COLUMN: "On Shock Tactics and Theatrics"

From Tim Farrell's "Speaking Strictly For Myself," Spring '92 I do agree with one point of criticism put forth in the responses, which is that a photograph of a crowd of people supporting homosexuality would have been a more effective demonstration of awareness than a picture of two men kissing. One thing this particular case reflects is a difference of opinion about how to get a gay political message across. Some gays, such as those in groups like ACT-UP, Queer Nation, as well as the two guys smooching on the front page, choose to employ shock tactics to communicate their political messages. They reason: "We're different, we've been shut out of the majority culture, we've been made to feel worthless and wicked. We'll show America that we don't need their heterosexist culture at all -- we can do just fine without it: we've got our own culture. We'll celebrate our difference. If we do it openly, loudly and proudly, straight America will eventually get used to it." The argument against this sort of reasoning is that if you present an extreme instance of a stereotype, you will arouse correspondingly extreme anxiety and hostility. That is exactly what happened: some of the students who wrote to the DP were so freaked out they could barely contain themselves. I've been at large ACT-UP demonstrations in which the demonstrators used shock tactics and political theater to provoke anxiety among the people watching the demonstration. The intent was to stir them up and rouse them to action. In such instances, the strategy proved very effective. But since the purpose of the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian Awareness Days gathering was simply to raise awareness and support, I think a photograph of the crowd would have been more appropriate. In my experience, I have found that when you're very different, and people hate you for it, the best thing to do is start by being as similar as possible, and then as you gradually gain acceptance for your seemingly minor differences, you bring in your heavier, more extreme differences one by one. Some people call this technique "hammering in the wedge narrow end first." Members of Penn's gay intelligensia may disagree with this more subtle tactic because they read Larry Kramer or Andrea Dworkin, radical theorists whose realities are totally different from the reality we encounter here at Penn. We have a fraternity and sorority culture here -- one which not only accepts gender stereotypes but which promotes and exaggerates them. Genderbending and shock tactics are useless when the people you're aiming your message at have no idea what you're doing or what you mean by it. Critics of the BGLAD day photograph have suggested that the kiss represents an intent to gain people's attention by arousing their digust, which may not be the case. In any event, it is clear that some people had no idea what to make of what they saw on the front page -- they just looked at it and thought, "Yuck." I don't think that's the reaction the LGBA was hoping to elicit. I suppose my criticism obliges me to submit an alternative strategy, though unfortunately I am not in a position to suggest one. After nearly four years here, I have an acute case of senioritis, and I've become seriously jaded about the gay situation at this school. We've got 30,000 students -- which means somewhere around 3,000 gays -- yet only 50 show up for a lousy rally that takes place once a year. (With that pathetic a turnout I guess you use whatever tactic requires the fewest people.) The administration has made a joke of the non-discrimination policy by allowing ROTC to remain. Year after year, after each and every episode of homophobia that takes place in or around fraternities, the IFC president responds like a broken record player: "That was an isolated incident and not representative of the fraternity system as a whole." Three years ago I gave a lecture to a group of incoming freshmen on being gay, as part of a "diversity awareness" seminar. Most of them are now juniors. I was at the gym last week when one of them, whom I recognized from the lecture, referred to me behind my back as "the faggot who writes that column." Earlier in my Penn career -- when I was more optimistic and enthusiastic -- I would have tried to enlighten him, but instead I just turned around and told him to fuck off. (He got all upset, which is typical -- they can dish it but they can't take it.) "Diversity awareness" may have made him aware but it certainly hadn't done a thing to make him any less of a bigot. One false assumption people seem to make around here is that education is going to fix everything -- that if you teach people all about racism and sexism and homophobia it's somehow going to make them less racist, less sexist and less homophobic. I disagree. The only thing "diversity awareness" really teaches them is what to say and what not to say; I don't think it changes their beliefs one bit. People's beliefs change when they find out that their brother is gay or that their sister is a lesbian -- when they're forced to deal with these kinds of differences on a more personal level. That, I suppose, is what the whole political correctness controversy is about. People get irritated with the P.C. ideology because it actually prevents them from stating their true feelings, which may not mirror the "acceptable" agenda. I rather appreciated the harshness in some of the letters the DP has printed so far, and I encourage the DP to print all of them verbatim. Why not? People at Penn sometimes ask me, "You don't really get shit for being gay here, do you?" At least these letters provide a clear demonstration of the way people really talk and really feel, instead of a lot of gushy P.C. babble. I'd rather hear the honest truth. So they hate gays. Big deal. I don't give a shit about them, either. They can drop dead for all I care. Over time, I've completely abandoned my delusion that most people here are tolerant of homosexuality. And I've stopped caring about what anyone thinks. You like gays? Terrific. You don't think about gays? No problem. You hate gays? Fine. Just stay out of my way. Tim Farrell is a senior American Civilization and Religious Studies major from Boston, Massachusetts. "Speaking Strictly For Myself" appears alternate Thursdays.

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