#Historical Queer moment

[achillean-archives]

*Note: This post isn't about if this Ken in the Barbie movie is going to be queer but that he is inspired by a Ken doll that "accidently" became a queer icon. Ryan Gosling's Ken in Barbie(2023) is based on the famous best selling Ken doll, Earring Magic Ken, also know as Fey Ken or Gay Ken.

"Mattel had conducted a survey of girls asking if Ken should be retained as Barbie's boyfriend or whether a new doll should be introduced in that role. Survey results indicated that girls wanted Ken kept but wanted him to look "cooler". USA Today noted after the American International Toy Fair that the doll Soul Train Jamal was also wearing an earring that year. According to manager of marketing communications for Mattel, Lisa McKendall, "We tried to keep [Ken] as cool as possible." This generation of the Ken doll had blond highlights in his traditionally brown hair and was dressed in a lavender mesh shirt, purple pleather vest, a necklace with a circular charm and, as the name indicates, an earring in his left ear.

These clothing choices led to gay commentator Dan Savage joking that Mattel toy designers had "spent a weekend in LA or New York dashing from rave to rave, taking notes and Polaroids." He also suggested that little girls' idea of coolness was shaped by homoerotic MTV music videos, Madonna's dancers, and what ACT UP/Queer Nation members were wearing to demonstrations and parties. Donna Gibbs told the San Francisco Examiner in November 1993 that the team of (presumably straight) women who made the doll were surprised that gay men wanted him.

[...]

In July 1993, Dan Savage wrote an article on Earring Magic Ken titled, "Ken Comes Out." He noted in his article that, in addition to his outfit's perceived flamboyance, his necklace resembled chrome sex toys that queer people were wearing as charms at the time. Savage expressed feelings of ambivalence about Ken's new style, writing, "Queer Ken is the high water mark of, depending on your point of view, either queer infiltration of popular culture or the thoughtless appropriation of queer culture by heterosexuals [. . .] Queer imagery has so permeated our culture that from rock stars (Axl Rose and his leather chaps) to toy designers, mainstream America isn’t even aware when it’s adopting queer fashions and mores."

[...]

Kitsch-minded gay men responded to this press by buying the doll in record numbers, making Earring Magic Ken the best-selling Ken model in Mattel's history. The doll debuted in stores for around $11 (equivalent to $20.63 in 2021) and had completely sold out by the Christmas season, largely due to gay men buying the doll in droves. Due to high demand, Chicago's FAO Schwartz created a wait list, and, allegedly, some shops in San Francisco began to sell Earring Magic Ken for prices ranging between $17 (equivalent to $31.89 in 2021) to $24 (equivalent to $45.02 in 2021). (The latter claim was disputed in the Bay Area Reporter in October 1993 by the general manager of San Francisco FAO Schwartz. According to him, only a few gay men were coming into his store, and Earring Magic Ken was selling better in New York and Chicago than San Francisco.) Earring Magic Ken was also popular with gay men in the United Kingdom, and sold well at the toy shop Hamleys in 1993. Toy scalper Mr. Barger told the Wall Street Journal in 1996 that Earring Magic Ken was so popular that he was able to re-sell him to specialty shops at premium prices. Richard Roeper, writing for the Chicago Sun Times, referred to him as "The Cabbage Patch Doll of the summer of '93."

A major appeal of the doll for many gay men was that Mattel did not market it to them on purpose. Rick Garcia, director of Chicago's Catholic Advocates for Lesbian and Gay Rights, told People magazine in 1993 that the stereotypical dress was funny to him because he believed it was an accident, and that it would have offended him if it was purposeful. In 1993, many newspapers interviewed individual gay men in California to understand the phenomenon. San Francisco resident described Earring Magic Ken as, "a pariah setting foot in one of America's sanctuaries." Another California resident, Bill Harley, described Earring Magic Ken as, "A campy, funny thing to have." Laguna Beach resident Keith Clark-Epley had more reservations about the toy, saying that, "It's an uptight heterosexual male doll following gay fashion and who is still behind the times," and believed that calling the doll gay could potentially reinforce negative stereotypes about gay people." Source:

#barbie #ryan gosling #barbie ken #ken #barbie 2023 #Earring Magic Ken #Historical Queer moment #accidental queerness #achillean archives #campy

