Queer People as Corrupters

From http://guyism.com/entertainment/tv/12-most-whipped-husbands-and-boyfriends-in-tv-history.html/attachment/mr-slave

One of the more destructive of the portrayals of queer people is one that states that queer people are corruptors and that they are destructive to society. This is a rather older belief, dating back to the early 20^th century and coming to prominence in the Cold War-era, but it is still used on occasion, especially within the gay marriage debate, stating that, if gay marriage is passed, then it will destroy the institution of marriage. Why would giving someone the right to marry destroy marriage for everyone else if they were not considered corruptors of “normal”, “proper” society.

This is not a portrayal that queer people necessarily step into on their own, but it is something that they are often focused into unwittingly, adding to the horror of this stereotype. This role may be a negative one, but it does still bring with it symbolic capital, much like someone who commits a public crime gains notoriety. It is because of the negativity that the public feel towards figures like these that they loose much of the symbolic capital that they gain from these roles; yes, they are still recognized, but they almost all other benefits.

A modern example of this portrayal in popular media is the character of Mr. Slave in South Park. Mr. Slave is actually intended to be an anti-sympathetic character, though he reveals himself to be a kind and caring individual, actually at one point stating that they should not cheer for him and glorify him because he is “a filthy whore.” Mr. Slave (or Teacher’s Ass as Mr. Garrison called him), in most situations, is someone who is meant to make the audience uncomfortable because he is constantly being exposed to the children of South Park while doing any number of inappropriate things, including rubbing his groin at a Jonas Brothers concert with children all around, never using better judgement and stopping as if he just cannot help himself, like he has no self-control. He is constantly presented as if to invite parents to look at him as an extremely negative influence, which he even admits openly, as if to show parents what happens when they allow their child to be around gay men. His voice is one that is only heard in the rarest of circumstances, aside from his catchphrase, “Oh, Jesus Christ!”, and, in the end, he merely becomes a caricature, even when he is goes through something positive, like his wedding, he is satirized, wearing a white wedding dress and showing what will actually happen if gay men are allowed to be married. He lacks a clear, individual voice and is not given much capital outside of affairs of a sexual or feminine nature.

An example involving lesbians is a little more difficult to find because, as a political character in South Park stated, “Well, who cares about f***ing lesbians?”, but one common trope in popular culture is the figure of the lesbian vampire and, in many ways, it is far more destructive because at least characters like Mr. Slave are human, but the image of the lesbian vampire strips away the humanity and turns them into monster who not only corrupt the nice straight characters, but also feed on them.

From http://www.pspoof.com/_images/imgpv.asp?id=8852&cat=ALL&subcat=M&page=1

The portrayal of queer people as the corruptors, in a way, gives capital to society rather than the people it represents because the stereotype muffles their voice and invites society to voice their beliefs and lay their fears onto these characters.

These portrayals and stereotypes have had profound effects on the way that queer people have been treated. Germany in the 1930s is a graphic example of this with the changes made to Paragraph 175 within the crime code:

§ 175 Indecency between men (1935)

Section I: A man who commits indecency with another man, or engages as the passive partner to be misused indecently will be punished by imprisonment.

These…changes to paragraph 175 significantly expanded the reach of the law, effectively criminalizing any form of affection between men. It prosecuted men for kissing, mutual masturbation, love-letters or even sordid glances. In one recorded instance, a soldier on leave was arrested for merely brushing up against another man, who was an undercover SS sergeant (Amir Persistence 4).

Now, this may seem like its been regulated to the halls of history, but these sorts of beliefs are still prevalent through the world, including places like contemporary Poland where right-wing politicians and “representatives of Catholic clergy [will] argue against allowing equality marches, calling them a ‘threat to public morality’ and an effort to ‘promote homosexuality,’ almost inevitably referring to the obscenity seen in the Berlin Love Parades” and “‘ordinary people’ featured by the media [will] express their ‘instinctive’ hostility to ‘perversion’ or — in the moderate version of the ritual — claim that they had nothing against gay people as long as they did not have to see them in public” (Graff para. 3).

Finally, if this doesn’t convince some, watch the video below and learn about what was called “The Lavender Scare.”

Works Cited”

– Graff, Agnieszka. Looking at Pictures of Gay Men: Political Uses of Homophobia in Contemporary Poland. PubicCulture.org. 2009. Retrieved 20 Nov. 2012. Online.

-Amir, Adam A. The Persistence of Paragraph 175: Nazi-style Justice in Post-War Germany.4. May 2010. Retrieved 20 Nov. 2012.