Talking Point #3

Dennis Carlson; "Gayness, Multiculturalism and Community"

Author's Argument:
Carlson argues that the gay community does not do enough to be shown and revealed. Since they do not speak up they are invisible or even "the child sitting in the back of the class not talking."

Quotes:
1. "Nevertheless, normalizing texts systematically exclude and neglect the culture of those outside the norm for the purpose of ratifying or legitimating the dominant culture as the only significant culture worth studying."
Carlson is explaining that with textbooks in schools showing what the ideal life is in a community it is hard for someone that is gay to come out because this is dug into their head for so long. The dominant sexual community in the world is straight and with the gay community not being as big as the straight community it is hard to feel accepted. The generation of people that is alive now is the generation that I believe fully-accepts the gay community. Previous generations before us have struggled to accept them and will in many cases never accept them because they saw in school that being gay was wrong and that a man and a woman is the lifestyle that everyone has to live out. The older generations were raised to know man and woman were only suppose to be in a relationship, but since some teachers talk about gays from the past it is in a way easier for a person that is gay to come out.

2. "To the extent that gayness is recognized in the curriculum, it is likely to be in the health curriculum, where it is associated with disease."
Carlson points out that even though being gay has been seen as a lifestyle some still consider it a disease. When a person that is gay finally comes out to their family in some cases the family will believe that it is a lie, they also think what did we do wrong as parents, or even if it is a disease. Older generations of people will in fact believe that being gay is a disease. When they were growing up it was man and woman, now with man and man and woman and woman it is not acceptable. It is as if someone gets a disease that is considered "one in a million" and being gay is considered part of that "one in a million" epidemic. In a health class this may just be one of the diseases that a teacher speaks about, but to those that are gay they do not see it as a disease they see it as a lifestyle that is full of pain and joy.

3. "Popular culture may represent identity, but identity also is represented in corporeal form, as individuals actively 'live' their identities and make these identities visible i their everyday relations with others."
Carlson points out that in today's society there is a lot of "monkey see, monkey do." What I mean by that statement is that people of today live out their lives as they see famous people living. If something is the latest trend then they follow the trend that was made instead of branching out and starting their own trend. This is stopping people from becoming what Carlson would say is "visible" because he says that if you are gay and do not come out then you are going to stay invisible forever, until you finally do come out. With people not coming out and expressing themselves I believe that Carlson would say that they are never going to be seen and will forever stay in the shadows. If you do come out then you will be live, vibrant, and full of color.

Questions/Comments/Points to Share:
Carlson touched on many different sections on how it is to be gay living in a society as there is today. Being gay in today's society I believe is easier for those people that are gay than it was ten years ago. Carlson also touches on how being gay is not shown as an acceptable lifestyle through education and especially in textbooks. Teachers have spoken about homosexual lifestyles in class that I have been in, but in all my years of reading a textbook I have never encountered a section where is says that being gay is acceptable. People live out their lives the way that they want to. Whether it is being gay, straight or bi-sexual. The generation of today as grown to accept the gay community because there are so many that are apart of our generation. It is the earlier generations that have the issues with people being gay. I believe that later generations will have no problems or concerns at all when it comes to being gay. Even though i say that now that does not mean that all people are going to accept the gay community because there will always be a select few or group that discriminates against gays even though it is wrong.