HORROR BITES: Below, you’ll find five short-ish posts about same-sex marriage, of which I think “Heather Has No Daddy” is the most important. You’ll also find a blogwatch with some comments about superhero-comic conventions. Now I’m going to blog some random comments on horror that didn’t make it into my big “Rene Magritte, Master of Horror” post below. The Old Oligarch and I talked about this quite a bit while I was working on the Magritte post. His comments included... Read more

SSM: THE GAY RUSSIANS LOVE THEIR CHILDREN TOO: Final same-sex marriage post for today. Another quick take on Unqualified Offerings. (I know I’m only addressing bits and bobs of his arguments. I promise, as this series goes on I’ll wrestle with lots of ’em, not just a few.) UO writes, “I’ve probably got more to say about gender roles later, but a brief thought for now: From what I can tell, gays love their kids too. So if it becomes... Read more

SSM: HMMMMM…. Unqualified Offerings makes an interesting point: “The next problem may strike some as minor: [the argument that male/male couples’ often laxer standards of sexual fidelity will spill over into heterosexual couples] depends on straight men (in marriages) observing the behavior of gay men (in marriages) and wanting to emulate gay men. That is, the theory assumes that in this matter straight men will adopt a completely different stance toward gay men than they do in almost every other... Read more

SSM: SAPPHISTRY AND SOPHISTRY. Okay, that title’s a bit harsh, but it is kind of funny how every time you talk about same-sex marriage somebody says, “But lesbians are supermonogamous! Shouldn’t you be encouraging them to marry?” For some people this is just a cheapie, for a few people it’s a real question; for many, I think, it’s somewhere in between. Let me teethe on it for a bit. 1) Lesbian marriage makes men optional extras in marriage and family... Read more

SSM: HEATHER HAS NO DADDY: I neglected an important angle in my post on same-sex marriage and masculinity, another way in which same-sex (unisex) marriage tells men that they’re not necessary to forming a family. I’m referring, as the title of this post should make clear, to lesbian couples raising kids. Lots of these couples are dedicated parents. But they’re also raising kids in a family structure that a) makes it harder for both daughters and sons to form a... Read more

SSM: QUICK HITS. Dappled Things, while saying several nice things about the series so far (thanks!), writes, “Her observations about male gender are very interesting, but I found less than convincing the argument that once getting married ceases to be a thing that proves masculinity, then men will gradually lose interest in it. It’s one thing to say that once we let girls be altar boys, all the boys will drop out. To make a similar argument about something as... Read more

Because the blog Belongs to watchers… Motime Like the Present: His thesis statement on Silver Age Marvel comics and the Puritan legacy. Also something about same-sex marriage, of which more in the next post. Both Sean Collins and Journalista! read my revenge-tragedies/superhero-comics post below as a brief in favor of superheroic conventions. I see why they thought that, but it’s not totally accurate. Some of the conventions exist because they help stories work, or they symbolize something in a meaningful... Read more

My heart is by dejection, clay, And by selfe-murder, red. From this red earth, O Father, purge away All vicious tinctures, that new fashioned I may rise up from death, before I’m dead. –John Donne, from “The Litanie: The Father” Read more

OH NO YOU DID NOT. “Batman Draped in Thai Silk.” “Sita Being Abducted by Superman.” “Darth Maul (from Star Wars I) with Thai Headdress.” “Spiderman and Maiyarap (King of the Underworld).” All this and more, at Jirapat Tasanasomboon Artwork. Good to know that globalization has brought “It’s not kitsch, it’s pop art!” to Thailand. Truly, we are a world connected. Via Polytropos. Read more

I AM SO HUNGRY!!!!! About to cook and eat food. Here’s what’s on the blog, below: A post about superhero comic conventions and revenge-tragedy conventions and writerly inspiration. Five posts about same-sex marriage, part of a series I’ll be doing this week and maybe part of next week: friendship, masculinity, my basic position, three types of argument, and the setup of the series. Poetry Wednesday. And the last segment of “What You Can Do for Your Country.” It’s a big... Read more