Last week South Park pissed off GLAAD. I know, big surprise, South Park pissed someone off. Most of the time South Park uses its offensive humor to try and send a subversive message that is generally well meaning. Normally, the people pissed off just misunderstand the intention and context of the message. Against my general inclination to love subversive highly offensive humor, I think GLAAD actually has a point here, especially after reading their full call to action and defense.
The South Park episode in question here was November 4th “The F-Word.” I have to say that I haven’t been able to watch the full thing, which is too bad. For some strange reason the full episode was available online on Tuesday when my internet connection was acting slow and wouldn’t stream properly, but today there is a message in its place saying it is unavailable until December 5th. I did, however, watch all 14 clips posted on the South Park web site and enough summaries where I feel like I have a good enough grasp of the episode content to have a valid opinion.
I’d like to preface my next arguments with a disclaimer. I am not PERSONALLY offended by anything in the episode. I also occasionally use the word “fag” as a term of endearment with my friends, and, until recent years, thought the only purpose of the word was as a hilarious and ineffectual insult. Much like my love of the word “cunt,” I love the word “faggot” and don’t have any personal problem with the South Park episode. However, I am NOT GLAAD, because if I was GLAAD, and not some gay guy with his brain in the gutter with a compulsive tendency to utter obscenities for his own enjoyment, I would be pissed and I would have every right to be pissed.
The argument in favor of the episode, and of labeling GLAAD a dinosaur, is as follows: South Park is trying to highlight a social issue by having its characters redefine “faggot” to mean noisy biker gangs, and by re-appropriating the terms, are actually on the side of gay rights by using the term as something other than a slur intended to hurt gay people. The word “faggot” CAN be re-appropriated and gay people shouldn’t be so sensitive about it anymore. This is analogous to the kids today who call each other “faggot” and are no longer ACTUALLY referring to gay people, just like how the word “gay” no longer necessarily means “homosexual.” We should all grow a back bone and realize that gay people are no longer the target of the hateful words and embrace “faggot” the way “queer” has been embraced by our community.
Take a look at the logic there, because I just find it to be wrong and misinformed on so many levels.
Let’s start this off with a very simple comparison with the word “nigger.” Let’s do a quick comparison of how the black community has responded to a slur rooted in the oppression of their population.
An article in Black Press from a couple years back lays out the black community’s contemporary attitudes toward the word. The officials of the black community have symbolically “buried” the term, clearly showing that the president of the NAACP no longer sees the word as a symbol of oppression within dominate culture. The article notes, “It remains a symbol of racism, but also is used by blacks when referring to other blacks, especially in comedy routines and rap and hip-hop music.” Black hip hop artists defend themselves explaining that the work is, as Rhymefest quotes, “for people who use the word in their lives.”
The thing to take away from this Black Press article is that the intended audience of the work and the identity of the creator matters, a lot. In work by black people made for black audiences, there’s a lot more leeway in the acceptable use of the racial slur in question. This is why Michael Richards is asked to issue a public apology while T.I. can pretty much do whatever we wants.
So following the societal standards above, set for the use of the N-word, let’s see where the South Park episode falls in this spectrum.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone are not gay, as far as the public knows. They are both straight white males, meaning that they are using this term from the vantage point of artists with both straight and white privilege. Here’s where we have our first problem, the basic identity politics at play don’t give them privilege to use the slur.
But let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. I’d feel safe betting both of them were called fags by their peers growing up. Let’s pretend that they have sympathy and understanding for the gay community. Somehow, Trey Parker and Matt Stone really get “gay issues” and their episode “The F-word” was made primarily with a gay audience in mind. They’re trying to raise the issue in defense of gays, right?
A quick look at the viewing demographics for South Park would strongly suggest otherwise. South Park is the number one show in its time slot as of the end of October 2009, with a 12.29% market share. On top of that, as of a year ago, Nielsen reported that South Park is the number one program that has the highest level of Republican engagement. We can quickly infer that South Park is in reality a program for the sort of people that would probably vote against gay people’s right to marriage, and more importantly, would probably vote against the hate crime law. These are people that DO NOT understand the power of a slur and the way that it relates to very real bullying and violence towards gay people. The place the word most likely occupies in this population’s life is as a word they say to insult others, not a word that gets hurled at them.
But maybe, just MAYBE, the program contextualizes it in a manner that is understandably still in favor of gay people and has something really progressive to say. Maybe Republicans just happen to watch the program en masse? Here’s a quick clip to give you an idea of how South Park uses the term “faggot” within the context of the program:
A quick examination of the character’s reactions and the motivations will show that “faggot” is not being relegated as inoffensive or appropriated in a new way. The biker’s are offended BECAUSE the word is rooted in a history of being a hated, beat up, sissy boy. Cartman and team choose the word BECAUSE it will offend the biker’s sense of masculinity. The comedy in the scene comes from the fact that it’s a hateful word rooted in violence and hatred of gay people. Calling a bunch of butch bikers “faggots” does nothing to re-appropriate or take away the harm intended behind the word. Besides, I wouldn’t be surprised to see men that look like the guys in the biker gang chillin’ at The Eagle.
It seems to me the only way to defend the specific use of the word “faggot” here is to adopt the same sort of lax attitude towards the term that allows teachers, mentors, and parents all over the us ignore the type of bullying, intimidation, and social pressure that makes gay, lesbian, and questioning youth four times more likely to commit suicide than their straight peers. This episode can only be funny if “faggot” still has power in the real world and gay people can be hurt by it. It’s irresponsible of Matt and Trey to broadcast a show that sends a message that it’s a term that can be used lightly. That’s why GLAAD needed to respond, because no matter how you frame it, South Park was in the wrong here.
This same sort of realization has informed my own use of the word in the last two years. While calling my friends “fags” in an endearing way might be ok within MY community, the term still holds real power in other contexts, especially with children. I write my blog, primarily for adults and primarily for other queers, and while I feel comfortable dropping the occasional fag bomb, I have really begun to change my opinion and my own use of the slur in recent years. Unlike “nigger,” now buried beneath a tombstone by the NAACP, “faggot” is still alive and well harming people as it sees fit. It has never been symbolically killed.
So do Trey and Matt owe the apology GLAAD asked for? Did they transgress with their use of the term the same way that Michael Richards did when he chose to use a slur that doesn’t belong to his heritage? You better bet those fucking faggots did and I can’t wait to hear their whiny faggot apology.
[image on top via this dude's MySpace]
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