overlap

Here's what someone else has had to say about that programme. "...it was clear there was something different about Grayson -with his elegant understated transvetism (sic), and the other males who flocked to the scarborough weekend. The latter came across almost as OTT piss-taking Lily Savages -all frocks/boobs/pouts/eyeliner in a way unnatural for any person, male or female. Their body language was uncertain exhibitionism and issues rather than the simple sincere preference Grayson Perry described." This probably says as much about the person saying it, if not more. To see nothing but the extreme examples as entirely representative of the whole, and then to describe Perry as "elegant [and] understated" is a good indicator how people see what their prejudice (in its most neutral sense of prior judgement made without looking at the evidence) predicts rather than what's in front of their eyes. To pass that harsh a judgement on people for whom the occasion may be the one time in a year that that part of them gets expressed is equivalent to seeing someone drunk at the office xmas party and proclaiming them to be an alcoholic waster who's lucky to make it through any night without doing a Bon Scott*, never mind a disgrace to themself, their profession and so forth. And no matter how open-minded and open-hearted one tries to be, being prepared for and expecting that reaction is exactly the sort of thing that keeps people feeling that remaining closeted to whatever degree they find appropriate is necessary. I'm lucky that I have a) a bone-headed inability to take other people's negative rubbish on board because I can tell those who don't know what they're talking about from a great distance and b) a pragmatic streak that combines well with an instinct for self-preservation. And still you find me responding to this particular canard here rather than confronting its source directly. I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions there. * Bon Scott, original singer in AC/DC, died choking on his own vomit while asleep in a car on 19th feb 1980. Never let it be said this is not a blog of wide-ranging topicality! Ride on.