[immovable-tortoise]

GREECE JUST LEGALIZED GAY MARRIAGE GREECE JUST LEGALIZED GAY MARRIAGE AAAAAAAAA IM SO FUCKING HAPPY

#Greece #lgbtq rights #lgbtq #queer rights #Europe #this is a historic moment in the Balkans I cannot understate how important this is for the region #sending all my love to fellow queer greeks you did it friends

[rainbowresurrection]

Kinda got a love/hate relationship with the history of K/S because it's like. Can I please have a queer discussion about this 1960s television show without it being reduced to "shipper discourse". I thought Spock and Kirk were homo long before I knew that their characters spawned a fanfiction counterculture. The bisexual dude who wrote the episode that really kick-started the movement didn't know it was going to coalesce into the fan phenomenon that it did, he was just writing what he knew how to write best: the repression of burning male desire, and two dudes doing homoerotic shit. Can I just talk about the repressed burning male desire please, and the implications of a gay angle to Kirk and Spock's story, without it being referred to as shipper discourse. Can I do that. Does this make sense

#yes queer men write fanfiction but the subculture itself wasnt really centered around us or around closeted male desire which is the part #i related to #and I don't always think it gets to be talked about in a way thats ever fully divorced from that context if that makes sense? #one could argue it never WILL be divorced from that context but I believe said subtext existed before k/s was invented so #anyway this is one if my most autistic posts to date #historic moment #i hope this makes sense #k/s #star trek #the premise #like i just feel like glossing it over as ship discourse is demeaning to the actual GAY part of the discussion. this was even seen when #Gay-Gay Abrams was making his reboots and people brought up the subtext as a possibility #and creators were like “grrrrr you shippers just want your two favs to kiss onscreen” which downplays the significance of two men #being INTIMATE ONSCREEN #and is a lazy way to sweep queer male rep under the rug idk idk Im tired #Kirk and Spock will always be dismissed as a possibility and thats the excuse thats always used #its just so tied up in that fandom culture #i mean its interesting its just also frustrating at times

[kaliarda]

Ντοκιμαντέρ του Παναγιώτη Ευαγγελίδη για τους πρώτους ομόφυλους γάμους στην Ελλάδα, που τελέστηκαν στην Τήλο το 2008 από ακτιβιστές της ΟΛΚΕ.

#προτείνω!!! #είναι footage που τράβαγε ο σκηνοθέτης από τους φίλους του εκείνες τις μέρες του ‘08 #και το ξέθαψε το 2020 #something something personal archives of historical moments in queer history #είχα την τιμή να είμαι παρόν σε μία προβολή πρόσφατα που συζητήσαμε τη σημασία των αρχείων με τον σκηνοθέτη. και το πόσα έχουν χαθεί #από γενιά σε γενιά γιατί δεν είχαν καταγραφτεί #lgbt greece #greek tumblr #marriage equality #tilos weddings #οι γάμοι της τήλου

[hellsfiction]

It’s always ‘How did Stede row all that way across the ocean and just happen to find the crew’ and never ‘How did Jim manage to get from Nassau to the Revenge with seemingly no boat and with no one noticing them board the Revenge at all?’ They’re queer babes, they can just do that <3

#OFMD #Our flag means death #Jim jimenez #Stede Bonnet #Um duh it's called gaydar #this is directly because I've finished my 5th rewatch with my dad #Watching OFMD with my dad was interesting #Explained the history of queerbaiting and he accepted it with no problem #which is weird because I feel like most queer people - myself included - didn't even really believe queerbaiting was real #until like the third time we were burned #my dad was just like 'oh yeah that sounds exactly like what some dumbass studio would do' #'don't doubt it for a moment' #and he accepted the romance between Stede and Ed without batting an eyelid #yet he really could not wrap his head around the idea of narrative convenience #I've also had to reiterate several times that OFMD flirts with historical accuracy but it's not in a commited relationship with it #after the fifth time he tried to fact check OFMD online I gave up

[seven-saffodils]

.

