Double consciousness as boon to queer writer?

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Ardent Kat

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I saw an interesting interview in Sept 2011 issue of Writer's Digest where an author of color (ZZ Packer) was asked how being labeled an African-American writer has affected her work and identity as a writer. Her reply:

W.E.B. Du Bois' theory of "double consciousness" rings true here, because the flip side of racism is that one becomes double-voiced, multivalent and omni-interpretive. If you're in an ethnic minority, more of your time and mental energy goes into evaluating people, situations, and cues that those in the majority don't have to bother with. ...It can be constructive wen one beams that interpretive ability towards illuminating the hidden corners of human nature, which of course comes in handy in writing fiction.
(Emphasis mine)

This was written from the perspective of a racial minority, but I found the ideas behind it ring true for me as an author in the sexual minority.

Going through life queer has given me an awareness of social cues and the ability to "read" people (often to determine if I'm safe), which translates into an awareness into people and society that I'm sure I would not have if I'd been born straight and cisgendered.

As someone who writes speculative fiction and social science fiction, being able to bend certain elements of society and take it down a "What if...?" trail is incredibly helpful. I find the more normative a person is, the more difficulty they have imagining society being any different from modern western norms. ("What if all rape was as reviled as pedophilia?" "What if gays were neither ostracized or exoticized?")

As a genderqueer, I find it easy to writer characters of other genders besides my own. As a bisexual, I feel more comfortable writing stories no matter what the sexual orientation of my characters. As someone who frequently has to "cover," I have first-hand experience of being a different character depending on the company I keep and how honest I can safely be.

I hope no one would twist my words; I am not saying that oppression is good in itself or that it's helpful for other authors. But speaking purely for myself, I find that my queerness has made me a better observer of people, a more restless social activist, and a better writer than I would have been otherwise.
 

JohnnyGottaKeyboard

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Going through life queer has given me an awareness of social cues and the ability to "read" people (often to determine if I'm safe), which translates into an awareness into people and society that I'm sure I would not have if I'd been born straight and cisgendered.

...

As a genderqueer, I find it easy to writer characters of other genders besides my own. As a bisexual, I feel more comfortable writing stories no matter what the sexual orientation of my characters. As someone who frequently has to "cover," I have first-hand experience of being a different character depending on the company I keep and how honest I can safely be.
I actually read a book about this very topic about twenty years ago. Which I believe is this one. There appear to be two books with nearly the same name now, but the newer one I have not read, tho it appears to address many of the same topics (altho it sounds more new-agey than I can, personally, bear).

In fact, since I read it at a very formative time for me, it has always had a remarkable effect not just on my writing but on my arguing about the nature of homosexuality. I have pissed off more than a few homosexuals over the years by arguing that in fact, "who we are sexually attracted to" is NOT the only difference between gays and straights. That having grown up with this difference has had a profound effect on how we percieve everything. This was not a generally embraced notion in the 90s.
 

benbradley

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I've got most if not all of the "priveleges" in Western society - I'm white, straight, and grew up in a middle-class (at least as far as income level) family (the caveat on being "middle class" was my father was quite stingy with money and gifts and such, and I don't think my mother was in touch with that. My parents once visited the parents of another child about my age or younger, I saw all his toys, and later asked my mother why he had so many more toys than I did - she said the boy was spoiled). Growing up I experienced emotional abuse and neglect, leaving me with poor self-esteem and other things described in psychological buzzwords.

In my 30's I was in an AA meeting (skipping over a few chapters of my memoir) where I heard a youngish gay woman "tell her story." I had also heard her sister tell HER story - the sister was straight, and I don't remember anything specific about her except she seemed ditsy and perhaps "not all there." But I found this gay woman's story quite interesting. She talked of being attracted to other girls in high school, trying to talk to her mother about it, but her mother dismissed it as "just a phase." She apparently tried and failed to get her mother to accept her sexuality and take her seriously, and this appeared to be a major thing that influenced her life. I don't recall anything else she said, but she seemed much more "emotionally present" than her straight sister, who obviously didn't have to deal with a mother who didn't understand or didn't want to admit her daughter's sexuality. Perhaps the straight sister WAS treated similarly in some way by her mother, but she wasn't "in touch" with it.

I could very much relate to the gay woman's story, as my own mother had never taken me seriously in many ways, and always treated me as much younger than I was, whatever age I was. Criticism was real, but compliments and praise always felt left-handed. I missed out on a lot of emotional learning, especially social skills. That, among other things that happened, made me in some sense hyperaware of my environment, in an ongoing effort to "figure things out" and try to get or stay safe around people who either shunned me or teased me about my lack of social skills.

