Friday, September 14, 2012

Meeting Minutes - 9/14

9/14 - Depiction of Queer Characters in Media


  • A survey will be sent out soon regarding preferred meeting times
  • Movie tonight at 8pm! Fantastic Mr. Fox in Galileo! Snacks will be provided!
    • Any other movie ideas for the future?
  • Media + Queer characters:
    • True Blood, Desperate Housewives, Glee, Modern Family, Torchwood, Greek, Dance Academy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Teen Wolf
    • Glee is very fixed on dichotomy of gay or straight, no in between
    • Often, gay characters are flamboyantly so. This may be to make it obvious without outright saying their sexual orientation
    • Greek has a non flamboyant gay character; Teen Wolf does a good job as well
    • Degrassi has a person who is transgender
    • Online: which tumblrs you follow labels you as queer
      • On Starcraft, a transgender MTF was defended and supported
    • Books: not many big publishers that output stories with queer characters
      • Sometimes gay/lesbian characters, but nothing else
      • Sci-fi also has gender swapping characters
    • Is it better to have queer characters that are depicted stereotypically or not have any at all?
      • Sometimes, the queer community gets angry when they are not depicted stereotypically 
      • Hard to have this due to complicated scripts, etc.
    • Is incorporating the fact that the character is queer into the story necessary?
      • E.g. Dumbledore was mentioned after the series was written, almost. 
        • People accused J.K. Rowling of making it an afterthought
        • People also wondered why she had to bring it up if it wasn't relevant to the story
      • Automatically assume that the queer character is then associated with the protagonist 
    • A lot of the time, the fact that the character is queer is the main focus of their plot line. 

Meeting Minutes - 9/7

9/7 - What is it like being queer at Mudd?


  • Prism - part support group, hold events, discussions every week this year
    • Send people to the Out to Innovate Conference, Western Regional LGBTQQIAA Conference
  • At Mudd, we have a very welcoming environment
    • Varsity sports don't have much experience with queer students, but they're still welcoming 
    • In fact, people are almost enthusiastically accepted
      • Walker Wall painted rainbow colors during "Gaypril"
    • Office of Institutional Diversity (OID) is a great resource - go talk to Dean Sumi!
      • Holding an event for National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11th
    • Erin O'Brien, an intercollegiate professor for Asian American studies, is teaching a class at Mudd this year called Queering Asian America
      • She's also out and is a great resource for students
    • QQAMP (Queer, Questioning, & Ally Mentor Program) is another resource that's completely confidential and lots of fun
      • Apply to be a mentee or mentor online!
    • People who are genderqueer are also well accepted, even in the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship group
    • QRC (Queer Resource Center) - has a library, meetings 
      • Open house on September 24th - Prism should walk down together
      • On 6th Street near Frary Dining Hall
    • Mudd is one of the more accepting schools, though none of the 5Cs are really hostile
      • Family (at Scripps) is the largest queer group outside of the QRC
      • Mudd students are more empathetic because we think about things more, also we don't like confrontation/conflict
    • Also a lot of queer faculty members - Prof. Bernoff, Prof. Dyson, Prof. Yong, Dean Guy
  • What does Prism do on a day to day basis?
    • This year, we're going to have discussions every week, especially to get more information and break us out of the "Mudd bubble"
    • We plan events occasionally
    • Have fun/chill, and build community
  • Prism shirts are available! And if you have an idea, submit it to Chance/Kevin!
    • More Gay? Fine by me! shirts are being ordered!
  • Also tell the prezzies about speaker ideas!
  • A survey will be sent out with preferred meeting times