The Discourse of Surveillance: Queer Blogs As Resistance

The Discourse of Surveillance: Queer Blogs as Resistance Archana P Nair MA English Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam

We are surveilled individuals, surveilled citizens; our citizenship is produced within the discourse of surveillance, even our sense of selves. We even surveill our selves, as we, ourselves get documented somewhere, as it may end up in social ostracization. Pramod K

Nair redoes Descartes phrase to reflect on the contemporary condition. That is, “I am surveilled therefore I am” (2). This condition of surveillance is not region specific, rather a global condition now. The encounter with this particular scenario posits questions on privacy which is often unaddressed. Sexuality of a person does play a major role in this process of being ‘looked at’. Thus provide a gendered notion of surveillance. Again quoting Pramod K

Monitoring of people and places is in itself not new. Vagrants, spies,

troublemakers, unemployed individuals, enemies of the state (real and

imagined), and nomadic tribes who were seen as possible disruptive forces in

any society were placed under surveillance by states across human history. (5)

The significance of surveillance resonates with the history and politics of queer people. Surveillance shapes subjectivity for Michel Foucault (1979) while normalizes for

Michael Warner (2000). Sexual mainstream has always attempted to monitor people with

AIDS, to police the spaces in which dissident sexual behavior occurs, and to expose the non- normative private sexual practices of those who have fought publicly against gay marriage.

Living under Surveillance, post-millennial community transforms themselves in to a spectacle of surveillance. The public sphere and the community is now defined and characterized by its forms, intensities and technologies of surveillance. Such a system is 3 always in demand of citizens who are willing to be part of the surveillance programs. It is this willingness that gets attributed as requisite of citizenship. Different agencies of the state

(including schools) take part in this process of constructing a surveilled citizenry. It is often constructed in the way that it gets linked with the concept/notion of security. And the whole system works in a particular way that the public themselves starts to surveill their actions.

This is different from the Benthamian prison structure which is called ‘panopticon’—now it is much more diffused and wider. Thus we, ourselves transform into a ‘gated community’ where participatory surveillance has become central to the ideas of democracy.

Body is taken as information and it is presupposed that certain bodies enact in certain way. Though there arise discussions on the ethical, moral, philosophical and legal aspects of this age’s surveillance, dataveillance, conditions are just getting worse than ever. This

‘informatization’ of body hasn’t, even now, been acknowledged by gender theorists. Here the meaning of the biological body itself is constructed through surveillance, where sexuality that contradicts with the physique of the person gets problematized. Sexual practices are stigmatized and legally regulated for the non-normative sexual identities. State/the almighty power structure gets on to determine even the desire of a sexual subject (here objectified).

The intermediaries of the system participate in this brutal surveillance strategy, repressing and suppressing desire. The current attempt of the government to ban 857 porn sites can better explain this. Kathryne Conrad from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, US in her article published in Surveillance and Society explains:

The gender queer body—the intersexed, the hermaphroditic, the

transgender(ed), the transexual, and even the 'effeminate male' or the

'masculine' female—is one that does not conform to the accepted biological

binary of 'man' and 'woman' and/or its attendant 'masculine' and 'feminine'

behaviors and physical markers. (385) Hence they are visibly marginalized or their sexuality gets exposed only to establish the ‘deviance’. Who is watching whom? Which is the context in which surveillance is deployed? Where, Why and the How of surveillance are the concerns related to sexual surveillance. These can be filtered out of the writings of the affected, subjected or marginalized ‘other’. Sexual minorities, as they encounter with troubles in their access to public space of expression, uses the open, seemingly democratic platform of social media for a liberal expression. Queer individuals actively involve themselves in the declaration of rights on body. They proclaim their frustration and protest against oppressive sexual surveillance, also adopt medium of popular culture for their ideological expansion.

A number of queer bloggers (Keralites) expressed their anxiety in stopping their blogs because of the shockingly frightening responses they received. Queerala is the one that exist. A recent blog post in Queerala can be taken as an example. In his review on Moses

Tulasi’s documentary Walking the Walk, as published in Queerala, Dr. Parasu Karimbattil speaks of the ‘invisible minority’. The documentary features Telangana queer pride

Swabhiman, held on eighth February 2015, which occasioned pride declaration of body rights visibly and audibly.