#i've been trying to read more queer historical authors #so i'm not just reading all the works of the same two on rotation #and not contemp in costumes #like i get that we can't perfectly recreate everything and some historical stuff would be distasteful to modern readers #but like #one of the characters in the book i'm reading wants to come out to his family??? #in the 19th century??? #with no prior indication that they're chill??? #and he relies on them for his living??? #i think the fuck not #tbh coming out as declaration of love feels like a very straight plot point even in contemp books #unless it's done exactly right #like it's one thing if their reasons for not coming out before didn't accord with reality #e.g. they were not really out to themselves and needed to grow into it #but their society was v accepting and all their friends and family were openly accepting beforehand #but like. if it's not part of a Character Growth Moment.. why does it need to happen #(or why does it need to happen Now?)

[existentialvoidofexistence]

Schrodinger's sexuality I'm both bi and homosexual and will pick one entirely at random when asked

#i blame misha collins for this i saw all the memes about his sexuality and realised i have no idea what's going on with mine #like i don't think I'm particularly attracted to (binary) women so bi doesn't feel entirely accurate #but also given the opportunity i fully intend to continue sleeping with women so gay seems antithical to my actions and how I'm perceived #and mlm just feels wrong bc alloaro like it's really not about love for me so centering my identity around LOVING men feels inauthentic #so right now its both at once but more importantly whichever historical slur seems most relevant in the moment #I'm a dandy I'm a fairy I'm a pansy I'm a sodomite I'm a queer and a fag and a puff #no i will not use any of them as adjectives that's boring

[yaoiboypussy]

A test I have for other queer people to see if they are normal about trans men is to ask them their opinion on drag kings.

People will pretend to be normal about trans men, but the moment you mention any art that has historically been a way for trans men to express themselves they show how they aren’t normal about trans men.

#.txt #trans #transgender #trans man #transmasc #lgbt #lgbtq

[moki-dokie]

been seeing some stuff on blue eye samurai and big yikes to nearly everyone pushing extremely western ideals onto these characters.

this is early edo period. 1600s. the japan you know now did not exist yet.

yall. please. there was NO concept of sexuality in pre-modern japan. that came with both the influx of christianity and western influence very very late in history. like, mid-1800s. (yes, there was christianity pre-1800s but it was not a widespread idea yet and wouldn't be until about the 1800s since, y'know, missionaries were routinely murdered before then)

"so and so is either bi and hasn't figured it out yet or..." no. that isn't how it worked then. nobody gave a shit what was between your legs. anyone could be attracted to anyone else. it was a little more common for male homosexual relationships to be between an adult and younger male - like many other places around the world - but two adult men could bang and love each other just as easily. relationships between women were quite common - especially since so many men were often away at war. there's tons of pornographic prints from the time depicting all manner of fun queer relationships. sex itself had absolutely no moral assignment to it. good sex was good health. it didn't matter who with. (well, social class/caste mattered more than anything else tbh but that didn't stop upper and lower class from fucking.) that isn't to say people didn't have preferences. of course they did. that is human nature. preferences arose more from physical appearance, caste, and circumstances with gender being about the last thing one would look for in a partner - romantic, casual, or otherwise. the only role in sex where gender actually mattered was for procreation.

there would be no queer awakening moment, no sudden switch flipped, no stigma to have internal conflicts about because it simply did not exist as a concept whatsoever. you were either attracted to a person or you weren't, it was that simple. gender played no role when it came to sex and sexual attraction. the japanese were lightyears ahead of western cultures in this particular area - like most cultures were before christianity came in and ruined everything with its backwards morals and strict good/evil dichotomy.

yall have got to realize queer rep will not and should not always adhere by modern western standards. there was no straight, gay, bi, or anything else of the sort. the closest they ever got was referring to roles during sex - as in who is giving and who is receiving.

i know this is mostly a made up story but it is still set within a very specific time period and culture, which should be honored and respected by not making it fit into our box. tons of research went into making this show historically accurate (albeit with some discrepancies but tbh they aren't really that huge) right down to the calligraphy writing. please please please don't whitewash the culture from these characters.

i say this mainly because without this knowledge, so many of you are going to build these characters up on a foundation they aren't meant to be on and then you'll rage about queerbaiting and bad queer rep if it isn't somehow super explicitly stated, if it doesn't match your very modern, very western ideal of what queer looks like. don't try to force this plot and narrative and characters into something they canonically and historically aren't. headcanons are a thing, AUs are a thing, fanfiction is a thing - leave your western thinking for those and let these characters simply exist as they should otherwise. this is one of those times where the queerness really does not need to be examined at all beyond what we get.

i know it can be hard to wrap your head around - sexuality is such a huge part of our identity in the western world and has slowly started to spread amongst other parts of the world in importance. but just keep in mind with these particular characters, that concept would be so very alien to them.

