Disney values campaign
Ciaran McHale
like the increased risk of flamewars due to cross-posted articles.]
I have been having an email conversation with somebody in England
about issues regarding biphobia. The person made a claim that I
thought might not be valid (he claims there is a lot more
anti-bisexual prejudice within the lesbian-gay community than in
the straight community). When I challenged him on that claim,
he said his viewpoint was backed up by (and I quote him)
"the American bisexual 'Disney values' campaign based on US
statistics of a few years back which began very controversially
but later gained much support."
I did some Google searches to try to find information about this
"Disney values" campaign but I couldn't turn up any information that
seemed relevant (*lots* of hits about irrelevant topics such as how
"Disney values" relates to providing high quality customer service
and controversy over some Disney cartoons).
Not being able to find relevant information via Google, I asked him
for a link to documentation on the "Disney values" campaign. He
refused to provide a link. I don't know whether the guy is full of
crap or if he is being uncooperative because other parts of our
email exchange got a bit heated (when I challenged some other
implausible-sounding claims he made).
So, I ask here. Does "the American bisexual 'Disney values'
campaign based on US statistics of a few years back which began
very controversially but later gained much support" ring any bells
with anybody here?
Regards,
Ciaran.
--
Ciaran McHale, www.CiaranMcHale.com
Email: ciaran _ mchale @ yahoo . co . uk
Mobile: +44-(0)7866-416-134
Alan J Rosenthal
>The person made a claim that I
>thought might not be valid (he claims there is a lot more
>anti-bisexual prejudice within the lesbian-gay community than in
>the straight community)
I doubt there's more, but it sometimes seems like it because it hurts more.
Actually I think there's been a huge change in this regard in the last decade
or so (much more bi positivity from lesbians and gay men).
regards,
p.s. I realize I'm not discussing your original topic, hope that's ok,
usenet thread drift and all
Ciaran McHale
news:2009Jun27.1...@jarvis.cs.toronto.edu:
>>The person made a claim that I
>>thought might not be valid (he claims there is a lot more
>>anti-bisexual prejudice within the lesbian-gay community than in
>>the straight community)
>
> I doubt there's more, but it sometimes seems like it because it
> hurts more.
That's my gut feeling too. As an analogy, if a stranger says
something insulting to you then it stings a bit, but if a friend
or family member says the same insulting thing to you then it stings
a lot more. Likewise, if a bisexual person thinks of the lesbian-gay
community as being much more "friends and family" than the straight
community then hearing a biphobic remark from a gay man or lesbian
is going to sting more than hearing a similar remark from a straight
person.
David Kaye
wrote:
> about issues regarding biphobia. The person made a claim that I
> thought might not be valid (he claims there is a lot more
> anti-bisexual prejudice within the lesbian-gay community than in
> the straight community).
Having thinking most of my life that I was gay and then in recent
years discovering that I'm really bi, I can attest to the fact that
there is less bi-phobia among straight than gay. It's a world of
difference. There are, however, many gay men who will secretly pull
me aside and admit to "having been bi at one time" or "having had sex
with a girlfriend", but who would never admit it publicly.
The other evening when I was at the Powerhouse bar in SF, there was a
Playboy magazine lying on the bar for some unknown reason. Many gay
men picked it up or glanced at it lying there and came out with
unsolicited comments such as, "EEEWWWW" or "PUSSY! YECCHHH!" or other
discouraging remarks. I can't think of any time when I've heard
straight folks make such comments about male bodies.
This is a big reason why I prefer to socialize in non-gay
environments.
Ciaran McHale
9126-d2a...@e21g2000yqb.googlegroups.com:
>Having thinking most of my life that I was gay and then in recent
>years discovering that I'm really bi, I can attest to the fact that
>there is less bi-phobia among straight than gay. It's a world of
>difference.
I'd like to play devil's advocate, so in what I say below I'm not
arguing because I necessariarly disagree with you. Rather, I'm just
trying to solicit information.
I'm guessing that many straight people who are biphobic are also
homophobic, and furthermore I'm guessing that when such
homophobic-and-biphobic straight persons encounter a bisexual, they
are more likely to make a homopbobic remark than a biphobic remark.
If this guess of mine is correct then it suggests that a bisexual
may have difficulty in accurately judging the levels of prejudice
within the straight community. In particular, the bisexual person
may:
o Judge the level of homophobia in the straight community
quite accurately.
o Judge the level of biphobia in the straight community
to be lower than it really is (because some of the biphobia
is masked by more-quickly-voiced homophobia).
If the bisexual person is able to accurately judge the level of
biphobia in the lesbian-gay community then s/he might end up thinking
that there is more biphobia within the lesbian-gay community than in
the straight community.
>The other evening when I was at the Powerhouse bar in SF, there
>was a Playboy magazine lying on the bar for some unknown reason.
>Many gay men picked it up or glanced at it lying there and came
>out with unsolicited comments such as, "EEEWWWW" or "PUSSY!
>YECCHHH!" or other discouraging remarks.
I agree that those remarks were unpleasant and uncalled for. But
I'd view those comments as more likely arising from sexism than
from biphobia.