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dragonlady7via http://ift.tt/2o5MUUC
cipollakate:
I had a hard time getting a decent picture, so trust me when I say it looks better than this in real life. Anyhow, something that is constantly on my mind and that I’m constantly struggling with is how it’s only recently that queer people are being allowed a history, and even then it’s only begrudgingly, and in pieces.
A big part of being queer (especially in this day and age with access to the Internet, I think, which has helped matters somewhat) is learning throughout your life that there are loads of famous historical figures who were queer, and dealing with the frustration both that it’s been swept under the rug for however many years, from decades to centuries, and with how historians will do their level best to handwave away the queerness of the individual involved. A big part of our lives is being told repeatedly that there are no famous or wonderful people like us in history. That our sexuality is not palatable or acceptable to the world. That we are alone.
And it’s just not true. Shakespeare wrote shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? with male pronouns. Kitty Genovese was an out lesbian living with her girlfriend at the time of her murder. The Ladies of Llangollen named their dogs Sappho. But despite how loud we are, the louder historians get, going “well, who’s to say?”. And it’s even worse for people who don’t show up in history books, who just go about living their lives, because it’s far easier to sweep us under the rug when we have not lived our lives in the public eye. We are easily forgotten because for centuries, people have wanted us to be, and in large parts, they controlled the narrative, a narrative we are only just beginning to get a hold on.
I was looking for projects to work on when I returned to the woodshop this semester, and in my writing tag, I found this quote by Sappho, someone even the most desperate of historians have a hard time disputing the queerness of. And I thought about the quiet longing of this that I think a lot of us carry around. We won’t be blurred or buried forever. We won’t always be hidden. Someone will remember us, even in another time.
Tl;dr, I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about queer history, so I made this thing, and it was kinda cathartic, so I’m glad I did.
(Your picture was not posted)
cipollakate:
I had a hard time getting a decent picture, so trust me when I say it looks better than this in real life. Anyhow, something that is constantly on my mind and that I’m constantly struggling with is how it’s only recently that queer people are being allowed a history, and even then it’s only begrudgingly, and in pieces.
A big part of being queer (especially in this day and age with access to the Internet, I think, which has helped matters somewhat) is learning throughout your life that there are loads of famous historical figures who were queer, and dealing with the frustration both that it’s been swept under the rug for however many years, from decades to centuries, and with how historians will do their level best to handwave away the queerness of the individual involved. A big part of our lives is being told repeatedly that there are no famous or wonderful people like us in history. That our sexuality is not palatable or acceptable to the world. That we are alone.
And it’s just not true. Shakespeare wrote shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? with male pronouns. Kitty Genovese was an out lesbian living with her girlfriend at the time of her murder. The Ladies of Llangollen named their dogs Sappho. But despite how loud we are, the louder historians get, going “well, who’s to say?”. And it’s even worse for people who don’t show up in history books, who just go about living their lives, because it’s far easier to sweep us under the rug when we have not lived our lives in the public eye. We are easily forgotten because for centuries, people have wanted us to be, and in large parts, they controlled the narrative, a narrative we are only just beginning to get a hold on.
I was looking for projects to work on when I returned to the woodshop this semester, and in my writing tag, I found this quote by Sappho, someone even the most desperate of historians have a hard time disputing the queerness of. And I thought about the quiet longing of this that I think a lot of us carry around. We won’t be blurred or buried forever. We won’t always be hidden. Someone will remember us, even in another time.
Tl;dr, I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about queer history, so I made this thing, and it was kinda cathartic, so I’m glad I did.
(Your picture was not posted)
