THE ORIGINS OF QUEERS
by
Michael Kirwan
A little more than 30% of males are born
without established gender traits. These boys come into the world
without competitive, combative, or the mechanical skills normally
attributed to their sex. They lack the aggressive tendencies usually
associated with “maleness” and for the most part fail to react to the
accepted stimulus (trucks, sports, weaponry) most “normal” boys
readily respond to naturally. These boys are a blank slate, an empty
canvas, dropped into society without the intuitive masculine behavior
patterns in place. They are neither boisterously male nor passively
female, they have no predilection one way or another and as a result
must learn to emulate and mimic the role models around them to forge a
recognizable identity. Little sexual ciphers, without a specific set
of propensity for any particular mannerisms. Since most youngsters
spend their early formative years in the company of their mothers and
other female relatives the boys tend to reflect some of the feminine
qualities they are initially exposed to. Women are obvious and for the
most part emotionally transparent so it is little wonder that the boys
will impersonate their behaviors, seeing them as the model to follow.
Men, being more taciturn and stoic, are more challenging to imitate.
As they grow a little older, the absence of any sense of
competitiveness makes playing with other boys difficult and
disorienting. They do not understand the need to inflict pain or form
tribal allegiances, characteristically inherent patterns revealed in
the interaction of young boys. The need to win, a “King of the Hill”
mentality, is not in place and can cause these boys to be mocked and
ostracized by their male peer group. The ouster and humiliation
usually promotes them to seek out the companionship of girls who are
also born without the need for physical domination in their playtime
activities. The boys avoid the brutality and seemingly irrelevant
contests to establish authority and a place in the pecking order. The
“blank boys” end up spending more time amidst the more nurturing and
collective practices of developing girls. The boys also gravitate
towards being alone as much as possible so as to be removed from the
pressure of “acting” like anyone else. It is important to understand
that this “acting” is a lifelong condition. Our boys are born without
the purely masculine warrior tendencies and although they can learn to
fake it, they are never subconsciously as driven as are their more
naturally aggressive male counterparts.
At the advent of puberty two important
factors come into play. The first is related to the noncompetitive
aspect of our boys’ psyches. Other young boys begin to compete with
each other for the attentions of females. To them the girls are
mysterious “others” that must be sought out and claimed. The “normal”
boys seek to own and dominate a girl, making her their property for
sexual exploration and as a status symbol to the members of their
particular fellowship. The more aggressive males (propelled by
hormonal upsurges) develop tactics, ploys and strategies to ensnare
and inveigle their female quarry. A contest ensues wherein each boy in
a group tries to best his compatriots by getting a “better” girl and
going further with her. The Blank Boys, who don’t view females as
being more “other” than they do the males surrounding them, do not
gravitate towards the need to dominate a female any more than they
felt a need to dominate in games as youngsters. The aggressive need to
prove their place in the male hierarchy never kicks in.
The second and more salient circumstance has
to deal with the “acting” that our boys have been practicing since
birth. Born without the most obvious male-related behaviors to
function in society the Blank Boys have been studying and imitating
the behaviors of whoever they deem a successful exemplar. Now they are
acutely aware of the sexualized attitudes displayed by other young men
and surreptitiously watch these males for behavioral cues. They also
experience the massive hormonal shifting and it coincides with the
nearly obsessive observation of the “regular” boys to learn the most
commonly accepted model of conduct. While studying the sexual
awakenings of the males around them and dealing with their own budding
sexuality, the Blank Boys recognize for the first time a kinship, a
parallel experience, and a sense of brotherhood with the source of
their inspiration. Our boys finally feel a kindred spirit to the males
that had mystified them with the brutality and combative attitudes of
youth. The incessant teenage erection serves as the great equalizer.
The Blank Boys suddenly feel a great attachment and genuine affection
in the companionship of male society, and will relive that sense of
belonging by having sexual relations with other males thereafter. Some
Blank Boys will adopt a heterosexual façade, imitating what they
perceive to be a “male” lifestyle. Others will reject that level of
“play acting” since it requires such a lengthy commitment and offers
little opportunity to just behave in the “blank” way that is their
natural state. They become queers, or opt out of any sexual
categorization altogether.
I’d just like to make a few side comments
here. One has to do with the Blank Boys spending their early lives
continually observing social interaction to glean clues about how they
should identify themselves. The whole “acting” as a boy or as a girl
conundrum, if you will. The Blank Boys pick up feminine behaviors and
attitudes because they are the distaff side of what is considered male
attributes (aggressiveness, competitiveness) which they were born
without. They must fill in the “blanks” their entire lives by
parroting what other people do naturally, eventually creating a
comfortable persona to inhabit. Because our boys have to watch
everyone else so closely, because they feel compelled to understand
how and why other people function in order to “pass” in society, they
develop certain abilities that the rest of the population doesn’t
require. By dissecting and scrutinizing the various personalities they
come in contact with, the Blank Boys accrue a deeper understanding of
how humanity operates. That’s why they excel in the arts. They’re
drawn to the field of drama because they are intimately familiar with
the nuances of “acting”, having to do it so much. They become artists
because they see society more keenly, with more objectivity, and more
curiosity. To them, the artistic representation of life is as valid as
real life, since that is how they evaluate their surroundings. They
naturally “see” more because they are compelled to look deeper to make
sense of a system in which they always feel like outsiders. As a
result, Queers are regularly holding up a mirror to society, showing
them who they are and how they appear in the various lives observed.
We reflect who they are in art.
Since Queers do not share the biological
imperative to propagate, the need to produce progeny, they are forever
precluded from the routine expectations of normal society. This is one
of the reasons Queers are historically reviled and feared. Our
disinterest in producing offspring is so alien and incomprehensible to
the rest of humanity (for whom this is the most basic and primal of
urges) that our very existence is threatening. The continuation of the
species is the main purpose of every organism on earth, that any
sub-group should reject that priority is alarming and offensive to the
general community. At this point in time it has become abundantly
clear that there is very little chance of Homo Sapiens dwindling in
significant numbers due to lack of breeding. On the contrary, there
are very nearly more people inhabiting the planet then can be
optimally sustained. Nature always finds a balance and as a result the
percentile of Blank Boys will grow to prevent the incursion of
overpopulation. The Queers exist as a reproductive stopgap, and that
is a good and honorable role to play in the advancement of human
civilization. In the end, Queers are a vital and totally necessary
element for the betterment of mankind.
THE END |