January 8, 2008

• a quickie.

  so i was reading my news feeds, and came across this.

  apparently, the university of michigan is offering a “how to be gay: male homosexuality and initiation” class.

  GAY AND LESBIAN STUDIES? they
  are people, not species you study. the intent is good, but to have you
  pay for credit hours to learn how to be a better gay seems a little off
  to me. plus, INITIATION? it’s a club now? WTF?!?!

  Here’s the link, in case you’re curious.

  loves and AOT,
  –jen

  p.s. here’s the course description:

  (start)
  ENGLISH 317. Literature and Culture.

  Section 002 — How to be Gay: Male
  Homosexuality and Initiation.

  Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term).

  Instructor(s): David M Halperin (halperin@umich.edu)

  Course Description:

  Just because you happen to be a gay
  man doesn’t mean that you don’t have to learn how to become one. Gay
  men do some of that learning on their own, but often we learn how to
  be gay from others, either because we look to them for instruction or
  because they simply tell us what they think we need to know, whether
  we ask for their advice or not.

  This course will examine the general
  topic of the role that initiation plays in the formation of gay male
  identity. We will approach it from three angles: (1) as a sub-cultural
  practice — subtle, complex, and difficult to theorize —
  which a small but significant body of work in queer studies has begun
  to explore; (2) as a theme in gay male writing; and (3) as a class project,
  since the course itself will constitute an experiment in the very process
  of initiation that it hopes to understand.

  In particular, we will examine a number
  of cultural artifacts and activities that seem to play a prominent role
  in learning how to be gay: Hollywood movies, grand opera, Broadway musicals,
  and other works of classical and popular music, as well as camp, diva-worship,
  drag, muscle culture, taste, style, and political activism. Are there
  a number of classically ‘gay’ works such that, despite changing tastes
  and generations, all gay men, of whatever class, race, or ethnicity,
  need to know them, in order to be gay? What is there about gay identity
  that explains the gay appropriation of these works? What do we learn
  about gay male identity by asking not who gay men are but what it is
  that gay men do or like? One aim of exploring these questions is to
  approach gay identity from the perspective of social practices and cultural
  identifications rather than from the perspective of gay sexuality itself.
  What can such an approach tell us about the sentimental, affective,
  or subjective dimensions of gay identity, including gay sexuality, that
  an exclusive focus on gay sexuality cannot?

  At the core of gay experience there
  is not only identification but disidentification. Almost as soon as
  I learn how to be gay, or perhaps even before, I also learn how not
  to be gay. I say to myself, ‘Well, I may be gay, but at least I’m not
  like that!’ Rather than attempting to promote one version of gay identity
  at the expense of others, this course will investigate the stakes in
  gay identifications and disidentifications, seeking ultimately to create
  the basis for a wider acceptance of the plurality of ways in which people
  determine how to be gay.

  Additional note. This course is not
  a basic introduction to gay male culture, but an exploration of certain
  issues arising from it. It assumes some background knowledge. Students
  wishing to inform themselves about gay men and gay culture in a preliminary
  way should enroll in an introductory course in lesbian/gay studies. (end)

  • 4:31 pm
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