Dr. Parasu moves on speaking “…the appellation transgender was rarely heard”

(Blog) during his early years. Surveillance constructs the existence and nonexistence of a being. Here culture, education, religion, all together establishes the nonexistence of the queer.

Growing through a spectrum of homophobic, hetero-normative society, queer selves are disturbed. Later they get in to a phase of realization, fighting with the invisibility to which they are exposed. Dr. Parasu says:

I left Hyderabad in 1983. Four years later, in the boys’ dormitory of an elite

boarding school I discovered that I enjoyed the touch of boys the way adult 5

men and women seemed to enjoy smooching in ‘dirty’ foreign films. It took

another six years for me to figure out that there were a few people belonging

to my own gender (besides scores of the opposite one), whom I actually

wanted to make love with. And yes, at long last I started growing in the

realization that I was no ‘pervert’ or ‘sex maniac’ but an ordinary human

being with a healthy body and slightly broad urges. (Queerala)

He appreciates the movie for its inspiration and opening up the sexual variants in to public discourse. This text is dealt with the terrible violence on transgender, especially the death of Pravallika, a community member. Even if one is educated, they are forced to sex and begging, these brute actions against them are often silenced and never taken seriously for investigation.

Usually one’s sense of self is tied with how he wants to be acknowledged or viewed by the public. For the queer, mind struggles with constant conflicts regarding sexuality. Queer blogs attempt to address the issue and redefine the authorized sense of queer sexual subject as an act of resistance. They analyze cultural texts (books, films) from a queer perspective. Their attempt to change the discourse is a weighty action in all sense. A movie review by Jijo Kuriakose in Queerala’s blog analyzes the text of the movie Un to the Dusk.

According to him, the movie doesn’t depict gay sexuality as such but throws an arrow of the idea. The depiction of gay relationships in the seminaries is vaguely shown with an image of a gay couple sleeping together. Jijo speaks of the greater possibilities of the movie, which could be better used as a political statement (for gay politics or body politics in general).

Linda Robertson attempts to unveil the struggles of a mother with regard to her son’s homosexuality who tried to ‘correct’ his sexual self. She says, “we truly thought what we were doing was loving” (The Huffington Post Voices). As the questions were centered on sexuality they were too afraid to give Ryan (son) a freedom of choice. The binaries of right and wrong have already been constructed. The agencies of this fear construction (here

Church/God) threaten families of social isolation.

Ryan was depressed, suicidal and disillusioned with obsessive use of drugs as he started to hate his own sexuality. The parents have reclaimed their son out of depression accepting him the way he is. The existing myths on homosexuality and their subsequent application in the prevailing social space cause such situations.

Annika Penelope, transgender blogger and activist, shares her experiences of gender transition. His/her decision to transform sprung from the desire to be comfortable in one’s body. This attribute of comfort can be read as a hesitation to accept their biological body.

Annika’s blog posits certain questions regarding the sexist standards of beauty which adds their feeling of insecurity. They try harder to be prettier and attractive according to the constructed sense of beauty conventionally attached to women. An unsatisfactory transformation leads them to blame themselves. Annika takes this into a political prospective to “blame capitalism and a beauty culture designed to make you feel that way” (The

Huffington Post Voices).

They will remain surprisingly ‘otherized’ from the population. Annika says, “It’s an incredibly emotional time, full of triumphs and setbacks and too many feelings to process all by you” (Blog). Through this her blog is metamorphosed into an interactive space for transgender community. This identification with her anxiety is a sign of kinship built among the queer section. “I never allowed myself to fully relax. I constantly police my gender presentation and mannerism to make sure that I wouldn’t raise suspicion” (Blog). These words perfectly portray the element of self-surveillance. 7

Even in this desire of transformation one can detect the attempt to conform to society’s expectations of how someone like this is ‘supposed to’ look or act. Transgender’s right to lead an authentic life (their own definitions of authenticity) faces obstacles throughout their life. At the end there is an expression of desire from oppressed self to lead a life “that focuses less on my gender and the fact that I was DMAB” (Penelope, Blog).

