thinking cup

i imagine now that thinking cup downtown will be my new work spot, from tables it has a good view of the baristas and, though these boys seem straight, the hipster aesthetic is almost always visible as exclusively straight. maybe punk has a better way to present gayness, but the "hipster gay" is not really visible in culture, and it's a loss for the hipster type, since he has nothing to identify with as gay. project: we need more hipster monotypes (low ac/dc stereotypes) for men, hipsters being largely boy in their representation. i'm having trouble visualizing a girl hipster, but that's possibly because i rarely scan the visual field for women. without some representation in life, either in media or in everyday life, the gay hipster will likely remain invisible, as the gay hipster is at a loss to where he fits in. for example, on grindr, there are various types to identify with — you can see that gay men like mono/stereotypes, with bear, cub, twink, daddy, jock, and so on. But, significantly, there is no "hipster" option for tribe, and he is basically erased as a queer cultural and sexual position.

i myself love the hipster look, i don't do it myself, more preppy, no knowingness about music, but i do tend toward that aesthetic, even if i don't quite achieve it. but that is my look — the origin of which is jason, from so long ago — he introduced the hipster look to me, as freshman roommate, and i never left it, lonely and brooding as he is. i imagine i couldn't pull of the hipster aesthetic, though i think all hipsters probably feel that way; a kind of shame. Typically, no hipster would identify with "hipster," which is a bold lie. i certainly always name myself as gay, even if i am modestly straight-acting.

problems are even more acute for lesbians (if that category is even recognized today, more emphasis on queer, than is the gay man, the lesbian). for one, there are just fewer representations of lesbians in the culture, or media, probably because they cannot fulfill man's desire — they don't have sex with men, which appears to be the telos of straight men's interaction with women, generally. the butch dyke is not sexy (except to lesbians), it is a type of woman that no other sexual character can find attractive. she is not used in advertising culture because she does not inspire erections in men (and for identificatory purposes, women). The dyke is out there, magical as i tell my students. the lipstick lesbian (the female twink) is more popular in culture, she is desirable to straight men (and to lesbians), and she can be arousing to men, even if she is inaccessible to them.

at thinking cup, where i am now, readying for class this afternoon, there is another hipster type — different from the one i flirted with the other day — so i do believe this is a cute hipster spot, though i don't get the gay vibe from the baristas. the guy who does cash — who does not fit a category at all, queer or straight — is likely to be in fact gay, (too). i'm loving my view.

class was spectacular a couple of days ago, and i'm hoping for a scandalous repeat today. i have a bunch of film clips to screen, which will work if i can get the technology working (at 45, i'm old, especially on the gay calendar). i'm still weighing whether i should screen "the raspberry reich" by bruce labruce. it is a powerfully sexual film, it depicts graphic sex in it, both gay and straight, and these scenes are basically pornographic. it only takes one to complain and i'll be reprimanded by the repressed administration, or i would say: bureaucracy. i'm showing "east siders" today, which is a really good representation of the hipster homosexual, that is surely to inspire discussion. as the class is vastly female, and probably straight, with only 3 boys out of 25, i think getting in some hardcore gay porn vid is perhaps a duty.

happy here at thinking cup, 1369 becoming distantly past, smoothly.

love andy pink