My selection for this week's "Found on the Net" image comes from David Dust's personal blog, which I've recently stumbled upon.
"I am taking a couple days off from blogging - it is "Papis On Parade" weekend. I hope to be on the streets on Sunday taking pictures of the shirtless men during the National Puerto Rican Day Parade. It is supposed to be 93 degrees, and humid - PERFECT!" - David Dust
Well, David, please, please, please don't keep us in suspense!
I typically don't approach the topic of racism on this blog for two reasons: 1) there
are bloggers out there already doing a great job bringing attention to these
issues, and 2) The MasculineCurves motto
is “a space to embrace men of all cultures,” so I tend to focus the content on
matters that explore the good things about diverse cultures. My hope is that EVERYONE feels comfortable
reading and contributing to this blog.
So I was a little baffled on Monday when activist Jasmyne Cannick posted a commentary on the supposed racism this series of t-shirts represented:
"Since when did the struggles of Black people, that by the way haven’t ended (Jena 6, hello!!!), become fashionable? Everything is the new Black, not the new white, brown, or yellow.The new Black WTF is up with that?" [full commentary here]
Am I naïve, or was Jasmyne being a bit too reactive to the word “black”. I just could not see the connection between the phrases on these shirts and racism. To me, they are obviously playing off the old fashion cliché “such and such is the new black.” As we all know, whenever something becomes trendy it’s coined “the new black.” Every good girl has that little black dress and every good boy has that tailored black suit – they never go out of style.
Now don’t get me wrong. I have a great deal of respect for the work Jasmyne does, and I often find the content on her blog informative and relevant (in fact, it’s made the MasculineCurves A-list). But this particular commentary seemed a little off-base to me. There’s nothing on these shirts that is derogatory to African Americans or our culture. Is it possible that we sometimes become so sensitive to racism that we actually go on a witch hunt searching for it. In this case, it looks as though Jasmyne merely overlooked the fact that black is not only a race, but a color too.
On
the other hand, The Jena 6 and Genarlow Wilson are two blatant examples that are
disturbing matters of concern for the current state of race relations in this
country. For the latest developments and
commentary on these cases I recommend we continue to follow Jasmyne’s blog as
well as Rod 2.0.
This week’s quote evoked mixed emotions throughout the blogosphere. It’s the now infamous listing on Pride City Guide promoting a nightclub event in which only HIV negative people are invited to attend. Entertainment blogger Clay Cane was the first to bust the story and bring it to our attention on Tuesday.
"The verbiage of the listing
is frightening, especially the last line, 'we must understand that HIV- people are the future' The language is the
equivalent to Eugenics and the "master race" dogma." Clay Cane
And if you haven’t seen the listing, here’s the link.
The concept of the event and the word choice used in the ad has drawn quite a critical reaction from bloggers both for and against it. Whether the event was conceived with a holocaustic notion, or the ad was unintentionally scripted in poor taste, the situation has served as a catalyst for a very important discussion. The matter of fact is that unless HIV tests are administered at the door, there is simply no way of knowing a person’s HIV status. If we assume (or led to believe through the association of an event like this) the person we are with is HIV negative, have we actually posed the question before hitting the sheets? That’s why if we choose to be sexual beings we must treat every encounter as if our partner is HIV positive. Even if he says he’s not, there is no 100% guarantee. So protecting ourselves is simple; use a condom each and everytime. If anyone out there is naive enough to think they have never slept with an HIV positive man, then think again.
Here’s
what other bloggers had to say on the issue:
"But is this a support group or a dating association? I’m unclear. A gathering of gay men in a bar setting, each assuming they are meeting other HIV-negative men, sounds potentially dangerous to me." J. Brotherlove
"There are many dating support groups out there for poz guys and a similar service for HIV- guys doesn't strike me as inherently wrong. Still, I don't like the wording of this ad, [it] really pisses me off and the title of the event is flat out offensive." Joe. My. God.
“Like
most revolutions it starts with the individual and I am trying my best to do my
part in strengthening gay/straight relations in this country. That starts with
me not looking at other guys in the locker room.” Adam’s
Web Log
It’s
been a while since I’ve posted quotes from the blogging community. My day job
has been quite intense lately, and it’s all I can do to keep up with my own
blog, let alone find time to peruse the blogosphere.
However,
today I came across Adam's Web Log and was so impressed that I chose to add it
to the MasculineCurves A-List. Adam is a
web and graphic designer up in Harlem, NYC, and when I read his bio I discovered we have something in common—a strong
dislike for the design disaster of a social networking site called MySpace.
