Look at the meaning behind "Fag Hags"

A woman that hangs out with gay men is usually known as Fag Hag. To most people who know what a fag hag is many would consider it an insult ,although some women consider it a great honor. Fag hag was made up in the gay community to give a name to women hanging with gay men. One way the media fag hags was through the show Will and Grace where a women moved in with her gay friend who was a lawyer. Will and Grace shows that being known as a fag hag is not a horrible thing. During the Gay Rights movement within the Gay male culture as an insult towards women that hung out exclusively with gay men. People look at women who would rather hang out with gay men rather than with straight females like themselves. With negative connation on the word fag hag like the use of fag which is in it self a derogatory word for a gay man. Hag as so is derogatory in the meaning of it is women who is old a considered to be strange. So people make fun of those Females that would rather be in a heteronormative relationship with a gay man rather than have a homonormative relationship with other females.

In the past fag hag was known as a derogative word although over the years some have tried to reclaim it as a positive connotation. In a blog by a woman known as Cheeky Cheeky, the writer attempts to reclaim the word Fag Hag and shape it so it would no longer be known by its negative connotations. “It was on the street in New York City, and the guy did not　mean it as a compliment. Didn't stop me from wearing it like a badge of honor.” (Quinonez). Reworking a word so that it no longer contains any negative connation is a process long and challenging and faces many people that don’t want the word to change. In Labeling Theory it states that “to be labeled a criminal one need only commit a single offence, and this is all the term formally refers to” (Becker 41). Having to go through life under a label make life less enjoyable and more of a struggle than it need to be.

Fag hag from a societal perspective is not always known by people but by what method they learn of the word is the way in which they apply it in their every day life. If an individual raised within a system where as a person learns to apply fag hag as a derogatory word towards straight women that prefer gay men’s company then perhaps they need to understand were the word comes from. While not everyone who learns of Fag Hag in the Negative version will not always use it in that same manner instead maybe they could learn to teach its more positive meaning to others. As Kelly Osborne stated “It wasn't until I googled it after speaking with GLAAD that I found out just how unbelievably offensive it was.”(Osbourne). Osbourne offended many people in the transgender community by using an offensive word “Tranny” that she did not fully understand its meaning.
http://www.angelfire.com/ny2/Aternyde2/faghags.html http://gawker.com/5864554/we-need-a-new-word-for-fag-hag
Some women who hang out with mostly gay men, may seem to be seeking a relationship that they can feel safe in. For people to have a relationship they can feel safe in, is something that help spread the phrase fag hag due in part that some women marry gay men. “Gay men are safe, firstly, because there is no sexual threat.” (Cusak) Even though fag hag started as an insult it has evolved within the gay community as a more positive phrase. By having people in the gay community trying to change the way in which individuals in the gay community perceive each other in the world today. “Like so many other terms that once you would only hear in Chelsea or West Hollywood, fag hag has gotten into the mainstream, so if average (read:straight) Americans out there are using it, maybe we need something with a better message.” (Moylan)

Thio, Alex, (2010) In Deviant Behavior, Boston MA, Pearson 39-41
Cusak, Joan, (2012) Fag Hag- A social Analysis, Feb 26 Retrieved from
Moylan, Brian, (2011) Gawker- We need a New Word for “Fag Hag”, Dec 2, Retrieved From
Quinonez, Carmon, (2012) Cheeky Cheeky, Jan 10, Retrieved From
Osbourne, Kelly, (2011) I’m Retiring the Word ‘Tranny’…Will You join Me, Nov 19 Retrieved From http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-osbourne/transgender-day-of-remembrance_b_1100542.htmlhttp://www.cheekycheeky.info/2012/01/top-5-ways-to-be-fag-hag.html

Film review "Middle Sexes"

“Middle sexes” a film that explores the way in which other culture treat and understand people that are placed under and western society known as transgender. For most cultures they have different names in India the male that become women are known as “Heidra”, while in Bangkok Thailand are known as “Lady Boys”. Within this film it showed the cultures of Transgender women also known as “MTW - Male to Female” where a person born as a man then as they grow up and want to become a woman. The perception of these individuals changes from culture to culture. Most cultures that view transgender as a bad thing are in some ways influenced by western culture.
The show “Middle Sexes” relates to are class on social deviance relate equal well to each other. With the course study we have come to understand to this point it shows that are society. In society anyone who is different than what are societies considers to be normal are considered to be abnormal or socially deviant. Within the film there is a boy named Noah who is a 8 year old from mid-west at that age is already cross dressing. From the perspective of his biological father was worried for his son and hoping that his son will take the easy road or the road of least resistant. They talk about how within the film how if you go against the gain they are faced with the chooses in society.
It seems to me that if you want to love someone no matter their sex, appearance, weight, or relations you should be able to marry and be with any one you wish to be with. With western society the way it is people have to meet a certain criteria. Looking to Bangkok, Thailand and the lady boys where western society had little effect on their perspective on transgender or “lady boys” if all cultures could more readily understand people of the transgender life or “intersexed”.
Having to have a seconded life to be with the one you love is something that is in my option something that would need to be worked on as a society. In the start and end of the film a group of men went on and killed what they thought was a women but was instead was a man in the process of transgender process. To kill someone just because people around them found out that they are transgender and they slept with them? As a culture we find Murder as a horrible thing and to kill someone because of their idea what a women should and shouldn’t have.
Why than as a society to we treat children different than their older counterparts. When children are young and growing up people think of it as a phase for which they will grow out of. Looking at the blog from “Raising My BoyChick” It discusses how as a society we look at children as innocent and not truly aware of why they are experience life. Also how adult are considered to be deviant and made to be outcast in society just because the way they act in society. Along with the difference in the treatment from adults and children there are also the intersex individuals that have there gender chosen for them as a child due to the size of the reproductive organs they have at that time. In the Article “Gender Bender” we are show how doctors treat kids who are born with “The phallus could be considered either a micropenis or an overlarge clitoris.” (Dreger). To Force a child in to a specific gender due to an underdeveloped penis or a overlarge clitoris seems wrong and that it would scar a child to have to go in to surgery and never truly under stand why they are going in to surgery.
　
Dreger, Alice, (2011) Gender Bender, Ms.blog, November 8. Retrieved from http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/11/08/alice-dreger-gender-bender/
Manuel, Emily, (2011) Why Does the Media Show Transgender Children More Sympathetically. Raising my BoyChick. October 2. Retrieved From. http://www.raisingmyboychick.com/2011/10/guest-post-why-does-the-media-show-transgender-children-more-sympathetically/

