Integrity in your relationship, you are probably going to have to schedule sex, or at least commit to it X times per week. My husband and I have two young children and we both work more than full time, and yet we still promise each other that we will have sex twice per week. Sex is after all what distinguishes our relationship from a really good friendship. We honor that commitment, to differentiate our relationship, no matter what. Just to make sure we do, we have designed a "consequence" that we pay if we break our commitment: the next time we have sex, we have to have it outside of our warm, comfy bed. For some of you, this may be exciting, but I happen to love my cozy bed. What consequence would work well for you?"
Alleged pimp forced 15-year-old to have sex with 10 men a day in ‘high-end’ Richmond, B.C., apartment, court hears - "Mr. Moazami, now 29, would also bring around to various apartments a long-haired Chihuahua named Gucci. The dog was meant for the girls’ enjoyment, and as a manipulative device, according to witness testimonies. When the girls didn’t fall into line, he would hit the dog, step on its neck, threaten to kill it, court has heard."
22 Words | How to make people think you have a girlfriend with your right hand and Instagram [10 pics]
Read Sinead O'Connor's searing open letter to Miley Cyrus - "
You also said in Rolling Stone that your look is based on mine. The look I chose, I chose on purpose at a time when my record company were encouraging me to do what you have done. I felt I would rather be judged on my talent and not my looks. I am happy that I made that choice, not least because I do not find myself on the proverbial rag heap now that I am almost 47 yrs of age.. which unfortunately many female artists who have based their image around their sexuality, end up on when they reach middle age. Real empowerment of yourself as a woman would be to in future refuse to exploit your body or your sexuality in order for men to make money from you... it’s sending dangerous signals to other young women. Please in future say no when you are asked to prostitute yourself. Your body is for you and your boyfriend. It isn’t for every spunk-spewing dirtbag on the net, or every greedy record company executive to buy his mistresses diamonds with."
Comment: "Slut shaming, really? Do you even understand that term? Why don't you read some feminist literature besides Jezebel before you "pretend" to be PC and know what your talking about."
Who Takes the Lead Hand? Correlates of Handholding Position in Lesbian Couples - Journal of Homosexuality - "When couples hold hands, one partner must take the lead hand and the other the following hand position. As potential correlates or predictors of handholding positions within lesbian couples, we explored differences in height, age, income, who initiated the relationship, who usually initiates sexual intimacy, previous history of partnership with a male, and who has the most “say” in decision-making. Our data revealed only two significant variables: the taller partner was more likely to have the lead hand, and a woman who had previously been partnered with a male was more likely to take the trailing hand position."
There's a journal of homosexuality?
Real vampire website: Get turned into a vampire - "To get turned into a vampire you need to do a simple exchange of blood with a vampire. Even just a 1/4 teaspoon of blood is more than enough blood to turn you into a vampire... being a vampire, and the ability for you to get turned into a vampire is caused by an endogenous retrovirus... Vampires are everywhere. You don't have to go to any specific place to find a vampire, even a grocery store can be used to find a vampire. If you know how to recognize a vampire when you see one, then it will be almost as easy as finding a girlfriend or a boyfriend... Most people that claim to be a vampire, are not actually vampires. We refer to these people as posers, avoid these people if you want to get turned into a vampire. It is usually pretty easy to tell that they are fakes, common traits among posers are one or more of the following traits: 1. use white makeup to pretend to look pale, 2. fake fangs, 3. dress like hollywood vampires, 4. claim they don't need blood just energy, 5. claim to be over 100 years old. There is a group that calls itself the vampire community that is estimated to be 98% posers and the very few real vampires in that group aren't the ones that are running it."
Potential government shutdown: How would the U.S. media report on it if it were happening to another country? - "The typical signs of state failure aren’t evident on the streets of this sleepy capital city. Beret-wearing colonels have not yet taken to the airwaves to declare martial law. Money-changers are not yet buying stacks of useless greenbacks on the street."
Down with Hegel!
***
In Socrates' Wake: More advice to students: How to write a #$%* essay - "Always begin your essay along these lines: “Since the very dawn of time the problem of free will has been considered by many of the greatest and deepest thinkers in history.”"
Rise of male student support groups sparks row at British universities - "Male students are "manning-up", setting up men's groups to celebrate and explore the concept of masculinity amid accusations of sexism and gender stereotyping. Manchester University has created the first official MENS Society – Masculinity Exploring Networking and Support – despite outrage from critics who claim the existence of such a group undermines women's ability to speak out for equality... Men, who could feel pressured to "man-up" in a mixed gender environment, might feel less vulnerable discussing such issues in a male-only setting."