With witty commentary, short stories, and down-to-earth grit, Adam's blog serves up an intelligent and entertaining read that's definitely worthy of a daily visit. Oh, and check out his photo gallery…he’s a sexy brotha too!
Perhaps gay bloggers won’t be
able to get married or retire anytime soon, but there’s always a good time to
be had in the Caribbean.
On gay
marriage:
“It's
almost like marriage equality is becoming the same type of wedge issue that it
was in 2004, but only this time, the wedge is being rammed into the gay
community at large…” At33 blogger criticizes the focus on gay marriage during last
week’s Logo/HRC Presidential Forum.
On retirement
planning:
“Thanks to other people's shitty mortgages, my 401K is worth 89.71
percent of what it was a month ago… It's all magic money anyways and the
likelihood that I'll ever be able to retire and take up painting nudes or
becoming an opera queen is pretty minimal.” Homer’s World
On Caribbean vacations:“I met one hustler who had four kids (showed me
pictures of his kids) and a wife -- he claimed he could show me a good time and
if my friend, who is a female, wanted a little "lickey-lickey" he
could work that out too.” As a follow-up to his Self-Hating Latin Fetish post, entertainment blogger Clay Cane
gives us his observations on Dominican culture after returning from a recent vacation in the Caribbean country.“I wondered if this
type of man is labeled as "DL" in D.R. and blamed for the HIV/AIDS
epidemic, like the States.”
It’s Friday—time for quotes! Testaments of faith and questions of hypocrisy seemed to be on the minds of bloggers this week:
On church and state:
“I believe in God, but I don't believe in using God or religion as a device to make me feel better than you. My vision of God may not be the same as yours. I don't care. I just don't want you to impose your vision on me and I won't impose mine on you. At least not in public policy.” Keith Boykin's commentary on Islamic fundamentalism warns us of the dangers of mixing church and state.
On lost in translation:
“I have quite a few issues with the King James Version of the Bible and don’t really believe it for what it is supposed to be.” C. Baptiste-Williams over at His Story reminds us that an English King commissioned “a translation of a translation that isn’t even a literal translation.”
On heresy:
“Typical Southern Republican. That is not what is meant by exposing young people to the gospel.” Sports writer Bijan C. Bayne comments on the arrest of a conservative Baptist Minister, Tommy Tester, who exposed himself in front of a group of children and solicited police officers for oral sex.
It's Friday, which means it's time to see what set the blogosphere on fire this week!
On co-dependent
relationships:
“Yesterday really was like Christmas!” boasted
gossip queen Perez Hilton (referring to his play-by-play coverage of Lindsay
Lohan’s arrest). “We set a new all-time traffic record on Tuesday. Over the course of 24 hours, we had 7.1
MILLION page views on PerezHilton.com yesterday!!!!”
If it weren’t for
Perez, Lohan’s career would have been over after Mean Girls. If it were’t for
Lohan, Perez would be folding jeans at the GAP.
In
response to:
“It would have been
so much easier for me to just jump on the anti-Flavaworks bandwagon; yell at
Phillip Bleicher for being white, join hands with Keith and Jasmine and make
Gay Black America proud,” rants Frank Leon Roberts as he criticizes Keith
Boykin and Jasmyne Cannick’s coverage of the Flavaworks scandal.
In remembrance:
“Tammy Faye became
an icon for our community. In spite of—and perhaps because of the hardships she
faced—she embraced us, she refused to judge and repudiated those who did. She will be long-remembered and deeply
missed. Our condolences go to her family
and her wide circle of loving friends.” Statement by Matt Foreman, Executive
Director National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (as reported Steve Rothaus’s Miami
Herald blog).
Here's what the blogosphere had to say this week:
In response to:
"UNICEF Can Kiss My Black... Face." says j. brotherlove in response to a distasteful ad campaign by UNICEF Germany which features white kids in black face (seen above).
Profound:
"I believe you can say nearly anything if it's funny..." says Clay Cane in his commentary on radio shock jock Wendy Williams and her ever increasing intolerance for gays. Here's the full quote: "Now, this wasn't comedy, I believe you can say nearly anything if it's funny, but Wendy's tone was disgust and repulsiveness.
Inspiration:
"All my adult life I admired Victoria's Secret from afar and never allowed myself to entertain the idea that I could fit into anything they had to offer. Those days are ovah. Yah, hear me, ovah! I was so giddy, I kept the pink paper bag as a souvenir. lol." says LGBT activist Jasmyne Cannick in her weight loss diary. She's dropped more than 50 pounds in 17 weeks.... you go girl!
