Aftermath of Queer Politics

http://www.frontlineonnet.com/stories/20090731261503300.htm

A great article on the aftermath of the decriminalization of consensual homosexuality in India. This historic judgment opens the door to probing, questioning, and discussing questions regarding society and sexuality. Suffice to say, gender and sexuality are both society’s constructions. Both facets have been borne in the bellies of the social beliefs and traditions and fed to the masses from birth. In order to define sexuality and gender, and perhaps neutralize it, one must start questioning the origins of those perspectives in comparison to current stances. For example, a school in Thailand has established a bathroom for the third gender i.e. transgenders. A city in Japan (I want to say Tokyo but could be wrong) marvels at the high number of effeminate men who gleefully embrace feminine characteristics and even proudly look, dress, and act in ways that are neither men nor women. These blatant rejections of society’s definitions of gender and sexuality act as catalysts in re-defining constructions and conceptions that are hopefully more gender-neutral and not hell-bent on labeling proper forms of sexuality.