Day: April 2, 2018

Boystown in Chicago used to be seen as one of the safest neighborhoods in Chicago. With the hit of the Great Recession of 2007-2009, people started channeling anger and hatred toward the LGBTQ youth of color of Chicago for the decreased rent and property values and an alleged increase in crime (even though police records show an apparent decrease from the previous years). Social media played a large roll in this channeling of racist fears and (white) homonormativity. Facebook groups like Lakeview 9-1-1 and Take Back Boystown frequently saw posts with photos and videos taken of queer POC demonizing them with racist, classist, and transphobic ideologies, blaming them (the others)for the apparent increase in crime and decline in property value in Boystown. [1] Noise complaints, loitering, drug possession, and other petty crimes were used to blame the queer “street youth” of color of Chicago for more violent crimes like assaults and muggings. What was neglected, however, were the loud drunk white gays outside bars, the white drug dealers, the white ‘trouble makers.’ Anecdotes from trans women of color indicate an increase in racism and a willingness of residents to be more open about their racist/transphobic/bigoted attitudes in Boystown, which they mention used to be a place of acceptance and safety. Not that there wasn’t racism in Boystown before, but the effects of social media creating an echo chamber of bigoted hatred toward queer POC were such that these previously suppressed attitudes became more mainstream.

 

[1] Blair, Z. (2016). Boystown: Gay Neighborhoods, Social Media, and the (Re)production of Racism in E. P. Johnson (Ed.), No Tea, No Shade: New Writings in Black Queer Studies (pp. 287-303). Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.

In her work, “Equality, Inc.” Lisa Duggan criticizes the recoding of key terms in the history of gay politics due to support and push for homonormativity—politics that does not contest the dominant heteronormative standards and institutions, such as marriage. She criticizes the recoding of the terms such as “equality”, “freedom” and “right to privacy,” stating, “‘equality’ becomes narrow, formal access to a few conservatizing institutions, ‘freedom’ becomes impunity for bigotry and vast inequalities in commercial life and civil society, the ‘right to privacy’ becomes domestic confinement, and the democratic politics itself become something to be escaped” (Duggan 65-66).  To make such a statement, Duggan draws on the example of “Gay Tunnel Vision” as “gay civil rights groups have adopted neoliberal rhetoric and corporate decision-making models” (Duggan 47).  Gay civil rights organization have become to push for gay marriage and support the “increasingly narrow gay, money elite” (Duggan 47).

A specific organization named by Duggan was the Human Rights Campaign. She also draws upon the words of Cato Institute vice president, David Boaz. Boaz argues that gay marriage is preferable to that of domestic partnership. As a gay libertarian, he does not oppose the institution and administration of marriage as one might imagine.  To construct the recoding of the term “right to privacy” to domestic confinement, Duggan draws on the actions of the Independent Gay Forum in spreading the word about their new gay politics that “offers a dramatically shrunken public sphere and narrow zone of ‘responsible’ domestic privacy” (Duggan 53).

Reference:

Lisa Duggan, “Equality, Inc.,” in The Twilight of Equality?: Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics, and the Attack on Democracy. Boston: Beacon Press, 2003. pp. 43-66.

 

 

In Lisa Duggan’s book, Equality, Inc., Duggan says, “‘Equality’ becomes narrow, formal access to a few conservativizing institutions, ‘freedom’ becomes immunity for bigotry and vast inequalities in commercial life and civil society, the ‘right to privacy’ becomes domestic confinement, and democratic politics itself becomes something to be escaped” (65-66). Duggan example of equality becoming narrow is what she refers to as “gay tunnel vision” which focuses on issues such as marriage equality rather than issues faced by disadvantaged populations within the queer community. Her reference to conservativizing institutions relates to the Human Rights Campaign sponsoring things like pride marches. She mentions how institutions like the Human Rights Campaign do not focus on the true issues queer communities face but rather superficial issues that primarily affect upper middle class cis white gay men. They also make a profit on these fights for equality. Further, Duggan’s mention of freedom reinforces her idea of gay tunnel vision in that many within the queer face inequalities that are not addressed. Finally, Duggan mentions the “right to privacy” becoming “domestic confinement” because many queer issues have been limited to issues such as gay marriage which is an attempt to assimilate to straight heteronormative ideas.

Lisa Duggan, “Equality, Inc.,” in The Twilight of Equality?: Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics, and the Attack on Democracy (Boston: Beacon Press, 2003), 43-66.

 

How did Boystown neighborhood residents reproduce racism through digital practices? 

In Chicago, the Boystown community is considered a thriving gay entertainment district and residential neighborhood, but the residents remain largely white and middle class due to the use of social media, which reinforces segregation. However, people of color still experience segregation and hostility because they are blamed for almost all crimes (Blair, 2016, p. 290). This community formed and practiced “race-based” systems of social control. While there appeared to be good intentions of eliminating violence from Boystown, the blame put on gay black youth serves to group and stereotype the gay black youth community into one category, which creates a racialized environment. Digital practices, such as “Take Back Boystown” and “Lakeview 9-1-1,” were created for discussion of violent crimes in the neighborhood. Through these Facebook pages, they allowed the community to negatively portray black lives. Therefore, through these avenues, racism was legitimized and black gay youth became the “unwanted population” (Blair, 2016, p. 298). This issue expands outside of the Boystown community into a variety of things including a poor education system, corrupt politics, and a collapsed economy.

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Blair, Z. (2016). Gay Neighborhoods, Social Media, and the (Re)production of Racism: Boystown. No Tea, No Shade. (pp. 287-303). Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.