Posts by TracyMac
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As for the "geeks = super cool" in terms of their acceptance of queers, eh, I think maybe the "we are awesome liberals" type are - as in, they go beyond "tolerance" to acceptance.
But there are huge pockets of Christian geeks, military-SF geeks, Randians (and despite their professed "libertarianism", the ones I've encountered have been bigots against queers), etc etc. Having worked with a fundie-type Christian for the past couple of years, I've learned there's a big tranche of them floating around, but who remain relatively stealth until you talk about personal stuff with them for more than 5 minutes. The right-wing military nuts, I've encountered on more than one SF-fan mailing list.
So maybe in terms of population proportions, geeks have greater queer acceptance compared to the general population, but there are still plenty who have issues. I suppose in the general geek culture, it's less socially-acceptable to be openly bigoted, which is a very good thing. I have to say I do notice the entrenched sexism more.
Speaking of literary genres and acceptance, I find romance readers are pretty accepting of queers - there is a whole swodge of "gay" romances written by women, and whose market is - at least partially - het women. Of course, there's a heap more Christian-orientated and "traditional" role-affirming stuff out there as well (although those subgenres are the minority compared to the more common staunch heroine these days - just look at Nora Roberts).
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Up Front: Card on the Table, in reply to James Butler,
Actually, that's kind of the converse situation to what Emma talks about, in terms of the "bonus" you get when you find a favourite writer has views that align with your own.
That is, people whose views/perspective you find fascinating, and the work... not so much. China Mieville and Kim Stanley Robinson fall into that category for me. Haven't actually finished any of their works. Ursula Le Guin is 50/50 - I love about half the stuff she's written, and the other half, I really don't like. Charles Stross, awesome dude, writing leaves me dead. As for Joss Wheedon, love Firefly; Buffy, I simply don't get.
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And it's not just the menz thinking about Sharon O'Neill all those years ago. ;-)
Totally cool, and very hot. She gave an aura of being confident in her sexuality without it being "slutty" or gratuitous in a skin-exposing kind of way. Lots of my friends modelled themselves on her, which given some of the other potential rolemodels of the time, was great.
...On another note, there aren't that many varieties of English where this couplet rhymes:
And it's telling me that
You're so hard to forgetSo endearing. :-)
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Hard News: The Wogistan form book, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
I've been carrying all manner of kinky gear thru lately (checked luggage), and I am soooo thankful I haven't been tossed yet. I'm sure the handcuffs (real ones) would be entertaining enough, not to mention the various floggers, whips, knives, rope, sex toys, etc etc etc...
I have stopped carrying hypodermic needles across borders - it seriously didn't cross my mind until recently that if they were discovered, I could be viewed as an injecting drug user, which of course most Customs agencies would have a few looooong questions about. :-(
Just a question on the US situation: are they still fingerprinting everyone (non-US passport holders) like criminals?
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Hard News: The Wogistan form book, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
Canberra Airport ALWAYS pulls me aside for bomb screening. I go there every 6 or so weeks, and I'm just assuming they're so bored, they need to be doing something. They love their bomb screening there.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Free and Legal, in reply to Brent Jackson,
in combination with the age of my OS (Windows 5.0SP4). Time for an upgrade methinks.
I'd definitely say that would be the first port of call! Windows 2000?
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Speaker: Queen City: A Secret History of…, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Dude, her lifetime. She was a transwoman, not just a drag queen.
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Hard News: The Next Act, in reply to Shaun Lott,
Don't worry, I've lived here most of my life, and I never got the fascination with Holmes either. Nearly all of the causes he espoused - and I include Eve Van Grafhorst in this - had an air of the dogwhistle about them (in that instance, while he was probably genuinely shocked at Eve's treatment, there was a big helping of "We're better than those Aussies" about it).
Thanks for the balanced obit, Russell, and here's hoping that will be the end of all the slavering from the rest of the media. This past couple of weeks of pre-obits has been incredibly irritating. I think the only day when there wasn't a story was the day before he actually passed away.
I'd also be interested if Damian can crank something out, because I'd like to understand what the fascination was with this so-called champion of the "underdog" was (John Banks? Don't make me larf).
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I just missed the KG club, which met its demise just before I became part of the queer community.
But thanks for the reflection on where we were and how much things have really changed (while a few things remain the same).
I would like to mention the fact that lesbians weren't just playing in softball/soccer teams or creating newsletters (although those were important cultural icons). In the 80s and 90s, we were also dancing away at clubs like Juliana's, Tongue n Groove, whatever that bar was upstairs in Albert St with the iconic pool night, and Lasso upstairs in Staircase in its latter incarnation on K Rd.
Also, I'd like to acknowledge the important role Rainbow Youth (formed out of ALGY) has played for many GenX and Y youths (and young people like my nephew now) in supporting their coming out process and other advocacy. I never directly participated in their groups, but many many of my friends did, from the gay, lesbian, bi and trans subgroups. A fantastic support organisation.
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Hard News: MegaBox: From f**k-all to zero, in reply to Stephen Judd,
+1
Frankly, if I WERE a child pornographer, I would sure as hell be encrypting everything up the wazoo already, and have been doing so for years. Not to mention PGPing emails and suchlike.
I think there have been papers written about how internet crime/dodginess enables certain technologies to develop faster, like engineering and the military. While porn isn't crime as such, the amount of huge web farms and sophisicated content-delivery methods they use has certainly enhanced those technologies - they have the money to throw at it.
So too with crims and certain types of viruses, bot, and encryption/"hiding stuff" technology.