the physical in relation to the mental

In the paper by Sedgwick, I found his argument interesting, but expected. As we read more and more about the marginalization of the queers, their case becomes sort of redundant. It is an undeniable fact that society in general is not welcoming to difference, especially when it comes down to an issue as general and widespread as the issue of gender and sexuality. And the fact that culturally, or it may be even possible to say, universally, men are expected to be strong and the leaders. And this is consistent with how men are generally the favored sex. Personally, I feel that men are preferred initially because of their gender and out of that preference, come expectation—expectations to act in a particular masculine sort of way. But because these expectations which are so driven into society through mean of popular media such as movies, television shows, books, etc., any sort of deviance from the expectation breeds the expected ostracism and in many cases rejection. However, with any sort of radically different thing, rejection and marginalization are sure to accompany, so therefore, I feel people should stop acting so shocked that gay children are committing suicide or are depressed. We should focus on the bigger personal, intimate issue. Like Sedgwick said, “What the books I have been discussing, and the institutions to which they are attached, demonstrate is that wish for the dignified treatment of already gay people is necessarily destined to turn into either trivializing apologetics or, much worse, a silkily camouflaged complicity in oppression—in the absence of a string, explicit, erotically invested affirmation…”
In the next reading by Joon Oluchi Lee, I felt I could relate to the social and cultural struggles he went through as a Korean-American, but I started to lose him when he began to explain his story about also being an effeminate, gay, Korean-American boy. He had the forces of not only culture but also sexual orientation to fight, and I was quite impressed with his overall understanding of himself and acceptance of who he was. However, I felt lost within this essay because he made so many references to other sources and stories. I found it quite difficult to grasp the overall gist of this paper, as I kept getting lost in his references. I preferred the more formal style of Sedgwick better. However, what I did get out was his heavy emphasis on body parts in relation to sex/sexuality. I think that body part do indeed play a large indicative role in a person’s understanding of their sex/sexuality.