#blue eye samurai #i'm gonna bite people if i see complaints about queer anything in this show

[makingqueerhistory]

I wish that we would collectively actually engage with the problematic aspects of queer history instead of demanding they be disposed of.

I think it's a result of a carceral system that removes criminals from our communities that people think in these black-and-white terms. Either a queer person from history was perfect and can be pinned to any argument to legitimize it, or they were evil, and we aren't allowed to talk about them or acknowledge their queerness.

In general, I believe it is so much more useful to engage with the messy and uncomfortable things people from history did. I also think this engagement shouldn't start with mentioning the harm the people caused and then end with disposing of said people.

Some alternatives I like:

Educating people about the problematic nature of the person while not distancing from them

Looking into the specifics of what harm was caused and doing opposing things (i.e. an author writing antisemitic tropes can be combatted with intentionally finding and uplifting a Jewish author taking down the tropes)

Take an inner inventory of ways you may perpetuate harm to the same community that the person in question did, and learn how to stop and repair that harm

Be an active ally to the people in your life who exist within the marginalization that the person in question contributed harm to

I suppose I am just tired of having a historical figure's problematic nature being used as a "gotcha moment" in response to even mentioning their existence (often in posts that link to articles that mention and sometimes discuss in depth the exact problematic decisions said person made).

#queer history #queer #lgbt #lgbt history #gay history #lesbian history #transgender history #transgender #making queer history

[mourningmaybells]

the only spermula movie copies i can find are on erotic sites... im a little scared

#this is technically important for historical and queer reading reasons but still. #uh. forbidden knowledge. my raised religious ass needs a moment

[omgthatdress]

Just taking a moment to remind everyone that JK Rowling is a Holocaust denier.

The looting & burning of the library of Die Institut für Sexualwissenschaft is an incredibly well-documented event that marks one of the first major events of Nazi persecution of the LGBT community.

Guess what, Jo. This definitely happened.

She has gone further to perpetuate lies about Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld that engage with the anti-semitic conspiracy theory that Jews are encouraging LGBT identities to end the reproduction of the Aryan race and take over the world.

HEY! GOOD NEWS! IF YOU DO HISTORICAL RESEARCH, THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO DO SOMETHING REALLY COOL!

LGBT persecution by Nazis, especially trans persecution, is an area of the Holocaust that remains under-researched and under-documented. Historians are working hard to identify trans and queer victims and to illuminate their life stories. If you are at all interested in this, it's something you can do, too. Research for all!

#JK Rowling is a Holocaust denier #trans history #transgender #trans #transgender history #lgbt history #queer #queer history #gay #gay history

[queerly-autistic]

One of my favourite things about S2 was that we got to see so much in terms of Ed's relationships with women, and it just made me love him even more (if that's humanly possible). We didn't see him interact with many women at all in S1 (I think it was only the posh ladies at the fancy party which was...yeah, not a good experience), so S2 actually giving us a glimpse into his friendships with all these (very different) kickass women was so, so special.

I love that, as messy and fucked up as they all are, and even with the 'well we're pirates, we're not normal and we will fuck with each other' threat that hangs over everything, Ed's relationship with Mary and Anne is still so affectionate, and they both thrown their arms around him the moment they see him. Even though Ed is incredibly tactile, I don't think we've actually ever seen him be hugged like this, and it's just so lovely to watch him be embraced and clearly feel very safe being embraced by these women (and I can't with the way he clings to them, as well). I also love that this is a wlw/mlm friendship; yeah it falls apart later and turns into delicious gay-on-gay violence (and I wouldn't alter a note of it), but I love seeing this sort of affection between queer women and queer men, there's not nearly enough of it.

Don't even get me started on the BFF handshake he has with Anne - I want all the history there, give me six spin-off films about their adventures please.

And then we finally get a glimpse of his relationship with Jackie, which is similarly just lovely, but in a different way? You get the sense that they could sit there for hours, talking shit about the world, all whilst casually ripping the shit out of each other (but affectionately). You also know full well these two have talked extensively about men and know pretty much everything about each other's sex lives - we didn't see it, but I'm absolutely certain that Ed went into full gushing details about sleeping with Stede, just like Jackie did when she talked about The Swede fucking like a jackhammer (historical accuracy ftw).

