This one’s all about the some causes, some effects and some possible solutions to the massive profit pressure on corporations. I’m no genius about these topics, and this is by no means a comprehensive discussion. Nevertheless, I think this is a topic worth discussing.
Relevant Links:
Google Ads and Gay Blogs: Selective Enforcement of Rules?
We’re not sure what’s going on out there, but Scott from Scott-O-Rama sent us an email informing us that no less than eight gay blogs had been removed from internet giant Google’s Adsense - the service that places context-friendly ads on people’s websites.
It seems young Scott found himself banned due to his somewhat suggestive content. He writes:
I received the e-mail from Google about two weeks ago advising me that I had violated the AdSense Terms of Service (TOS) because my site contained adult or mature content. I thought they were referring to content on The Eye Candy Albums until I realized I wasn’t displaying Google ads over there. I was using a different ad provider on those pages.I wrote back to Google and asked them to please elaborate on my violation of the TOS. I also pleaded with them to reconsider their decision. A couple of days later I received their reply. The “adult content” they were referring to was the Eye Candy Mondays posts as well as an ad I have to my Amazon.com affiliate store (pictured)…They told me I would have to remove all that content to even be considered for reinstatement.
Scott would have no problem complying, if it weren’t for a number of hetero-sites that apparently violate the TOS, but have yet to be reprimanded. He’s found a small group of other banned bloggers and wants to know, dear reader, if you guys know of any other gay blogs that have been banned.What’s interesting about Google’s apparent interest in so-called decency is that it takes less than five seconds to find pictures of myriad sex acts in their image archives. But, you know the saying, do as I say, not as I doogle.
Amongst us gay podcasters and videobloggers, we’ve noticed that Google’s YouTube also seems to come down harder on us gays when it comes to deleting “offensive” videos as well. Hmmmmmm. More here.
Technorati Tags: google, queerty, gay, lesbian, bisexual, GLBT, web 2.0
It’s a little crazy here, so I’m digging into the personal archive and sharing another vid from my cousin’s trip to Paris – and her first trip out of the US.
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Gay Netizens, Not GLAAD, Leading The Charge Against The Other “F Word”
In America, there has been an increasingly noisy call for ABC president Steve McPherson and US prime time television drama Grey’s Anatomy creator and executive producer Shonda Rimes to fire actor Isaiah Washington for an October incident in which he called gay cast member T.R. Knight a “faggot” (which Knight said earlier this week inspired him to come out of the closet), and subsequent denials and lame attempts at jokes at last Monday’s Golden Globe Awards. While I join the numerous calls for Washington to be fired, I am using this situation as my inaugural “gay web watch” post, as I am both encouraged and disappointed by the reaction to this situation.
The greater issue here, of course, is the acceptability of anti-gay slurs like “faggot” in everyday American culture. It is a far more accepted word, causing far less specific and measurable consequences for users of the epithet than the word “nigger” causes. The “other F Word” is used against mostly men, gay and straight alike, to emasculate and invalidate. The word perpetuates misogyny by devaluing femininity, perpetuates negative stereotypes about gay men, and continues to marginalize gay men – especially effeminate gay men – as the absolute lowest thing a young boy or man could be in any social structure. The word has its affect on gay male culture as well, partially causing the backlash against effeminate gay men for “ruining things” for their more masculine counterparts and (in my opinion) creating a social structure that values gay men that can “pass” more than more “sissy” gay men.
The use of the “other F word” is a silent epidemic. The problem is that those of us who have been consistently on the receiving end of such insults tend to be among the few who get the full extent of the word’s use. Ask any gay or effeminate male you may know, and I am sure a vast majority of them will tell you the use of the “other F word” was used frequently towards them as they grew up.
