Difference between revisions of "328--Week 8 Questions/Comments"
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(→Kennedy's "'But We Would Never Talk about it': The Structures of Lesbian Discretion in South Dakota, 1928-1933") |
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I found the question that the author, Elizabeth Kennedy, posed at the beginning of the article was an interesting one: "Is discretion always oppressive?" (410) I was just beginning to read the article when I somehow got onto the topic of what I was reading with a friend of mine. (Note that this friend is friends with many homosexuals and has rather strong opinions on the subject of homosexuality and 'queer culture'). I had said something about the fact that I found it interesting but not surprising that Julia Boyer Reinstein would "never talk about it" and enjoyed having her private life private. I immediately received a lecture about "imposed silence" and the societal values that imposed it. That lecture made me think that too many people view lesbianism through the lens of the liberation movement. The author herself admits to it (see footnote #6 in the article). The reason this article was so interesting is that it takes into account the time period... and doesn't judge Boyer Reinstein from a modern standpoint. The reason that she and so many others were able to live fulfilling and discrete lives as lesbians was because as was noted by Elsa Gidlow “it did seem that in those days civilized persons respected one another’s privacies” (422). Everyone was circumspect about their private lives, homo- or hetero-sexual. - Sarah H | I found the question that the author, Elizabeth Kennedy, posed at the beginning of the article was an interesting one: "Is discretion always oppressive?" (410) I was just beginning to read the article when I somehow got onto the topic of what I was reading with a friend of mine. (Note that this friend is friends with many homosexuals and has rather strong opinions on the subject of homosexuality and 'queer culture'). I had said something about the fact that I found it interesting but not surprising that Julia Boyer Reinstein would "never talk about it" and enjoyed having her private life private. I immediately received a lecture about "imposed silence" and the societal values that imposed it. That lecture made me think that too many people view lesbianism through the lens of the liberation movement. The author herself admits to it (see footnote #6 in the article). The reason this article was so interesting is that it takes into account the time period... and doesn't judge Boyer Reinstein from a modern standpoint. The reason that she and so many others were able to live fulfilling and discrete lives as lesbians was because as was noted by Elsa Gidlow “it did seem that in those days civilized persons respected one another’s privacies” (422). Everyone was circumspect about their private lives, homo- or hetero-sexual. - Sarah H | ||
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| + | Julia's story seems so foreign in today's "open" society. Now that sexuality is openly discussed, sexual orientation seems to be a much bigger, public concern. Although Julia had to keep her affairs private, she did not have to "reveal" and openly discuss her sexuality publicly as many women today must do. It seems a more comfortable situation. But I do wonder when Julia was with her lesbian friends if there was an "elephant in the room" that they wanted but feared to openly acknowledge? -- Meredith Bojarski | ||
== Dr. Carlton C. Frederick on Nymphomania, 1907 == | == Dr. Carlton C. Frederick on Nymphomania, 1907 == | ||
