[KS] homosexuality thread and list participation

Young Rae Oum youngrae at ma.ultranet.com
Tue Oct 17 04:03:17 EDT 2000


REPLY sends your message to the whole list
__________________________________________

Dear listers,

I would like to respond to the two posts regarding my message.  Both
messages focused on how I misinterpreted the term "boys."  I do not
agree
that "boys"  ALWAYS means adult gay men, and the context the term was
used
in the original message does not support this hypothesis, either.  I am
also troubled by the underlying assumption that non-gays cannot quite
understand "gay languages" (note the plural form, please), or cannot
have a
say in gay practices or politics, because gays are such different people
than non-gays.

Also, both missed my point on the racialized sexual exploitation.  Now,
even if these white males who traveled to Korea and found Korean boys so
available were not pedophiles (or "chicken hawks," in "gay languages"),
they are still part of the exploitive sex tourism; exploitation of "the
south"/ third world people by the first world white males.

As I wrote already, put words like "women" or "men" in place of the
"boys.": Korean men/women/people/lesbian women/gay men are very
available.
They are very open to sexual exploration with foreign travelers.  How
does
this sound?  Is it possible to overlook the violence and harm this
statement carries?

Finally, I do not agree with the moderator's comment on top of my
message
(and the personal message to me off-list) that my message is
"inflammable"
(verbatim) or dangerous (implied) or disrespectful (implied) or
ungrateful
(implied).  Quite contrary, I think the list needs to be diversified in
terms of the authors and ideas and perspectives in order to thrive and
even
to survive.  I think the list must be open to self-deconstruction to be
able to serve the cause the moderators are devoted to.

What is the most destructive (thus really dangerous) is suffocation of
different voices.  I do NOT mean that moderators did that singlehandedly
nor even that they are capable of doing so.  I mean that the current
list
dynamics needs to be changed by broader participation and lively
exchanges.
A few people wrote me off list a sympathetic note but they did not feel
comfortable enough to write on the list.  This shows how silencing can
occur subtly and insidiously.

With due respect and in all sincerity, I ask list moderators to open up
the
debate and invite people who have not yet responded to the thread, and
perhaps never wrote on the list, write and contribute their
perspectives.

Sincerely,

Young Rae Om





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