Re: The now-banned image of Putin in drag makeup:

[Saviolo]

I've posted this a couple of times in the last day or so, but I just keep seeing it showing up here and there, so I wanted to start an OP about it:

Calling Putin "gay" as an insult does not fight homophobia, it enforces it. I understand the impetus behind the image, and I understand the amusement that many people have about it. As a gay man, I recognize that this is just someone yelling "fag" at Putin. Images and jokes like this are homophobic and transphobic, and do not make most gay people feel safer, but more marginalized. Same thing with that huge billboard of Putin and Trump kissing outside of the RNC.

This tweet says it very pithily:

Link to tweet

My gay, trans, and queer friends are beautiful people who are trying to live their own reality (and me my own, for that matter), but here we have the implication "LOL, this dictator hates gay people, and wants to hurt and kill them, so we're going to associate his image with queer regalia to mock him." By using queer regalia to mock someone who hates queers, you are not empowering LGBTQ folks, you are mocking them, too.

Of course, this is only my opinion, and I know lots of people want to really needle Putin with this image, I just want to maybe make you think twice. If you think of yourself as a LGBTQ ally, maybe think twice about this, otherwise those that you would like to be allied with may look twice at you, wondering if they can really trust you not to appropriate their images in a mocking way.

[Saviolo]

2. Agreed

I also wish that we as progressives in general can please do away with "You're gay, lol!" as a means of insulting those we oppose.

[NCTraveler]

3. Not intending to be offensive, but I need to think this one out a bit.

I'm not sure about the recent image. What I'm not sure about is that it is people yelling "fag" at Putin. I think it's much different, the thought behind it is deeper, and can even see it originating from the gay community.

Now, the billboard is clear. It was homophobic. I don't question that.

I just think there was more intellectual thought behind the more recent Putin one.

I will always read responses as to why I am wrong in these areas and do feel I should put a bit more thought into it.

[Saviolo]

4. I think it holds more meaning to the Russian artist that conceived it

I believe (but I have not been able to confirm) that it arose from the Russian gay community, and that the image frequently has "STOP HOMOFOBIA" across the forehead:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/06/world/europe/vladimir-putin-clown-drag.html

And it has a message about Putin's oppression of LGBTQ people and his laws banning material "promoting" homosexuality.

But when North American (mostly liberal) people use it, it's lacking all of that context. It's saying that a man who calls himself a strong man is compensating for being a self-hating queer, or it's saying that the strongman is gay/effeminate/trans. Either way it is not empowering to LGBTQ communities in that context.

It's very context specific. Seeing Boing Boing promote the image saying "Putin has banned this, so WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T SPREAD IT AROUND! (har har har, Putin's gay!)" just really does not sit well with me.

[NCTraveler]

6. Agree with every word you wrote here. I did not pull said context out of your op.

I saw you op as more of an absolute.

Thank you for your kind response.

[Saviolo]

7. My apologies

I did leave out any of that context from my OP, largely because I'm only seeing this image showing up from North American liberal or progressive sites, and I don't think they realize quite how much of the context they're stripping from the image.

I'm all about the civil discourse, though!

I rarely think in absolutes, but for brevity's sake, it's nearly impossible to put everything I want into an OP. If I were a better essayist, maybe

[demmiblue]

5. Thank you for spelling it out for us. K&R!

[ProudLib72]

8. You're right

Without the proper context, the image of Putin in drag appears like a slur. I had that image in my sig line, but took it down. As an image by itself without any message, it just didn't sit well with me.

[Portland_Anni]

9. Yankee Doodle Dandy was originally a song puting down the new U.S./Continental Army.

But it was transformed into something the British forces hated to hear as it was thrown back at them. Putin loves to go everywhere without his shirt and goes out of his way to highlight his 'stud' status. So I see the picture as an in his face mockery of his attitude about his toxic machismo and bigotry toward gays, lesbians, and transgendered people.

This morning I got a fellow veteran's medical appointment canceled and got him thrown out of the VA facility for mocking me because I am a transgender and he was baiting me about it. He was shocked when that happened.

The picture is not necessarily anything to split hair over in any event. I still respect the actions of anyone using the image to lampoon this jerk. I keep my focus on just exactly whom my enemies are. I don't argue or criticize fellow activists on the same page as I am in terms of intent and goals.

[Saviolo]

11. I'm not trying to alienate allies

I think that attacking toxic masculinity and Putin's animus against the LGBTQ community is a good thing, but I'm also going to try and sit down allies who think that intimating that Putin is gay in order to mock him may not be the best strategy from a North American perspective.

I like that it annoys Putin, but by and large, I see it being spread by straight liberals who see it as a cheap gay joke at Putin's expense, and I'm not okay with that.

I think it's scarier and more offensive that Putin's a violent totalitarian. I think an image of him grinning and his face splattered with blood would be far more biting, but it would just make that toxic masculinity glow with pride. How gross is that?

[Portland_Anni]

12. I remember when he took Patriots' Robert Kraft's superbowl ring.

He asked to see it, Kraft took it off and handed it to him, and he pocketed it. Kraft let it go and originally lied saying he gave it as a gift. He of course now explains that the State Department suggested he do that to keep from causing an incident. I believe with sociopaths like Putin who are so macho they are toxic, it is often hard to know exactly how to deal with them. I myself an going to treat the picture as a knocking of him and not worry about sidebar musings about the meanings about this picture that indicate using it is wrong. But I respect your view on this too.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/patriots-robert-kraft-vladimir-putin-stole-my-super-bowl-ring/

[Saviolo]

13. Re: The photo

I think I would completely agree with you if there weren't a gleeful excitement in insinuating that Putin's gay. Yes, I think it will have a detrimental effect on his composure, but I fear that he will take it out on the LGBTQ community in Russia even further than he already has.

I don't mind memetic warfare of this kind, but I wish that the people spreading it around weren't quite so eager to use a big, loud gay joke.

Aside from that, we're clearly on the same side of this issue generally, and I salute you.

[Portland_Anni]

14. Thank you, I salute and appreciate you and what you do as well.

[brer cat]

10. Thank you for this OP.

Very well put and I appreciate it.

[Maven]

15. You get it, 100%

Thank you

[Saviolo]

16. I don't know about 100%

But thanks

[Behind the Aegis]

17. Thank you for confronting this homophobia.

It seems too many let shit like this "slide by" as "inconsequential." This is in the same vein, IMO, of people who always shriek "He must be a secret homo!" anytime a loud-mouth homophobe is in the news.