It's telling that feminists are such noisy critics of these
Twitter Bios and What They Really Say - NYTimes.com - "The Twitter bio is a postmodern art form, an opportunity in 160 characters or fewer to cleverly synopsize one’s professional and personal accomplishments, along with a carefully edited non sequitur or two. It lets the famous and the anonymous, athletes and accountants, surreal Dadaists and suburban dads alike demonstrate that they are special snowflakes with Wes Anderson-worthy quirks."
20 of the world's most clever Twitter bios - "As I scoured the Twitterverse for the most clever bios, I also found some pretty bad ones, too! But they are also funny in their own strange way. I don’t want to embarass anyone so I’ve removed the handles, but I couldn’t resist some of these clunkers:
- Fascinated by transactional nature of counterknowledge & public discourse in socially mediated spaces which simulate (but don’t engender) counter-public spheres"
Chinese give teachers most respect: survey - "Chinese respect teachers the most, while Singapore gives them the best salary, according to a latest survey... China is the only country where the majority rank teachers as holding the same social status as doctors. Over 70 percent of Chinese respondents believe students respect their teachers... About 50 percent of the respondents in China said they would encourage their child to become a teacher."
Scheduling Sex: The Secret to a Passionate Marriage? - "To practice Personal Integrity in your relationship, you are probably going to have to schedule sex, or at least commit to it X times per week. My husband and I have two young children and we both work more than full time, and yet we still promise each other that we will have sex twice per week. Sex is after all what distinguishes our relationship from a really good friendship. We honor that commitment, to differentiate our relationship, no matter what. Just to make sure we do, we have designed a "consequence" that we pay if we break our commitment: the next time we have sex, we have to have it outside of our warm, comfy bed. For some of you, this may be exciting, but I happen to love my cozy bed. What consequence would work well for you?"
Alleged pimp forced 15-year-old to have sex with 10 men a day in ‘high-end’ Richmond, B.C., apartment, court hears - "Mr. Moazami, now 29, would also bring around to various apartments a long-haired Chihuahua named Gucci. The dog was meant for the girls’ enjoyment, and as a manipulative device, according to witness testimonies. When the girls didn’t fall into line, he would hit the dog, step on its neck, threaten to kill it, court has heard."
22 Words | How to make people think you have a girlfriend with your right hand and Instagram [10 pics]
Read Sinead O'Connor's searing open letter to Miley Cyrus - "
You also said in Rolling Stone that your look is based on mine. The look I chose, I chose on purpose at a time when my record company were encouraging me to do what you have done. I felt I would rather be judged on my talent and not my looks. I am happy that I made that choice, not least because I do not find myself on the proverbial rag heap now that I am almost 47 yrs of age.. which unfortunately many female artists who have based their image around their sexuality, end up on when they reach middle age. Real empowerment of yourself as a woman would be to in future refuse to exploit your body or your sexuality in order for men to make money from you... it’s sending dangerous signals to other young women. Please in future say no when you are asked to prostitute yourself. Your body is for you and your boyfriend. It isn’t for every spunk-spewing dirtbag on the net, or every greedy record company executive to buy his mistresses diamonds with."
Comment: "Slut shaming, really? Do you even understand that term? Why don't you read some feminist literature besides Jezebel before you "pretend" to be PC and know what your talking about."
Who Takes the Lead Hand? Correlates of Handholding Position in Lesbian Couples - Journal of Homosexuality - "When couples hold hands, one partner must take the lead hand and the other the following hand position. As potential correlates or predictors of handholding positions within lesbian couples, we explored differences in height, age, income, who initiated the relationship, who usually initiates sexual intimacy, previous history of partnership with a male, and who has the most “say” in decision-making. Our data revealed only two significant variables: the taller partner was more likely to have the lead hand, and a woman who had previously been partnered with a male was more likely to take the trailing hand position."
There's a journal of homosexuality?
