tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13576198.post117285346652980382..comments2023-09-05T05:20:50.393-04:00Comments on second americano: (shhh...) Wagner was.....A Cross Dresser!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13576198.post-1173248315175056612007-03-07T01:18:00.000-05:002007-03-07T01:18:00.000-05:00The most forgiving attitude I can muster for the G...The most forgiving attitude I can muster for the Guardian article is that it was just celebrity gossip. <BR/><BR/>The more meaty issue: "Why do we work so hard to separate masculinity from femininity?" Evolutionary biology has a reasonable response to that question: it was a matter of species survival. In the modern world, however, that answer no longer applies, and hasn't for centuries. That there are still rigid binary gender protocols in cultures today is, I believe, a social atavism.Periapsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04137510079841995583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13576198.post-1172959523302927632007-03-03T17:05:00.000-05:002007-03-03T17:05:00.000-05:00I enjoyed picturing Sam, in an act of defiance, ma...I enjoyed picturing Sam, in an act of defiance, marching into Rebecca's closet, ripping out a smart little Ann Taylor wool sweater -- possibly in a green or blue -- and putting it on without hesitation. It probably looked quite nice and fitted. Maybe you even wore it to the food store! Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. ;)Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04448647157972462097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13576198.post-1172935016280509642007-03-03T10:16:00.000-05:002007-03-03T10:16:00.000-05:00I confess to not having read the Guardian article....I confess to not having read the Guardian article. But that in no way compromises the puerile glee I find in gossipy stories of right-wingers and their private kinks, real or imagined. So Wagner was a precursor to the 80s hair-bands: operatic, cock-rocking machismo dressed up in lipstick and butless leather chaps. Where's the offense in that?tenaciousmcdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16017631367821997948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13576198.post-1172918430237267762007-03-03T05:40:00.000-05:002007-03-03T05:40:00.000-05:00Really, that Guardian article was supposed to be f...Really, that <I>Guardian</I> article was supposed to be <B>funny</B>? <BR/><BR/>If so, then I completely and utterly misread it. I took it as a serious piece exploring the life and history of Wagner as a famous and serious composer. Didn't occur to me for a moment that it was a joke - nor did it read that way to me. Indeed, I've never found the Guardian to have much of a sense of humour, but maybe I'm missing the point. It was written by the arts correspondent.<BR/><BR/>Also, I didn't see how they were making fun of him because he was an 'anti-semitic proto-fascist'. I quite take your point about J. Edgar Hoover, but for me that's a more serious point because he was such a homophobe - it's hypocritical behaviour that makes it very relevant.fronesishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13544185676179565507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13576198.post-1172884076123204852007-03-02T20:07:00.000-05:002007-03-02T20:07:00.000-05:00Maybe I have too adolesecent a sense of humor, but...Maybe I have too adolesecent a sense of humor, but anti-Semitic, proto-fascists in drag is FUNNY. Same for J. Edgar Hoover, even if that's probably not true either. I know we're supposed to be very sensitive and yet also somehow non-challentely oblivious to things like cross-dressing, but come on. If Aristophanes and Shakespeare can find entertainment in this sort of gender-bending gossip, I certainly don't want to bust up the party.tenaciousmcdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16017631367821997948noreply@blogger.com