Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A
huge problem occurs from Sitting with us is Jonathan As told by John “I used to de-
within the gay community Truong, a self-identified “masc”. spise them. I felt they were too
that everybody seems to John admitted to be a fem-pho- gross, too weird, and too girly.
ignore is the boycotting of the bic years ago. He explains the They were never my type to
feminine-acting homosexual reasoning for his actions was date nor to befriend. I was being
men (“fem”, short for feminine). because “that’s what society told homophobic, even though I am
us to do”. Growing up in a homo- a homosexual man.”
Many straight-acting gay men
phobic environment (the 1990s),
(“masc”, short for masculine)
Johnathan was told to “act like
disassociated themselves from
a man” every time he tries to
the gay community is because of
expresses himself. Those words
the femininity that are commonly subconsciously stuck with John,
linked to the word “gay”. making him feel uncomfortable
around other “fems”.
2
mininity
For a “fem”, life could be Quy Tran, a feminine homosex- The negativity from his surround-
F
tough especially when you have ual man, is one of the few who is ings made him afraid to express his
or awith
to deal “fem”, life could be from
discrimination Quy Tran, enough
fortunate a feminine homo-
to have friends The negativity
individuality. from
The only histime
sur-when
both tough
straightespecially when you
and gay “masc” peo- sexual
who man, is
support oneThroughout
him. of the few his roundings
he can truly made him afraid
be himself to
is when
have to deal with dis-
ple. Feminine homosexual men are whoheishas
life, fortunate
dealt withenough to of
a fair-share express
he is with his individuality.
himself. More Theoften
crimination
often lookedfrom downbothby theparties.
“masc”. have friends who
discrimination from support him.
both parties. only time when he can truly
than not, he is criticized in every
Feminine homosexual men
If you look on some of the gay dat- “I think my his
Throughout favorite
life, heones
haswould
dealt be
wayhimself
possible.is He
whenwashe is with
told to “tone
are
ing often
apps, looked
such asdownGrindr,by the
Jack’d, be
with‘why can’t you be
a fair-share of like one of the
discrimina- himself. More often than
down the gay voice”, “walk normal- not, he
“masc”. If you look
Adam4Adam, moston somewould
profiles of straight is
ly”,criticized in every wayyoupossi-
tion from both parties. “Imy
gay guy?’ from peers
think “stop gesturing when talk”,
the gay dating apps, such
say “no fems, no sissy, no faggots”.as and family”. ones would be ‘why ble. He was told to “tone down
etc. As he puts it: “It is unjust when
my favorite
Grindr, Jack’d, Adam4Adam,
The homophobia from within mostthe the
peoplegaysay
voice”,
they“walk
acceptnormally”,
gay people,
can’t you be like one of the
profiles
homosexual would say “no fems,
community no
is surreal. “stop
but theygesturing whenexclude
completely you talk”,the
Gay people often paradesfrom around, straight gay guy?’ from my peers partAs where theyit:still
sissy”. The homophobia etc. he puts “It isdiscriminate
unjust
saying they
within want equality
the homosexual for all;
commu- and family”. feminine-gay
when peoplemen”.
say they accept
but more
nity oftenGay
is surreal. thanpeople
not, they
oftenare gay people, but they completely
referring to the straight-acting
parades around, saying they exclude the part where they still
ones.
want It is ironicfor
equality andall,hypocritical.
making it discriminate feminine-gay men”.
both ironic and hypocritical.
3
3
Secret Affair
We all had a chance to sit with V and M, and listen to their stories
that’s been on their minds for quite sometimes. These two girls has
loved each other for over 6 years. The fact that lesbian community is
deemed unaccepted some countries made their 6-year story sorrowful.
“S
ix-year secret relationship” is the
thing that she is thinking about right
now. Six years is not short nor long.
Until now, she still reminisces that time - the
first time that she decided to confide her real
sexual orientation to her parents. She was 19.
It seems like it just happened yesterday.
“A
t that moment, she decided to call me
and sobbed violently, she said that
she had come out to her parents. But
unfortunately the result was as I expected. I
anticipated this call, but still, I could not calm
her down. That night was disastrous. She was
crying, yelling at her parents, threatening to
commit suicide, it was awful. I managed to
make her feel better so we hang up but when I
see her the next morning, she had lots of cuts
on her arms”.
Unlike V, M has not come out to her parents.
She expected her parents to be very open
minded but at the same time, she cannot take
that risk. M opens up about her dreams, saying
that in the perfect world, she and V would live
happily in a modern apartment, with two kids.
When asked about whether or not she would
come out to her parents, she simply smiles and
say “no”. She knows that one day they would
eventually find out, but she has hopes that it’ll
make the relationship stronger.
3 5
Gender Dysphoria
S
itting with us is Hoang Nguyen, and a now-gen-
tleman. He is one of the many pre-op (pre-opera-
tion) transgender people with hopes that one day
they could afford to have the surgery.
6
Even though it is the 21st century, transgender-related topics are still very tabooed
subjects even within this modern society. Most people’s argument is that your “gender”
is defined by what genital you were born with. Reality says otherwise. People associ-
ated themselves with a different gender at different ages. While most grew out of it,
some remains convinced they should have been born as a different gender instead.
Gender dysphoria is the exact reason why sex reassignment surgeries were born, to
help those that feel uncomfortable in their own bodies achieving their desired sex.
However, the procedure is costly and illegal in most countries.
N
ow at the age of 25, Hoang has a stable career
as a tattoo artist. If everything goes according
to plan, he could have his very first sex reassign-
ment surgery before he reaches 27.