Assignment #8

I hope I am understanding this correctly with gender identity being the gender you identify with and sexual identity being whether you view yourself as heterosexual or homosexual. If this is the case then this movie portrayed homosexuals as being people who don't follow the gender norms to begin with. Therefore, according to the movie you could make the conclusion that all males who have feminine qualities are attracted to males. It seems to be making the point that you can never judge a book by its cover. The movie seems to prey on every stereotype and gleam it of all its comedic content just showing how ridiculous some of our stereotypes are. It just shows that we hold anybody who does not follow the gender expectations to the letter as an outsider. If a male likes dancing, make-up, etc, they will be labeled as homosexual or "metro" either way there is a category for them that is outside of the norm. Jan is unique because she looks very "butch" which makes her a strong candidate for the lesbian "dyke" category, and it was funny to me when she declared that she was heterosexual because it seemed the joke was that while she is female she identifies as male and therefore while she likes guys she still is a homosexual because she is like a guy and likes guys.

In thinking about why we associate certain gender identities to queer sexuality I came up with one answer. The media. I know that the way homosexuals are presented in the media might be true to the letter for a few but in looking around I have two gay friends that you would more than likely never guess gay just by meeting them briefly. I do think it is strange that we have such a strong propensity for labeling people for being different. Granted there are a few "flamboyant," homosexuals out there but I do not think you can ever tell gay or straight just by meeting someone. Maybe just maybe this is a good thing for now simply because it could allow people to hide it more easily if their behavior doesn't fall into the stereotype categories. Hopefully soon movies like But I'm a Cheerleader will not have any stock in reality, and we will be able to laugh light-heartedly at all the jokes in it.