Noah Michelson, the editorial director of The Huffington Post Voices, speaks of the derogatory position attached with gays and his writing becomes a subsequent attempt of resistance against this. He speaks of ‘fag’: “it’s the word that has told us we are dangerous and filthy and evil. It’s the word that has led too many of us to our ends (real or imagined) too soon” (Blog). ‘Fag’ is not a common reference to a gay man. It’s a way of calling someone a bitch or punk. Here society either equates the existence of gay as being an outcaste or doesn’t understand the relation between homophobia (trans-phobia) and sexism.

Another peculiar aspect of queer blogs and its language is the unrestricted ways of expression. Noah’s thoughts operate on accountability of everyday language. Bloggers resist and counter react with the surveillance strategies employed against them with the linguistic weapon. Unfortunately this weapon becomes inefficient with the patriarchal vocabulary we are used to. Mark Stern shares an anti-gay incident of Avakian Found Sweet Cakes bakery by

Melissa which is guilty of discriminating against a lesbian couple. The Bakery has refused to bake a cake for the couple’s commitment ceremony citing their religious opposition to homosexuality. Though, this direct discrimination and violation of Oregan law resulted in the authorities’ denial of the act. They remained hostile to homosexual customers.

Effing Dyke’s blog, well known for courageous discussions on sex and its reach, signals the existence of troubled sexual subjects in society. Blogs being a counter space to establish the ‘other’ reconstructs and deconstructs the established codes or manners of speech, a liberated, energetic language emerged from years of silence. Her blog has turned into a creative interactive space for queer homosexuals to write in and ask those questions burning in their bosoms.

The picture of three crosses on which the crosses are reworked as vaginas, along with other vaginal symbols are the attacks on religious consciousness, which constantly sneak through an individual’s bed. She celebrates her unrestricted sexual explorations. The proposed morality and concept of sex as sin from the very roots of Christianity is ridiculed in

Dyke’s way. Here, even the intellectual restrains of political correctness in language are broken.

Dyke’s statement that sex is not something you do to someone but sex is something that people do together advocates mutuality of sex. This definitely breaks the active male/ passive female dichotomy of gender performances within hetero-culture. She declares the mutuality of sex, the queer democracy, thus attacks the myth of homosexuals as abusers. She seems to be delighted to watch hundreds of homos walking past, holding hands and licking ice-cream with America’s move towards same sex marriage legalization.

Sexual blogosphere stands for an open discussion about homosexual experiences and sexual fluidity. Huffpost’s contributor, Jodi Savitz, the LGBTQ activist discusses the depiction of sex in the movie Blue is the Warmest Color, the realistic aspects of the lesbian sex. The movie moves beyond a conventional cinematic structure to vividly portray the couple’s sexual dynamics. Jodi even goes on further to write an open letter to address confusion about lesbian sex and scissoring obsession.

Thus, Queer blogosphere, an alternative of the hegemonic public space attempts to establish them in a virtual space. Queer sexual practices are stigmatized and legally regulated; on the other hand, in social sphere, they will have to conform to the accepted binaries of 9 man/woman, exposed/hidden, subject/object, private/public discourses. Blogs serve as an attack on this binary system exposing the hidden, naturalizing the ‘unnatural’, normalizing the ‘abnormal’. The political, legal discussions of queer writings unveil the relationship between state and private forces that shapes subjectivity, space and citizenship, thus calls for a queer resistance and liberated queerness.

Sexuality has become central to modern politics as gender and sexuality play a significant role in the creation and maintenance of political, social and economic domains.

World is in need of partnership rights and positive re-enforcement in employment, as well as social and legal protection from all forms of discrimination. The struggles have promoted feelings of pride, self worth, public subculture, and community identity. Consumption of alternative sexuality as a normality should emerge from the coalition of Queer theory and activism together. In the process of que[e]rying political practices queer writers play a major role as they share the social discourse of queerness the way they experience it. Queerness and the inherent energy and liberation of broken boundaries are depicted in these experiential explorations of queerness.

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