And, again, whilst they're still pirates, and it's messy, the entire thing feels incredibly...safe, particularly from Ed's perspective? He feels more comfortable around Jackie than he is around most other characters (apart from Stede), just like he was with Anne and Mary.

And then, just to hammer the point home even further that Ed has, generally, fantastic relationships with women, and connects with them, and feels relaxed and safe with them, you have Ed and Zheng becoming instant BFFs literally minutes after meeting each other. Ed goes 'ooh, very cool woman kicking ass and killing people, she shall be my best friend, immediately', and Zheng is automatically incredibly relaxed and open with him, too (suggesting she feels as safe and comfortable with him as he does with her).

All I want in life is to see Ed and Zheng get silly-drunk with each other (and this is why we urgently need a S3).

And none of Ed's relationships with these women are a fetishistic 'I love women because they're fabulous' thing, or an overly patronising paternalistic 'I love the women and I must protect them' thing - all the relationships he has with women are very equal, very comfortable, fully believable, just fantastic friendships to watch play out. I feel like, given everything we see on screen, Ed generally feels a lot more comfortable and safe and open with the women he knows than the men he knows (Stede is the only other person he is this physically affectionate and comfortable with). Which is probably very understandable? Yes, the women he's friends with are all violent pirates too (that's part of the joy of it - none of them are lovely demure morally pure women, they're all violent pirates), but Ed has a lot of experience with specifically overtly abusive men - right back to watching his dad abuse his mum. And that's a distinction that matters: the show treats the violence of normal piracy and the violence of abuse very, very differently. Ed is not used to being treated softly or affectionately by men, as we saw in his shocked reaction to Stede holding his hand. I don't think it's any wonder that he gravitates more towards friendships with women (or that the men he feels the most open and safe with, such as Stede, Fang, even Frenchie, are very pointedly the opposite of the abusive men he has experience with). I just love love love that being friends with women is such a core part of Ed's character, and that we got to see all of these fantastic relationships in the show.

#ofmd #our flag means death #edward teach #anne bonny ofmd #mary read ofmd #spanish jackie #zheng yi sao ofmd #ofmd s2 ep4 #episode: fun and games #ofmd s2 ep7 #episode: man on fire #ofmd s2 ep8 #episode: mermen #ed x stede #blackbonnet #ofmd meta #erin waffles

[psychoticallytrans]

Disability diagnostic criteria has never been defined by disabled people. It has been defined by scientists and doctors, two professions that have historically been rather vicious about keeping out the "riff-raff". Because of this, almost all diagnostic criteria is based on the observations and opinions of abled people.

If you aren't disabled, you're probably some flavor of queer since you're on tumblr. Consider for a moment what the criteria for "gay" would be according to a council of not even average cishet people, but largely upper-class white cishet men. Consider how shallow and simple it would be, how lacking in history, depth, and nuance. How little it would center the experience of being in gay love and lust, how impossible it would be for them to fully understand what they were defining. They almost certainly wouldn't have any idea of how it affects your gender.

We miss so much by being defined by the criteria of abled people. So many symptoms that go unheeded because they're not in official criteria, only to find that they're incredibly common when we talk to each other. So much of the experience of feeling different, off, alienated, even when we don't know what is off. So much of the complexity of how our conditions interact and bounce off of each other in the ecosystems of our bodies and brains.

How much of the inner experience of being disabled is missing from how we are defined, due to it not being defined by us?

[dancermk]

I’m a little disappointed to see so much discourse, fandom competitiveness, and plain arguing going around at the moment in regards to queer film/TV. People complaining about too much sex, not enough sex, too cheesy, made for the hets, too happy, too sad, too realistic, too unrealistic, and a million other petty issues. I, for one, am a queer person in my 50s and I grew up with practically zero representation! Yes, we want to continue onwards and upwards with quality and varied shows BUT let’s be HAPPY we now have representation! Like, actual shows where the central characters are queer, not just a side character who gets f*cking murdered! There is room for all different types of representation - so enjoy the types you like, and let others enjoy what they like.

