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[rivkat]

Thanks for the insightful responses to my previous post on fandom, academia and "coming out." I will respond to them individually as soon as I've got these damn edits done. In the interim, I thought this old Henry Jenkins piece from Harper's, on the Whitewater juror who wore her Starfleet uniform to court, was relevant.

As someone who has been a Star Trek fan for more than twenty years, I've often thought that a strong analogy can be drawn between the queer community's politics of sexual preference and the fan community's politics of cultural preference. From the point of view of mundane mainstream culture, both groups provoke discomfort concerning their "scandalous" tastes and "shocking" behavior. Like gays, fans often speak of "coming out" as a fan or being "closeted" at work. Fans tend not to disclose their cultural preferences, afraid of what their officemates might think about their hobbies, their friends, or how they spend their weekends. I've known many fans who have had to hide fanzines from unsympathetic eyes or lie to their spouses about a convention. And most of us have been snickered at and subjected to endless harangues against fans in the popular media. That's why many Trekkers, including myself, automatically cringed when we saw pictures of Barbara Adams wearing her Starfleet uniform. We feared that her appearance on the evening news would reinforce all the horror stories about fans, give new credence to the stereotypes, and confirm the mundane world's worst suspicions about us.

But when I compared this issue with current debates in the queer community, I started to rethink my response. ... Assimilationists criticize drag queens and bare-breasted lesbians in the gay-pride parades for feeding homophobic stereotypes, just as fans are embarrassed by the pervasive images of pimple-faced geeks in Starfleet uniforms and rubber Spock ears. The International Federation of Trekkers denounced Adams, saying that she had "condemned us all to continued marking as immature wackos," and suggested that next time she adopt a less flamboyant expression of her fan identity - perhaps a Trek lapel pin on a business suit. Yet, as queer activists have argued, this kind of conformist attitude buys tolerance on someone else's terms. It forces gays and lesbians to police their own ranks, punishing violations of middle-class decorum rather than embracing with pride what makes them distinctive. Similarly, to insist that fans took and act like everyone else is to suggest that there is something shameful about being a fan. Queer politics tells us that we are free only when all of our members - even the most extreme - are able to make their own choices and give public expression to their preferences.

... [Adams] appreciates the power of art - especially popular art - to transform how we live in the universe. As her comments to the media show, she sees her gesture in political terms, as an expression of Star Trek ideals: celebration of diversity, optimism about the future, and a commitment to public service.

Such beliefs might seem strange indeed in the context of the Whitewater trial, where both sides appear to be governed more by political advantage and self-gain than by any higher ideals. Yet for that reason, it was important for fans to make a public statement about what Star Trek's philosophy might offer to America. In such circumstances, the Vulcan salute is as much a political symbol as the Black Power fist or the pink triangle.

... When I saw her picture in the newspaper as she awaited jury selection, I assumed that neither the prosecution nor the defense would find her acceptable, because, as a Trekker, she would be seen as abnormal, unpredictable, and excessive. Instead, the lawyers probably thought that they would be able to control her with their rhetoric, that as a fan who couldn't tell the difference between TV and real life, she would be gullible and easily manipulated.

The woman we saw on the news fits neither stereotype. She is thoughtful, moderate, and articulate. She also happens to be a Star Trek fan. Get used to it.

Comments

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

This is actually Jenkins' analogy, not mine. This is an extended quotation from an email he wrote that was reprinted in Harper's.

Still, I'm more sympathetic to it than you are. I understand your point about norms, but then the question arises: is it unacceptable to wear drag to court? What about a pink triangle T-shirt? A "Re-Elect Bush" T-shirt? Whose norms count? And, if the court does not require business attire -- which is true in the two courts where I've been a juror -- is it fair to say that T-shirts and leotards are okay but Star Trek uniforms, which are pretty formal in their own way, are not? That is, from all we know the court didn't bar exercise leotards -- nor did it bar the costume, either, despite all the attention it received -- the media attention and the objections were based on the specific content of the outfit, not on its general divergence from business attire.

[thornsilver]

You don't think they would have kicked her out if she showed up in a leotard?

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

I don't know, but they didn't kick her out when she showed up in the uniform. She stayed on the jury. The court apparently didn't find it disruptive, though the media had fun with it. (On my jury service, I saw shorts and T-shirts, but nothing really out there; I imagine that nudity would have sufficed to get you sent home.)