One would think that in these days of a highly organized, highly funded GLBTQ movement, there would have been a massive organizational and word-of-mouth campaign against the “other F word”, making the unacceptability of its use clear to the American public-at-large, and most especially to authority figures like teachers and media producers. The word is clearly and traditionally destructive, and its use is screaming to be marginalized in the same way the word “nigger” is in America. To accomplish this feat, however, takes bold public stands from individuals and organizations alike. I am sad to say that unlike other minorities, GLBTQ’s have not been as successful as other groups in this endeavor, and the organizational reaction to the situation with Isaiah Washington and all those connected to the controversy illustrates these failures.
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), is perceived by me and by many other GLBTQ’s as the organization that handles these sorts of situations. When the conflict on the set of Grey’s Anatomy arose in October, GLAAD said nothing. After Isaiah Washington’s antics at the Golden Globes, it took GLAAD two days to issue a tepid statement from GLAAD president Neil G. Guiliano that said, among other things: ‘We want to sit down with him and give him an opportunity to raise public awareness about the destructive impact of these kinds of anti-gay slurs. Over the past four months Washington has become part of a significant problem of anti-gay prejudice in this country. He has an opportunity now to be part of the solution.’.
GLAAD’s lack of immediate response after the alleged incident in October, and its rather weak statement yesterday only substantiate claims I hear from many GLBTQ’s that the organization has lost its focus and is not doing the job it is charged with doing for the GLBTQ population. Whatever efforts GLAAD makes to stop defamation of gays in the media and in everyday American conversation is dwarfed by the efforts and publicity it generates for it numerous star-studded Media Awards events. There are no visible spokespeople or thought leaders from GLAAD that are consistently defending GLBQ’s in the mainstream media as situations arise, and I and many others feel that GLAAD’s small amount of decisive and rapid-responding action and large amount of inaction when it comes to defending GLBTQ’s from vicious insults leaves us believing that cozying up to gay-friendly stars is far more important to the organization than causing real change by engaging with all types of GLBTQ defamation in all types of media.
The good news, however, is that the gay web is leading the charge here. Gay discussion boards, gay blogs covering themes such as news and gossip, and on GLBTQ user-generated media, people are taking the decisive stand that GLAAD is unwilling and/or seemingly afraid to take. Sentiments such as Andy Towle’s are being echoed throughout the gay web: “Unfortunately, the time for hand-holding and apologies has long passed. Washington had his opportunity to make amends over the remarks, and instead he chose to lie. Isaiah Washington needs to be fired from Grey’s Anatomy. It is past time for ABC to take action and show that they will not tolerate the use of hateful language towards gay people now, or at any point in the future.”
I am proud to be part of an web-based gay community that values standing up for itself more than it values its Hollywood connections, protecting itself from upsetting other people and can quickly answer continued and repeated bigotry with a bold stand. This web-based community deserves more attention, sponsorship and credit than it gets, and outdoing an organization with millions in its annual budget and the credibility of a long-standing history more than underlines that.
Technorati Tags: gay, GLBT, GLBTQ, GLAAD, GLAAD Media Awards, Isaiah Washington, Grey’s Anatomy, 2007 Golden Globes, Perez Hilton, Paris Barclay, afterellen, towleroad, andy towle, T.R. Knight, faggot, homophobia
After belatedly thanking Christiaan Huygens and The Bean for their holiday wishes, I give a superquick (and sometimes bumbling, but that’s the beauty of podcasting) self-helpy talk on admitting faults and taking responsibility for one’s own mistakes/fuck-ups.
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My two big missions for 2007: Increase GLBT visibility on the web and in the tech. community, and to perpetuate the guiding principles of user-generated content in the face of corporatization.
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Technorati Tags: gay, expat, podcast, vlog, podcasters, user-generated content, GLBT, vlogger, videoblog
= Gay Expat meltdown.
I’ll hopefully be back tomorrow with media, when my recovery should be complete. Trust, you wouldn’t want to hear any of the mush that would come from me right now.
I’m On The Latest PNS Explosion…
…joining the boys for some pre-New Year mirth and girth(?). Listen here.
…for 2007 to the visitors to this site from all over the world. I’ll be working hard to make this year better than ever.