And on a side note: progress is progress and film/tv is a business that has to turn a profit! If some queer content is made to appeal to the straight community, and will also act as a means of reducing homophobia and increasing understanding, then that’s a good thing. That means in the future more and more content will include queer stories and representation. If only 10% (ish) of the population is the maximum target audience then shows won’t keep getting made!

There is a huge backlash all over the world right now - a “push back” by conservatives and religious groups that want to wind back the clock, and specifically the last decade of advances.

So stick together queers and LGBTQIA+ allies.

I’m super happy knowing I don’t have to wait years between content anymore. And I’ve loved all different types of shows over the last 5 years, for lots of different reasons!

Interview with the Vampire - is giving me the toxic, passionate gothic love affair I’ve always wanted. And addressing interracial relationships.

Heartstopper - is filling me up with pure joy and hopefulness for the future.

Shameless - gave me Ian and Mickey - unique, anti stereotypical gays with a tragic yet ultimately beautiful love story spanning 11 years

Lone Star 911 - is giving me TK and Carlos whose sexuality barely factors into the storyline! Yay!

Looking - gave me an authentic queer experience and an intoxicating love triangle.

Red, white and Royal Blue - gave me a sweet, cute romcom that allowed reality to be sidelined. Fun escapism!

Young Royals - had me captivated by first love and intense angst.

Fire Island - an underrated romcom that made me laugh so hard I cried.

Sex education - shoved the realities of sex in our faces and provided me with laughter and drama and a range of queer identities.

Gentlemen Jack -gave me historical lesbians with spectacular wit, and feminine power.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg- because there’s SO SO SO many more shows I could mention! Don’t at me because I didn’t mention YOUR favourite. This is my point! There is SO much great content it would take all day for me to include everything. This is just a sample - and that’s f*cking brilliant!!

So maybe we could all start posting/tweeting etc about what WE DO LIKE / LOVE / MAKES US FEEL LOVED AND SEEN and put down the device if we’ve got nothing nice to say.

Sending everyone a love filled week! 💜

#interview with the vampire #amc iwtv #heartstopper #rwrb #red white and royal blue #nick and charlie #ian and mickey #shameless #louis and lestat #alex and henry #911 lone star #tk x carlos #queer as folk #sex ed netflix #fire island #bros #loveislove #queer love #ofmd #the l word #young royals #elite netflix #wilhelm and simon

[biceratops7]

I just-

the way that queerness actually is shown fairly historically accurate in the show but not to the point where the lgbt community feels like 1-dimensional victims instead of people. The world is still the same as ours, Homophobia is there, it’s just… quiet. It’s not constant aggressive action, or violence permeating every moment of their lives… it’s the background noise.

It’s in the bullying Stede endures for not performing the ideal masculine, but it’s also the simple expectation and eventually enforcement that he’ll marry a woman. It’s in “anything goes at sea” and the calm, almost practiced defensiveness that prompted such a statement. The small confirmation that Hornigold would lose his mind at Ed having breakfast at a table every morning with Stede.

It’s not just seen in queer sorrow but community as well, even joy. How Lucius looks after Jim, Stede, and Ed once their queerness is known to him. How Ed kisses Stede in a quiet place away from expected public, the refusal to discuss Blackbeard further when the truth of being “lovely” to another man garners unsavory looks. In the best circumstances, protecting one another in a world that isn’t built for us is like breathing.

It even comes from people with no ill intentions. Mary doesn’t mean anything by “what’s her name?” but it tells us something anyway, about the world these characters inhabit. About which ones can step comfortably through it, and which ones must think carefully before even revealing they lack such luxury. The quiet understanding in tossing a stone in that perfect path by saying “his name is Ed.” It means something that she reacts in surprise, pleasant surprise, but surprise none the less.

It’s not a show without homophobia, but it’s not a show about it either. It manifests in the narrative the same way it does for most of us day to day: the white noise of heteronormativity.

#just when I think I’m done talking about queer theory in ofmd #my brain whirls around and goes “AND ANOTHER THING- #our flag means death #ofmd #Stede bonnet #Blackbeard #Edward teach #blackbonnet #lucius spriggs #Jim Jimenez #mary allamby bonnet #meta #analysis #my meta #biceratop #1x10 #his name is ed #calico Jack #1x08 #1x02 #1x04