Real vampire website: Get turned into a vampire - "To get turned into a vampire you need to do a simple exchange of blood with a vampire. Even just a 1/4 teaspoon of blood is more than enough blood to turn you into a vampire... being a vampire, and the ability for you to get turned into a vampire is caused by an endogenous retrovirus... Vampires are everywhere. You don't have to go to any specific place to find a vampire, even a grocery store can be used to find a vampire. If you know how to recognize a vampire when you see one, then it will be almost as easy as finding a girlfriend or a boyfriend... Most people that claim to be a vampire, are not actually vampires. We refer to these people as posers, avoid these people if you want to get turned into a vampire. It is usually pretty easy to tell that they are fakes, common traits among posers are one or more of the following traits: 1. use white makeup to pretend to look pale, 2. fake fangs, 3. dress like hollywood vampires, 4. claim they don't need blood just energy, 5. claim to be over 100 years old. There is a group that calls itself the vampire community that is estimated to be 98% posers and the very few real vampires in that group aren't the ones that are running it."
Potential government shutdown: How would the U.S. media report on it if it were happening to another country? - "The typical signs of state failure aren’t evident on the streets of this sleepy capital city. Beret-wearing colonels have not yet taken to the airwaves to declare martial law. Money-changers are not yet buying stacks of useless greenbacks on the street."
Multiple Identities and Tolerance
"All generalizations are dangerous, even this one." - Alexandre Dumas
***
Social Identity Complexity and Outgroup Tolerance
"As one step toward understanding the structure of multiple social identities, Roccas and Brewer (2002) introduced the concept of social identity complexity. The idea behind the complexity construct is that it is not only how many social groups an individual identifies with that matters but, more important, how those different identities are subjectively combined to determine the overall inclusiveness of the individual’s ingroup memberships. More specifically, Roccas and Brewer proposed that multiple social identities can be represented along a continuum of complexity and inclusiveness, reflecting the degree to which different identities are both differentiated and integrated in the individual’s cognitive representation of his or her group memberships. At the low end of the complexity dimension, the individual defines the ingroup as the intersection of all of his or her group identities, creating a single, highly exclusive identity category (e.g., female Republican college professors) whereby others who do not share all of the same memberships are effectively outgroup members. At the high end of the social identity complexity dimension, the individual recognizes that each of his or her group memberships incorporates a different set of people as ingroup members and the combined representation is the sum of all of these group identities—more inclusive than any one ingroup identity considered alone...
Roccas and Brewer (2002) also speculated that social identity complexity (as represented by perceived overlap among ingroup memberships) would be associated with tolerance for outgroups in general. Social identity complexity is based on chronic awareness of crosscategorization in one’s own social group memberships and those of others. A simple social identity is likely to be accompanied by the perception that any individual who is an outgroup member on one dimension is also an outgroup member on all others. In contrast, if an individual is aware that one of his ingroups only partly overlaps with any other of his ingroups, then we assume that he is also aware that some of his ingroup members have crossed group memberships: They are ingroup members on one dimension but are simultaneously outgroup members on others. Making salient that an outgroup member on one category dimension is an ingroup member on another decreases bias by comparison with instances where the latter information is not available (Gaertner, Dovidio, Anastasio, Bachman,&Rust, 1993).
There are a number of theoretical reasons why a complex representation of ingroup categorization should influence intergroup attitudes and behavior in ways that reduce bias and discrimination. First, cross-cutting distinctions make social categorization more complex and reduce the magnitude of ingroup-outgroup distinctions. According to social categorization theory (Deschamps& Doise, 1978; Vanbeselaere, 1991), processes of intracategory assimilation and intercategory contrast counteract each other when categories are cross-cutting. Thus, the effects of intercategory accentuation are reduced or eliminated and differences between groups are minimized (or no greater than perceived differences within groups). This undermines the cognitive basis of ingroup bias. Second, partially overlapping group memberships reduce the evaluative significance for the self of intergroup comparisons, thereby undermining the motivational base for intergroup discrimination (Vanbeselaere, 1991). Third, multiple group memberships reduce the importance of any one social identity for satisfying an individual’s need for belonging and selfdefinition (Brewer, 1991), again reducing the motivational base for ingroup bias.
Finally, principles of cognitive balance (Heider, 1958; Newcomb, 1963) are also brought into play when ingroups and outgroups have overlapping membership. When another person is an ingroup member on one category dimension but belongs to an outgroup in another categorization, cognitive inconsistency is introduced if that individual is evaluated positively as an ingroup member but is also associated with others who are evaluated negatively as outgroup members...
Overall, the findings from the present study provide considerable support for our thesis that a cross-cutting category structure and multiple social identities with awareness of ingroup diversity provide an effective formula for reducing intergroup prejudice...