I think experiencing life as a minority is similar, in that others may treat one badly for no apparent or justifiable reason, just because of their own biases. So this doesn't come from being a part of a minority per se, but rather from how others treat one because of one's minority status.
 

Xelebes

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It's easier to write about injustices when you write what you know.
 

Anne Lyle

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I don't really have experience of the oppression side - Western society is mostly accepting of girls who behave more like boys - but I guess I did have to observe other girls closely in order to learn how to fit in.

I assume that straight, cis-gender people do something similar in adolescence, but given the number of my straight male colleagues who just don't understand women (and their spouses apparently don't really understand men either), I think there's less need to make the effort because they're already socialised to the "correct" gender.

As a writer, I'm rather thankful for my mixed-up brain :)
 

Ardent Kat

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It's easier to write about injustices when you write what you know.

True, but it needn't be so heavy-handed as writing about a specific injustice you're familiar with.

Even if it's just a slice-of-life story, the double-consciousness could help one write a diversity of characters with realistic flaws. The dyke used to being judged by her butch hairdo might write a more believable character who has a facial disfigurement that keeps her from employment and draws disapproving looks on the street. The queerboi who is used to covering hir true identity might write a believable Black character who tries to downplay her racial identity in public for the sake of approval.

By living a dual life and constantly second-guessing the intentions and motives of others, it makes one more aware of what the human condition IS. Living superficially and going with the flow isn't an option for someone who doesn't fit social norms. Being forced to look deeper and dig deeper just to find one's place in the world can lend a deeper understanding of humanity than the person who is already well-suited to the status quo.

I think there's also an element of sand in my craw that keeps me writing. If I was a little more comfortably privileged (and I already am extremely so), I think I would have given up on writing by now and settled into a nice desk job. As is, I'm just too restless, outraged, and out-of-place to ever let myself stop.

I don't really have experience of the oppression side - Western society is mostly accepting of girls who behave more like boys - but I guess I did have to observe other girls closely in order to learn how to fit in.

Even if a society is tolerant of girls-who-act-like-boys, that tolerance still fits in a lot of confines and restrictions. ("It's okay if she drinks beer with the guys... As long as she knows I'm ultimately lord of the house." "It's fine if my daughter likes to play in the mud... She'll grow out of it eventually." "Tough chicks are hot! ...But not those real butch-looking ones. Ick! They should still dress sexy and be thin.") It's a lot like people who are "okay with gay people" as long as they "act straight" in public and don't "flaunt" their gayness.

Being a butch woman, an alpha female, or an adult tomboy is only tolerated insofar as the heat remains on a super-low simmer that doesn't really upset anyone's expectations.

given the number of my straight male colleagues who just don't understand women (and their spouses apparently don't really understand men either), I think there's less need to make the effort because they're already socialised to the "correct" gender.

Totally. I think comfort can be a killer when it comes to understanding the perspective of others. Why should I? I'm already doing just fine, thanks, and consideration of others would be an unnecessary inconvenience.

BenBradley hit on this a little with the mention of an unhappy childhood. Whatever the source, it's possible that persecution can be the agitating grain of sand that a pearl forms around.

Ultimately, it's up to the individual if their persecution makes them become more insular out of self-defense, or if it makes them more observant and socially flexible out of desire to find one's place in the world.
 

Anne Lyle

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Even if a society is tolerant of girls-who-act-like-boys, that tolerance still fits in a lot of confines and restrictions. ("It's okay if she drinks beer with the guys... As long as she knows I'm ultimately lord of the house." "It's fine if my daughter likes to play in the mud... She'll grow out of it eventually." "Tough chicks are hot! ...But not those real butch-looking ones. Ick! They should still dress sexy and be thin.") It's a lot like people who are "okay with gay people" as long as they "act straight" in public and don't "flaunt" their gayness.

Being a butch woman, an alpha female, or an adult tomboy is only tolerated insofar as the heat remains on a super-low simmer that doesn't really upset anyone's expectations.

TBH I never got much of that from men, perhaps because I was never butch - they were mostly OK with "assertive female who is better at maths than us but is still into guys". Or perhaps it's because I had a very supportive upbringing and didn't give a damn about what anyone else thought.

Maybe it's a cultural thing. The British have a long tradition of gender-bending in the entertainment field - my dad played the pantomime dame every Christmas, so my parents weren't exactly in a position to criticise me for not adhering to gender stereotypes :)
 

kuwisdelu

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I assume that straight, cis-gender people do something similar in adolescence, but given the number of my straight male colleagues who just don't understand women (and their spouses apparently don't really understand men either), I think there's less need to make the effort because they're already socialised to the "correct" gender.

So where do those of us that don't understand either — or human behavior in general — fall?
 
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