Re: Joni's gay fans NJC

[sl . m]

Strength is a component of tragedy Bruce, in the proper Greek sense of the term. Greek tragic heroes were men or women who went further than the ordinary person dared to, who showed strength, perhaps madness, no respect for convention, and who had within them, or whose situation had within it, an inherent flaw that the audience knew, right from the start, would destroy them. But the hero didn't know, and so the inevitable often unfolded around them even as they were doing everything to avoid it. In that sense, the word tragic fits Judy Garland, for example, quite well.

Sarah



From: Bruce Kimerer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
. . . I don't believe that TRAGIC is the essential component that makes for a
gay female icon. To the contrary, I think it's strength (and superior
talent, but that's a given). What makes a Judy Garland or a Barbra Streisand
or even a Joni Mitchell especially appealing is the fact that she defies the
sexist societal stereotype of female weakness without a man/husband to
supply the supposed stability/strength she lacks on her own. As a gay man I
can identify with these women because I too have been misjudged by society
as somehow being less than strong, less than complete, less than a real man.
Our divas showed them wrong. So can I. Long live the Divas!