Exclusive definitions of the ingroup would be promoted when individuals have a high need for certainty or cognitive simplification. If multiple, overlapping ingroupoutgroup distinctions increase uncertainty about whether to classify others as ingroup members, a simplifying strategy that limits ingroup membership to those who clearly meet all criteria for shared identity reduces that uncertainty... when individuals, or social systems, are threatened by psychological, economic, or political loss, social identities will be defined more exclusively (less complexly) than under low threat conditions"
In other words, identity politics and the obsession of third-wave feminism with segmenting people into ever-smaller (and mutually exclusive) interest groups (under the guise of "kyriarchy") leads to intolerance.
Strong (and exclusive) identities also lead to intolerance.
***
Social Identity Complexity and Outgroup Tolerance
"As one step toward understanding the structure of multiple social identities, Roccas and Brewer (2002) introduced the concept of social identity complexity. The idea behind the complexity construct is that it is not only how many social groups an individual identifies with that matters but, more important, how those different identities are subjectively combined to determine the overall inclusiveness of the individual’s ingroup memberships. More specifically, Roccas and Brewer proposed that multiple social identities can be represented along a continuum of complexity and inclusiveness, reflecting the degree to which different identities are both differentiated and integrated in the individual’s cognitive representation of his or her group memberships. At the low end of the complexity dimension, the individual defines the ingroup as the intersection of all of his or her group identities, creating a single, highly exclusive identity category (e.g., female Republican college professors) whereby others who do not share all of the same memberships are effectively outgroup members. At the high end of the social identity complexity dimension, the individual recognizes that each of his or her group memberships incorporates a different set of people as ingroup members and the combined representation is the sum of all of these group identities—more inclusive than any one ingroup identity considered alone...
Roccas and Brewer (2002) also speculated that social identity complexity (as represented by perceived overlap among ingroup memberships) would be associated with tolerance for outgroups in general. Social identity complexity is based on chronic awareness of crosscategorization in one’s own social group memberships and those of others. A simple social identity is likely to be accompanied by the perception that any individual who is an outgroup member on one dimension is also an outgroup member on all others. In contrast, if an individual is aware that one of his ingroups only partly overlaps with any other of his ingroups, then we assume that he is also aware that some of his ingroup members have crossed group memberships: They are ingroup members on one dimension but are simultaneously outgroup members on others. Making salient that an outgroup member on one category dimension is an ingroup member on another decreases bias by comparison with instances where the latter information is not available (Gaertner, Dovidio, Anastasio, Bachman,&Rust, 1993).
There are a number of theoretical reasons why a complex representation of ingroup categorization should influence intergroup attitudes and behavior in ways that reduce bias and discrimination. First, cross-cutting distinctions make social categorization more complex and reduce the magnitude of ingroup-outgroup distinctions. According to social categorization theory (Deschamps& Doise, 1978; Vanbeselaere, 1991), processes of intracategory assimilation and intercategory contrast counteract each other when categories are cross-cutting. Thus, the effects of intercategory accentuation are reduced or eliminated and differences between groups are minimized (or no greater than perceived differences within groups). This undermines the cognitive basis of ingroup bias. Second, partially overlapping group memberships reduce the evaluative significance for the self of intergroup comparisons, thereby undermining the motivational base for intergroup discrimination (Vanbeselaere, 1991). Third, multiple group memberships reduce the importance of any one social identity for satisfying an individual’s need for belonging and selfdefinition (Brewer, 1991), again reducing the motivational base for ingroup bias.
Finally, principles of cognitive balance (Heider, 1958; Newcomb, 1963) are also brought into play when ingroups and outgroups have overlapping membership. When another person is an ingroup member on one category dimension but belongs to an outgroup in another categorization, cognitive inconsistency is introduced if that individual is evaluated positively as an ingroup member but is also associated with others who are evaluated negatively as outgroup members...
Overall, the findings from the present study provide considerable support for our thesis that a cross-cutting category structure and multiple social identities with awareness of ingroup diversity provide an effective formula for reducing intergroup prejudice...
Exclusive definitions of the ingroup would be promoted when individuals have a high need for certainty or cognitive simplification. If multiple, overlapping ingroupoutgroup distinctions increase uncertainty about whether to classify others as ingroup members, a simplifying strategy that limits ingroup membership to those who clearly meet all criteria for shared identity reduces that uncertainty... when individuals, or social systems, are threatened by psychological, economic, or political loss, social identities will be defined more exclusively (less complexly) than under low threat conditions"
In other words, identity politics and the obsession of third-wave feminism with segmenting people into ever-smaller (and mutually exclusive) interest groups (under the guise of "kyriarchy") leads to intolerance.
Strong (and exclusive) identities also lead to intolerance.