Middle Sexes can be seen on Youtube in 10 part
Word Count 684

Am i deviant by society perpective

Part1

In my life I’m considered to be a Cisgender, male who is tall, over weight and has to wear glasses. I also play a card game know as Magic the Gathering which I consider to be fun but for others it can be considered a game for deviants or nerds. For most of my life I was the quiet “Be Seen and not Heard Child” for me it was the entering of high school, then the entering the college system that to feel as if being the quiet one would no longer be the best option for my life. During it felt like all I need to do was follow “the Path of Least Resistance” and become a high school sports player. Growing up I felt like I was under the “Shaming Theory” were I did not want to disappoint my parents so I joined the wrestling team my junior year and joined the FFA freshman year of high school. “Shaming Theory means, imposed as a sanction by the criminal justice system, that is thought to strengthen the moral bond between the offender and the community” (Thio 33). So growing up I was a average by the norms of society today. Once I moved on to college I started to play the card game Magic the Gathering. Magic the Gathering which is a very popular game for some people, while for others it can be considered deviant. In the mind of some people individuals that play magic are heavy set, foul smelling and don’t take care of them self’s. So in today’s society if I was to inform someone that I played Magic the Gathering and the did not know me they may jump to the conclusion that I should match the stereotype of some magic players. “Labeling Theory” (Thio 39) is the best way to describe why people would get their ideas about individuals that play magic the gathering. Being labeled as a deviant Magic player can be hurt full due to the fact I’m an individual that prides my self on being a kind individual and to have some one label me deviant because some random magic players are deviant.

 

Part 2

During this week I decided to do a experiment to see what people say or do if I went around all day with my cloths backwards and inside out. I started off by going in to Wal-Mart and to walk around for over an hour shopping and analysis the people around me to see what the general reactions to me was. One of the main reaction that I reserved was the quick eye glance then glancing away which made me feel awkward to be around people and to wonder what they thought of me. I had one individual openly stated “Hey your cloths are back words and then he tried to tell me I was wrong in how I was wearing my cloths and said I need to change them with no other reason than I was wrong in how I dress. With my clothing being on the wrong direction it seemed to help me to under stand that people can have an idea how something is suppose to be done by social norms but in reality you can do it any way you want too.

It was interesting that by going ageist the social norms of how we are suppose to dress get so many subtle but notable reactions. It felt freeing and interesting to realize that there was really not a difference when wearing my clothes differently only in the way that a person perceives me. To be perceived in a different light can affect a person whether its in the publics eyes or in the eyes of law enforcement. If you look at the article “What it’s like to be 17 and Having Sex for Money” in this article it talk about three different people and the perception on the sex trade. Within the article it states that we think all girls that accept money for sex are criminals and that the women are not victims. By looking at how many young girls that are trap in the trade are truth ally victims and how we look at them matter for peoples life’s. Looking at the article “For Poor, the Bail System Can Be an Obstacle to Freedom” It shows that most people who are under the poverty line and are arrested for crimes face the challenge of individuals being in charge of there freedom. They also face the change of being perceived as a offender that can be stuck in the system unable to get back in to society and find a job due to the fact they are perceived as an offender.

Word count 885

Work Cited　

Thio, Alex, Thomas C. Calhoun and Addrain Conyers. 2010. Reading in Deviant Behavior-Sixth Edition. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780205695577 pg. 33-38

Thio, Alex, Thomas C. Calhoun and Addrain Conyers. 2010. Reading in Deviant Behavior-Sixth Edition. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780205695577 pg. 39-41

Sher, Julian. (2010). What It's Like to Be 17 and Having Sex for Money. Chicago Review Press. December 16. Retrieved from:

Eligon, John, (2011), For Poor, the Bail System Can Be an Obstacle to Freedom. New York times. January 9. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/nyregion/10bailbonds.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

http://www.alternet.org/story/149228/what_it 27s_like_to_be_17_and_sex_for_money