No social commentary, just funny

[trinityvixen]

I like Infomania, though Sarah Haskins was always the best part. Then they got this guy to do "That's Gay" segments which do for gay media exposure what Sarah Haskins did for female media exposure. I don't think he's funnier, but he's more consistently funny. Also, fist bump!

(The part where I totally lost it? The last sport less gay than figure skating!)

Comments

[saikogrrl.livejournal.com]

"Is Johnny Weir too gay for figure skating?" ROFL. >.< ...

[saikogrrl.livejournal.com]

Competitive flower arranging XD

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Competitive ass-fucking: less gay than figure skating!

[slackwench.livejournal.com]

He thinks football is the least gay sport? I'd put it just on the hetero side of wrestling.

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

Hey, if wearing a leotard and struggling to keep another mostly unclothed man on his back is gay...

Oh.

(I wrestled in middle school)

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

And, um, figure skated in elementary school. My parents wanted me in the skating sport where I got to keep my teeth. Which made it even stranger when they put me under anesthetic to pull 6 of them later...

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Football is perceived as the least gay sport. Obviously, all the grab-assing and chest-bumps and what not give lie to that claim.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I'm watching "Be Good Johnny Weir," which is actually really good. And...there's a question about Weir's sexuality. No there isn't.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

The question is why people need to know, I think. Which is what he continually asks them in return from what I've seen. He's like, "I'm outrageous because I'm me, not because of who I fuck." Which? Point.

ETA: Oops, wrong icon! I need to use this one because it doesn't get enough use.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Yeah. He is clearly out...without being out. He's not being coy, he's being who he is and saying he doesn't think he should have to specify who he's fucking.

Also, watching the show, you get this sense that the media feels like the only way his flamboyance is okay is if he is a phenomenal figure skater--that he needs to excuse his behavior by winning competitions. But if he wins, then people don't want him "representing" their sport. The pilot episode is about the 06-07 season, right after he choked at the Olympics, and you can see how that pressure, that need to prove to the nay sayers that he is good, is just messing him up. You can see how angry he gets at himself when he doesn't skate well.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

What gets me is that our definition of masculinity is so narrow that there is no room in it for expression and for any clothing or makeup that isn't subdued and classic. So figure skating and clearly some figure skaters feel alienated enough from the masculine ideal that when someone comes along and links skating with other unmasculine traits, there's this immediate backlash.

Also that our definition of gay men is so narrow that it doesn't allow them to be athletes, as that video pointed out.

What these skaters are doing is incredibly physically demanding and requires no less training or determination than any other Olympic sport--I would argue that the demands of figure skating are a lot more than many other Olympic sports (well, certainly curling). And yet discussions of it, by insiders and outsiders, by commentators, by the media, end up being about ideas of masculinity rather than athletic accomplishment. It's sad.

In the pilot, they show Johnny reacting to one of those news clips where a guy was saying how someone so out shouldn't represent the sport. And Johnny's reaction was, it was a show on skating, and they didn't mention his skating once. He just sounds so disappointed that he goes through all this, trains so hard, is so talented, and all people can see is that he's gay.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I remember trying to suss out with feiran what we would call certain things. I, for instance, harrumphed at things like bowling being called a "sport." I also don't think curling is a "sport." We tried to work out the difference between sports/athletic event, and it's very hard to draw lines. The less identifiably sporting an event is, however, the harder it is to appreciate the work that goes into it, that much we can agree on. So something like figure skating with its outlandish costumes and style points is definitely going to trigger some automatic derision. (Undeserved!)

And, yes, Johnny Weir's skating. Mentioned...when? That's really bullshit.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I have missed, like, anything he's ever said or done that make him so controversial. I just think he's faaaaabulous, and that's good enough for me.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Well, he's said things like his routine is like a glass of cognac, and his competitor's routine is like snorting coke--that is, they are both good, but in different ways.

I definitely get the sense that it's not so much that he has set out to be a provocateur as that he refuses to censor himself. I kind of respect that.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

It depends on what you're not censoring of course, but generally, his heart seems to be in the right place. I liked his words about the radio jockeys who were using derogatory slang about him. He said he wouldn't ask them to take back their words, 'cause, hey, everybody has a right to free speech, but that he found them hateful and hoped that the people who are targeted by that slang are treated better than that as a whole. Very classy, I thought. I was confused, then, as this was the only actual words I'd heard him use, why everyone was all "Ooooh, he's such a controversial figure!" Because he seemed like more of an adult than anybody...

[negativeq.livejournal.com]

My mom's reaction to Johnny Weir:
Mom: Why is that girl allowed to compete in men's figure skating.
Me: That's Johnny Weir, a man.
Mom: ......... No, that's a woman.
Me: Man.
Mom: ................ He looks .... just like a girl!

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

No, he doesn't! He's femme, sure, but he's not even a little bit female looking. He's very boyish.